In the history of the United States,carpetbagger is a largely historical pejorative used by Southerners to describe allegedly opportunistic or disruptive Northerners who came to the Southern states after the American Civil War and were perceived to be exploiting the local populace for their own financial,political,or social gain. The term broadly included both individuals who sought to promote Republican politics and individuals who saw business and political opportunities because of the chaotic state of the local economies following the war. In practice,the term carpetbagger often was applied to any Northerners who were present in the South during the Reconstruction Era (1865–1877). The word is closely associated with scalawag,a similarly pejorative word used to describe native white Southerners who supported the Republican Party-led Reconstruction.
The Readjuster Party was a bi-racial state-level political party formed in Virginia across party lines in the late 1870s during the turbulent period following the Reconstruction era that sought to reduce outstanding debt owed by the state. Readjusters aspired "to break the power of wealth and established privilege" among the planter elite of whites in the state and to promote public education. The party's program attracted support among both white people and African-Americans.
George Henry White was an American attorney and politician,elected as a Republican U.S. Congressman from North Carolina's 2nd congressional district between 1897 and 1901. He later became a banker in Philadelphia,Pennsylvania and in Whitesboro,New Jersey,an African-American community he co-founded. White was the last African-American Congressman during the beginning of the Jim Crow era and the only African American to serve in Congress during his tenure.
James Shepherd Pike was an American journalist and a historian of South Carolina during the Reconstruction Era.
More than 1,500 African American officeholders served during the Reconstruction era (1865–1877) and in the years after Reconstruction before white supremacy,disenfranchisement,and the Democratic Party fully reasserted control in Southern states. Historian Canter Brown Jr. noted that in some states,such as Florida,the highest number of African Americans were elected or appointed to offices after the end of Reconstruction in 1877. The following is a partial list of notable African American officeholders from the end of the Civil War until before 1900. Dates listed are the year that a term states or the range of years served if multiple terms.
Henry Plummer Cheatham was an educator,farmer and politician,elected as a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from 1889 to 1893 from North Carolina. He was one of only five African Americans elected to Congress from the South in the Jim Crow era of the last decade of the nineteenth century,as disfranchisement reduced black voting. After that,no African Americans would be elected from the South until 1972 and none from North Carolina until 1992.
Thomas Ezekiel Miller was an American educator,lawyer and politician. After being elected as a state legislator in South Carolina,he was one of only five African Americans elected to Congress from the South in the Jim Crow era of the last decade of the nineteenth century,as disfranchisement reduced black voting. After that,no African Americans were elected from the South until 1972.
Edmund William McGregor Mackey was a lawyer,state representative,and United States Representative from South Carolina. He was a leader in the Republican Party.
The Red Shirts or Redshirts of the Southern United States were white supremacist paramilitary terrorist groups that were active in the late 19th century in the last years of,and after the end of,the Reconstruction era of the United States. Red Shirt groups originated in Mississippi in 1875,when anti-Reconstruction private terror units adopted red shirts to make themselves more visible and threatening to Southern Republicans,both whites and freedmen. Similar groups in the Carolinas also adopted red shirts.
Charles Randolph Thomas,son of Charles R. Thomas (1827-1891),was a North Carolina attorney and politician. Like his father,he served as a U.S. Representative in Congress from North Carolina. Whereas his father had joined the Republican Party after the American Civil War,the younger Charles Thomas was a Democrat.
Disfranchisement after the Reconstruction era in the United States,especially in the Southern United States,was based on a series of laws,new constitutions,and practices in the South that were deliberately used to prevent black citizens from registering to vote and voting. These measures were enacted by the former Confederate states at the turn of the 20th century. Efforts were also made in Maryland,Kentucky,and Oklahoma. Their actions were designed to thwart the objective of the Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution,ratified in 1870,which prohibited states from depriving voters of their voting rights based on race. The laws were frequently written in ways to be ostensibly non-racial on paper,but were implemented in ways that selectively suppressed black voters apart from other voters.
Charles Henry James Taylor (1857–1899),was an American journalist,editor,lawyer,orator,and political organizer. An early supporter of Democratic President Grover Cleveland,he was appointed Minister to Liberia during Cleveland's first presidential term.
James Walker Hood was an African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church bishop in North Carolina from 1872 to 1916. Born and raised in Pennsylvania,he moved to New York and became active in the AME Zion church. Well before the Emancipation Proclamation,he was an active abolitionist.
John Sinclair Leary was an American lawyer,politician,federal official,and law school dean. He was of mixed ethnicity. He is described as one of the first black lawyers in North Carolina and was a member of the state legislature from 1868 to 1870. He was an alderman in Fayetteville and later held federal government appointments. He was the first dean of the law school at Shaw University in 1890.
John E. Hussey was a grocer,boardinghouse owner,and state legislator in North Carolina. He was African-American and represented Craven County in the North Carolina House of Representatives from 1885 to 1889.
John S. W. Eagles was a state legislator in North Carolina. He served in the North Carolina House of Representatives in 1869 to 1870. He represented New Hanover County and was African American. He lived in Wilmington.
William Patrick Mabson Sr.,was an American educator,minister,newspaper owner,editor,and politician. He was a state legislator in North Carolina for at least two terms,active during the Reconstruction era. Mabson was one of the founders of Freedom Hill in Edgecombe County,North Carolina.
Aaron R. Bridgers was an American teacher,attorney,and state legislator in North Carolina. An African American and Republican,he represented Edgecombe County in the North Carolina House of Representatives in 1883.
Franklin D. Dancy was a Reconstruction era blacksmith,mayor and politician who served in the North Carolina Senate.
Robert Fletcher (1815-1885) was a Reconstruction era politician in North Carolina who served in the North Carolina House of Representatives. He served his community in other positions including being a sub-elector and a county commissioner.
