1 00:00:03,960 --> 00:00:08,240 Speaker 1: That is amazing. It's like three D. I'm at the 2 00:00:08,280 --> 00:00:12,560 Speaker 1: Houghton Rare Books Library at Harvard University with Professor Henry 3 00:00:12,600 --> 00:00:15,720 Speaker 1: Lewis Gates Jr. You may recognize him as the host 4 00:00:15,760 --> 00:00:19,160 Speaker 1: of the PBS show Finding Your Roots. Who are looking 5 00:00:19,200 --> 00:00:22,880 Speaker 1: at a print an original lithograph from the nineteenth century. 6 00:00:23,280 --> 00:00:26,680 Speaker 1: Pictured in it are seven men. The depth of field 7 00:00:26,760 --> 00:00:30,360 Speaker 1: is so striking. I've never seen the original. The men 8 00:00:30,400 --> 00:00:34,519 Speaker 1: are all distinguished looking, dressed in three piece suits, some 9 00:00:34,640 --> 00:00:40,880 Speaker 1: in bow ties. They're elegant. It's not surprising. The print 10 00:00:40,960 --> 00:00:44,720 Speaker 1: says they're congressman from the eighteen seventies. But there's something 11 00:00:44,760 --> 00:00:48,120 Speaker 1: else about the scene that seems out of time and place. 12 00:00:48,920 --> 00:00:53,120 Speaker 1: All of these congressmen are African American. When you see 13 00:00:53,120 --> 00:00:56,760 Speaker 1: the copies, that looks essentially like newspaper print. But when 14 00:00:56,760 --> 00:00:59,840 Speaker 1: you look at it here like look at the hair texture. 15 00:01:00,080 --> 00:01:03,920 Speaker 1: See the hair texture. The caption reads the first colored 16 00:01:03,960 --> 00:01:08,280 Speaker 1: Senator and Representatives in the forty one and forty two Congress. 17 00:01:08,880 --> 00:01:13,000 Speaker 1: It was created by the famed printing company Courier and Ives, 18 00:01:13,560 --> 00:01:16,479 Speaker 1: and it really is a powerful image. You should stop 19 00:01:16,480 --> 00:01:21,840 Speaker 1: what you're doing right now and google it. These men 20 00:01:22,360 --> 00:01:28,880 Speaker 1: Hiram Rhodes Revels, Joseph Rainey, Benjamin Turner, Josiah Walls, Jefferson Long, 21 00:01:29,360 --> 00:01:33,800 Speaker 1: Robert de Large, Robert Brown, Elliott don't just have great names, 22 00:01:34,360 --> 00:01:38,720 Speaker 1: they've got absolutely fierce facial hair. But to me, it's 23 00:01:38,760 --> 00:01:42,800 Speaker 1: that year that really sticks out. Entered according to Act 24 00:01:42,840 --> 00:01:45,640 Speaker 1: of Congress, in the year eighteen seventy two. So some 25 00:01:45,760 --> 00:01:50,320 Speaker 1: of these men seven years before are slaves, that's right. Absolutely, 26 00:01:50,560 --> 00:01:54,920 Speaker 1: There are only two of these men who were born free. Now, 27 00:01:54,960 --> 00:01:57,800 Speaker 1: I have to confess something. If you'd asked me when 28 00:01:57,840 --> 00:02:01,480 Speaker 1: the first African Americans to serving Congress were I would 29 00:02:01,480 --> 00:02:05,360 Speaker 1: have said the nineteen fifties or nineteen sixties, maybe the 30 00:02:05,440 --> 00:02:12,720 Speaker 1: nineteen seventies, but not the eighteen seventies. The men in 31 00:02:12,760 --> 00:02:17,520 Speaker 1: this image all Republicans, all representing Southern states, served in 32 00:02:17,600 --> 00:02:20,920 Speaker 1: Congress during the period right after the Civil War known 33 00:02:20,960 --> 00:02:25,200 Speaker 1: as Reconstruction. That's