ARKANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY, Volume 44(Autumn 1985), p. 222
Black Politics in Arkasas During the Gilded Age, 1876-1900
By CARL H. MONEYHON*
Department of History, University of Arkansas at Little Rock
Little Rock, Arkansas 72204
THE END OF RECONSTRUCTION, accompanied by violence against blacks, did not conclude with the removal of blacks from participation in southern politics. A chance remained that some sort of accommodation could be reached, a chance that led C. Vann Woodward, a noted historian, to call the period from the resurgence of the Democratic party to the end of the century an era of "forgotten alternatives." Examining black politics in North Carolina, another scholar, Eric Anderson, characterized these years as a time when "compromise appeared possible and blacks were confident that they could participate in a nearly normal way in American politics." (1) Blacks in Arkansas also remained involved in politics during this period.
Although the return of the Democratic party to power in the state limited the opportunities for black participation in politics, black voters continued to take part in elections, and their leaders developed methods and opportunities to represent the state's black population. Arkansas's black leaders effectively articulated and expressed the interests of their constituents up to the end of the century. The story of black politics indicates the sophistication and vitality of the black community and of black political life through the "dark ages" between Reconstruction and the turn of the century.
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*The author is professor of history at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Research for this paper was made possible by a grant from the Arkansas Endowment for the Humanities.
(1) Eric Anderson, Race and Politics in North Carolina, 1872-1901 (Baton Rouge, 1981), xi; C. Vann Woodward, The Strange Career of Jim Crow (New York, 1974), 54, 65.
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