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Black Georgia in the Progressive Era, 1900-1920
"This is the best treatment scholars
have of black life in a southern state at the beginning of the twentieth century."
-- Howard N. Rabinowitz ,
Journal of American History
"The author shows clearly and forcefully
the ways in which this [white] system abused and controlled the black lower
caste in Georgia." -- Lester C. Lamon , American Historical Review.
"Dittmer has a faculty for lucid exposition of complicated subjects. This is
especially true of the sections on segregation, racial politics, disfranchisement,
woman's suffrage and prohitibion, the neo-slavery in agriculture, and the racial
violence whose threat and reality hung like a pall over all of Georgia throughout
the period." -- Donald L. Grant , Georgia Historical Quarterly.
have of black life in a southern state at the beginning of the twentieth century."
-- Howard N. Rabinowitz ,
Journal of American History
"The author shows clearly and forcefully
the ways in which this [white] system abused and controlled the black lower
caste in Georgia." -- Lester C. Lamon , American Historical Review.
"Dittmer has a faculty for lucid exposition of complicated subjects. This is
especially true of the sections on segregation, racial politics, disfranchisement,
woman's suffrage and prohitibion, the neo-slavery in agriculture, and the racial
violence whose threat and reality hung like a pall over all of Georgia throughout
the period." -- Donald L. Grant , Georgia Historical Quarterly.
- GenresHistory
256 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1977
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June 2, 2019
This book's been around quite a while but has no written reviews, so I'll give it one. I suspect part of the reason is that the topic is quite specialized, and that, plus the book's age, means not many people have read it. It's worth reading, however, if you want an understanding of how racism blighted Georgian society during an important era in US history. In fact, it's worth reading if you want an up-close look at how racism and white supremacy blighted an entire generation of people.
As is so often true, I'll introduce this book by comparing it to the work of C. Vann Woodward because Woodward's work on the New South is what so many Southern historians use as their starting point.
For C. Vann Woodward, the Progressive Era in the South was a movement led by small businessmen, discontented farmers, and the middle class against the economic hegemony of northeastern railroad and financial interests. While many contemporaries barely recognized the existence of a progressive impulse in the South, Woodward sees a unique movement closely linked to southern apologist politicians and characterized by a strong current of white supremacy. In his book Black Georgia in the Progressive Era 1900 – 1920, John Dittmer arrives at essentially the same conclusion as Woodward concerning the South as a whole.
However, in the state of Georgia, he finds the situation slightly different. The statements “progressive reform in Georgia was conservative, elitist, and above all racist” and “for blacks in Georgia cities the progressive era meant further proscription” (110) outline his take on progressivism there. In the postrevisionist tradition, Dittmer claims that while the perception of the Progressive Era in the South is that it was “for whites only,” and consequently was the low point of black history in the region, we must consider that blacks did not meekly submit to the white power structure but instead worked within society’s limits to shape their own destiny to the best of their ability.
Despite the fact that only 12% of blacks owned their own farm in Georgia in 1900 (in Dougherty County, one white planter owned 20% more land than all 11,000 blacks in the county together), and that they faced widespread racism, debt peonage, a lack of capital to start businesses, and high rates of illiteracy that stultified their economic prospects, Georgia blacks attempted to lay the economic foundations for the future at this time. Some moved to urban areas and engaged in occupations providing them with something approaching middle-class financial status. That they were able to achieve even limited goals such as these is a compliment considering the educational deficits they endured. Most, however, remained stuck in rural poverty.
Dittmer had no trouble identifying the reasons for these limited prospects for African Americans, and white supremacy ideology formed the basis for nearly all of them. In 1899, Georgia governor Allen Candler blamed the rising crime rate on the education of blacks and proclaimed that educated blacks were responsible for 90% of crimes. Schools, when they hired African American teachers at all, typically discriminated in favor of less educated teachers, reasoning that highly educated blacks would not teach students their proper place in society. In 1917, Atlanta tried to raise funds for a new junior high school for whites by abolishing all seventh-grade education for blacks.
White supremacy reared its ugly head to limit the effectiveness of other progressive reforms as well. In Georgia, the age of sexual consent for women was ten, lowest in the nation, until 1918 when the General Assembly raised it to fourteen. The reason for the prior hesitation in reforming this law was a disinclination to protect young black girls by expanding their legal rights. Efforts toward women’s suffrage ran into the same racist roadblock. Opponents in Georgia feared the potential voting power of black women and the possible return to a competitive two-party political system. When the Nineteenth Amendment went out to the states for ratification, Georgia distinguished itself by becoming the first state to declare against it, voting it down by margins of 118-29 in its House of Representatives and 39-10 in the Senate.
In terms of child labor laws, the story was much the same. Georgia had no compulsory school attendance law until 1916, the second-to-last state to pass one, because of the perceived need for youngsters to work alongside their mothers in cotton mills. As of 1911, it remained the only state allowing children younger than twelve years old to labor in factories and work 66-hour weeks. Opposition to this state of affairs arose not because of any strident desire to see young whites educated, but because if white girls and boys worked in the mills instead of going to school, blacks might gain an advantage through education, thereby degrading the white race.