when the formerly rebel states were re 34 00:02:25,360 --> 00:02:29,960 Speaker 1: absorbed into the Union and four million newly freed slaves 35 00:02:30,280 --> 00:02:35,120 Speaker 1: were made citizens. So it was a time of unparalleled hope. 36 00:02:35,320 --> 00:02:38,480 Speaker 1: Black man could vote and they were about to elect 37 00:02:38,800 --> 00:02:42,840 Speaker 1: congressmen to represent them throughout the South. Look at Hiram Revels, 38 00:02:42,880 --> 00:02:46,519 Speaker 1: there now he looks like a senator. Senator Revels from 39 00:02:46,520 --> 00:02:50,680 Speaker 1: Mississippi was the very first African American to serving Congress. 40 00:02:51,440 --> 00:02:54,480 Speaker 1: In the print, he seated majestically all the way to 41 00:02:54,520 --> 00:02:58,680 Speaker 1: the left. When Frederick Douglas saw the portrait of Hiram Revels, 42 00:02:59,480 --> 00:03:02,320 Speaker 1: he said, last, the black man that's represented something other 43 00:03:02,360 --> 00:03:06,280 Speaker 1: than a monkey. Are they hopeful here? Oh? Yeah, they're hopeful. 44 00:03:07,040 --> 00:03:09,960 Speaker 1: They're exemplars of the race, you know, the best and 45 00:03:10,000 --> 00:03:14,239 Speaker 1: the brightest. And I'm sure that they believe that they're 46 00:03:14,280 --> 00:03:19,919 Speaker 1: the vanguard of legions to come. They have no idea. 47 00:03:20,000 --> 00:03:26,520 Speaker 1: What's about the hither From CBS Sunday Morning and Simon 48 00:03:26,560 --> 00:03:32,480 Speaker 1: and Schuster, I'm Morocca and this is mobituaries. This mobid 49 00:03:32,919 --> 00:04:00,920 Speaker 1: the pioneering black Congressman of Reconstruction January death of representation. Now, 50 00:04:01,000 --> 00:04:04,360 Speaker 1: if you blinked during high school history class, you might 51 00:04:04,400 --> 00:04:10,240 Speaker 1: have missed Reconstruction. There's a movie about it, though. It 52 00:04:10,400 --> 00:04:13,120 Speaker 1: was a really big movie, and that movie, whether you've 53 00:04:13,120 --> 00:04:15,320 Speaker 1: seen it or not, has a lot to do with 54 00:04:15,360 --> 00:04:22,919 Speaker 1: what you don't know about this story. The Birth of 55 00:04:22,960 --> 00:04:26,120 Speaker 1: a Nation was that film, and it was a sensation 56 00:04:26,240 --> 00:04:30,040 Speaker 1: when it premiered. In nineteen fifteen. A sweeping epoch. It 57 00:04:30,240 --> 00:04:33,440 Speaker 1: told the story of the Civil War and its aftermath 58 00:04:33,680 --> 00:04:37,840 Speaker 1: from a distinctly Southern point of view. The Confederacy may 59 00:04:37,839 --> 00:04:40,880 Speaker 1: have gone down in defeat, but it did so nobly. 60 00:04:41,360 --> 00:04:45,040 Speaker 1: The ku Klux Klan who rise up afterward are valiant 61 00:04:45,040 --> 00:04:50,679 Speaker 1: defenders of Southern virtue, and in a notorious scene midway 62 00:04:50,720 --> 00:04:54,719 Speaker 1: through the film, the eighteen seventy one South Carolina Statehouse 63 00:04:54,920 --> 00:04:59,880 Speaker 1: is depicted. The lawmakers are mostly black, and they're a disgrace, 64 00:05:00,560 --> 00:05:05,640 Speaker 1: drinking whiskey, eating chicken bare feet on their desks. The message, 65 00:05:05,760 --> 00:05:08,240 Speaker 1: fifty years after the end of the Civil War was 66 00:05:08,360 --> 00:05:13,040 Speaker 1: clear Reconstruction was