One reform that stood no chance in the South was attempts to reverse the movement toward greater disfranchisement of African Americans. Dittmer describes the powerful impact of this legislation in Sumter County. This county in southwestern Georgia was home to roughly 27,000 people, about 75% of them African Americans. In the 1908 election the county recorded four black votes. Statewide, the percentage of blacks registered to vote, 28.3% in 1904, declined to 4.3% in 1910.
In the end, Dittmer blames the progressive impulse’s lack of success in the South on racism and white supremacy. Dittmer relates how various reforms, from education to child labor, went down, destroyed by the power of prejudice. Although the title of the book indicates a rather specialist audience, the book has greater relevance than that because it shows just how damaging racism and white supremacy were, aided by statistics and local research. It’s worth checking out.
As is so often true, I'll introduce this book by comparing it to the work of C. Vann Woodward because Woodward's work on the New South is what so many Southern historians use as their starting point.
For C. Vann Woodward, the Progressive Era in the South was a movement led by small businessmen, discontented farmers, and the middle class against the economic hegemony of northeastern railroad and financial interests. While many contemporaries barely recognized the existence of a progressive impulse in the South, Woodward sees a unique movement closely linked to southern apologist politicians and characterized by a strong current of white supremacy. In his book Black Georgia in the Progressive Era 1900 – 1920, John Dittmer arrives at essentially the same conclusion as Woodward concerning the South as a whole.
However, in the state of Georgia, he finds the situation slightly different. The statements “progressive reform in Georgia was conservative, elitist, and above all racist” and “for blacks in Georgia cities the progressive era meant further proscription” (110) outline his take on progressivism there. In the postrevisionist tradition, Dittmer claims that while the perception of the Progressive Era in the South is that it was “for whites only,” and consequently was the low point of black history in the region, we must consider that blacks did not meekly submit to the white power structure but instead worked within society’s limits to shape their own destiny to the best of their ability.
Despite the fact that only 12% of blacks owned their own farm in Georgia in 1900 (in Dougherty County, one white planter owned 20% more land than all 11,000 blacks in the county together), and that they faced widespread racism, debt peonage, a lack of capital to start businesses, and high rates of illiteracy that stultified their economic prospects, Georgia blacks attempted to lay the economic foundations for the future at this time. Some moved to urban areas and engaged in occupations providing them with something approaching middle-class financial status. That they were able to achieve even limited goals such as these is a compliment considering the educational deficits they endured. Most, however, remained stuck in rural poverty.
Dittmer had no trouble identifying the reasons for these limited prospects for African Americans, and white supremacy ideology formed the basis for nearly all of them. In 1899, Georgia governor Allen Candler blamed the rising crime rate on the education of blacks and proclaimed that educated blacks were responsible for 90% of crimes. Schools, when they hired African American teachers at all, typically discriminated in favor of less educated teachers, reasoning that highly educated blacks would not teach students their proper place in society. In 1917, Atlanta tried to raise funds for a new junior high school for whites by abolishing all seventh-grade education for blacks.
White supremacy reared its ugly head to limit the effectiveness of other progressive reforms as well. In Georgia, the age of sexual consent for women was ten, lowest in the nation, until 1918 when the General Assembly raised it to fourteen. The reason for the prior hesitation in reforming this law was a disinclination to protect young black girls by expanding their legal rights. Efforts toward women’s suffrage ran into the same racist roadblock. Opponents in Georgia feared the potential voting power of black women and the possible return to a competitive two-party political system. When the Nineteenth Amendment went out to the states for ratification, Georgia distinguished itself by becoming the first state to declare against it, voting it down by margins of 118-29 in its House of Representatives and 39-10 in the Senate.
In terms of child labor laws, the story was much the same. Georgia had no compulsory school attendance law until 1916, the second-to-last state to pass one, because of the perceived need for youngsters to work alongside their mothers in cotton mills. As of 1911, it remained the only state allowing children younger than twelve years old to labor in factories and work 66-hour weeks. Opposition to this state of affairs arose not because of any strident desire to see young whites educated, but because if white girls and boys worked in the mills instead of going to school, blacks might gain an advantage through education, thereby degrading the white race.
One reform that stood no chance in the South was attempts to reverse the movement toward greater disfranchisement of African Americans. Dittmer describes the powerful impact of this legislation in Sumter County. This county in southwestern Georgia was home to roughly 27,000 people, about 75% of them African Americans. In the 1908 election the county recorded four black votes. Statewide, the percentage of blacks registered to vote, 28.3% in 1904, declined to 4.3% in 1910.
In the end, Dittmer blames the progressive impulse’s lack of success in the South on racism and white supremacy. Dittmer relates how various reforms, from education to child labor, went down, destroyed by the power of prejudice. Although the title of the book indicates a rather specialist audience, the book has greater relevance than that because it shows just how damaging racism and white supremacy were, aided by statistics and local research. It’s worth checking out.
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