a failure and the election of black 67 00:05:13,080 --> 00:05:21,240 Speaker 1: officeholders a desecration. But the lives of the actual black 68 00:05:21,279 --> 00:05:25,400 Speaker 1: congressman of Reconstruction tell a story that's very different from 69 00:05:25,440 --> 00:05:29,200 Speaker 1: the birth of a nation and no less epic. In 70 00:05:29,240 --> 00:05:31,960 Speaker 1: this episode, I'm going to tell you about three of 71 00:05:31,960 --> 00:05:43,640 Speaker 1: those men. We start with a great escape. When you're 72 00:05:43,680 --> 00:05:45,440 Speaker 1: hearing do you imagine what it was like back in 73 00:05:47,520 --> 00:05:52,359 Speaker 1: every time? That's Michael Bullware Moore and we're on a 74 00:05:52,400 --> 00:05:55,840 Speaker 1: boat in South Carolina's Charleston Harbor. Oh my god, look 75 00:05:55,880 --> 00:05:59,080 Speaker 1: at that all of them. We're not far from Fort Sumter, 76 00:05:59,480 --> 00:06:07,279 Speaker 1: where the of the war's first shots were fired. Michael's 77 00:06:07,360 --> 00:06:12,120 Speaker 1: great great grandfather was an enslaved man from Beaufort, South Carolina, 78 00:06:12,640 --> 00:06:16,960 Speaker 1: named Robert Smalls. Robert was still owned by his master 79 00:06:17,080 --> 00:06:20,080 Speaker 1: and Beaufort, but at the age of twelve had been 80 00:06:20,120 --> 00:06:22,960 Speaker 1: sent to Charleston to work and to send his wages back. 81 00:06:23,040 --> 00:06:27,599 Speaker 1: And very quickly Robert was drawn to the docks where 82 00:06:27,760 --> 00:06:32,719 Speaker 1: for different jobs and ended up on this boat, the Planter, which, 83 00:06:33,360 --> 00:06:35,680 Speaker 1: once the Civil War broke out, was taken by the 84 00:06:35,680 --> 00:06:39,440 Speaker 1: Confederacy and configured into a military vessel, and so he 85 00:06:39,560 --> 00:06:43,159 Speaker 1: effectively was the pilot of the ship. He knew all 86 00:06:43,200 --> 00:06:48,240 Speaker 1: of the waterways and was an expert seaman. Maybe because 87 00:06:48,240 --> 00:06:51,479 Speaker 1: of his expertise, maybe it was because he was believed 88 00:06:51,480 --> 00:06:54,279 Speaker 1: to be the son of his owner, Smalls was treated 89 00:06:54,320 --> 00:06:58,400 Speaker 1: more leniently than other slaves. He had negotiated with his 90 00:06:58,480 --> 00:07:00,760 Speaker 1: master and with his wife's mask or for them to 91 00:07:00,800 --> 00:07:04,640 Speaker 1: be able to live independently in an apartment, but he 92 00:07:04,720 --> 00:07:07,000 Speaker 1: knew that his family, his wife and children, could be 93 00:07:07,040 --> 00:07:10,920 Speaker 1: sold away in an instant and the prospect of that, 94 00:07:11,040 --> 00:07:14,520 Speaker 1: as it would for anybody, was just a very difficult 95 00:07:14,560 --> 00:07:16,240 Speaker 1: thing to deal with, and so he had freedom on 96 00:07:16,360 --> 00:07:19,280 Speaker 1: his mind. The crew members of the Planter used to 97 00:07:19,360 --> 00:07:23,240 Speaker 1: joke with Smalls, who was mixed race, about his resemblance 98 00:07:23,280 --> 00:07:27,520 Speaker 1: to the ship's white captain, and those jokes inspired an 99 00:07:27,560 --> 00:07:31,960 Speaker 1: audacious plan. In the early morning hours of May thirteenth, 100 00:07:32,120 --> 00:07:37,239 Speaker 1: eighteen sixty two, Robert Small's set that plan into motion. 101 00:07:37,960 --> 00:07:41,720 Speaker 1: So he saw that the Confederate crew had left, and 102 00:07:41,800 --> 00:07:44,320 Speaker 1: he knew that oftentimes they left for the evening, not 103 00:07:44,440 --> 00:07:47,120 Speaker 1: to come back until the next day, where they offered 104 00:07:47,120 --> 00:07:50,280 Speaker 1: them drinking, they carousing, just having a good time in 105 00:07:50,280 --> 00:07:53,360 Speaker 1: the big city. And you know, certainly there was a 106 00:07:53,400 --> 00:07:56,840 Speaker 1: lot about this endeavor that was a calculated risk. I mean, 107 00:07:56,920 --> 00:08:00,960 Speaker 1: he and Hannah, my great great and mother, his wife. 108 00:08:01,080 --> 00:08:04,080 Speaker 1: His wife had basically said this was a do or 109 00:08:04,120 --> 00:08:07,080 Speaker 1: die proposition that they knew that if they got caught 110 00:08:07,520 --> 00:08:10,679 Speaker 1: that they would be not just killed, but probably tortured 111 00:08:10,680 --> 00:08:14,040 Speaker 1: in a particularly egregious and public manner as an example 112 00:08:14,120 --> 00:08:16,440 Speaker 1: for others. So they lined the bottom of the boat 113 00:08:16,480 --> 00:08:20,040 Speaker 1: with dynamite, and they knew that, you know, if they 114 00:08:20,040 --> 00:08:22,240 Speaker 1: got caught or something went wrong, and there were a 115 00:08:22,240 --> 00:08:24,920 Speaker 1: myriad of things that could have gone wrong, but that 116 00:08:25,000 --> 00:08:27,240 Speaker 1: they were going to blow themselves up. And how many 117 00:08:27,320 --> 00:08:30,280 Speaker 1: children do they have? Two at the time, and come 118 00:08:30,320 --> 00:08:35,400 Speaker 1: with them, absolutely, absolutely, including my great grandmother Elizabeth, who 119 00:08:35,440 --> 00:08:39,520 Speaker 1: at the time was maybe four years old. Smalls disguised 120 00:08:39,600 --> 00:08:43,240 Speaker 1: himself in a straw hat and long overcoat similar to 121 00:08:43,280 --> 00:08:46,480 Speaker 1: what the ship's captain wore. With more than a dozen 122 00:08:46,559 --> 00:08:50,640 Speaker 1: black passengers on board, most of them hiding below. He 123 00:08:50,800 --> 00:08:55,920 Speaker 1: set sail towards the Union blockade and freedom, but the 124 00:08:56,000 --> 00:09:01,640 Speaker 1: harbor was heavily fortified with Confederate sentries chained closely, and 125 00:09:01,679 --> 00:09:04,240 Speaker 1: he knew all the pass codes because he was the 126 00:09:04,280 --> 00:09:06,679 Speaker 1: pilot of the boat. And so every time he passed by, 127 00:09:06,720 --> 00:09:10,000 Speaker 1: they were about five or six forts along the way 128 00:09:10,040 --> 00:09:12,920 Speaker 1: here that he would have to blow the appropriate pass 129 00:09:12,960 --> 00:09:17,280 Speaker 1: going on the whistle one by one. Smalls, playing it cool, 130 00:09:17,760 --> 00:09:21,560 Speaker 1: gave the right pass codes and so so yeah, so 131 00:09:21,559 --> 00:09:24,440 Speaker 1: they let him pass. And the last big obstacle is 132 00:09:24,480 --> 00:09:28,360 Speaker 1: which fort is Fort Sumter, which is the largest and 133 00:09:28,400 --> 00:09:31,360 Speaker 1: most dangerous fort in the harbor, and you know, the 134 00:09:31,360 --> 00:09:34,600 Speaker 1: place where the Civil War began and just a place 135 00:09:34,640 --> 00:09:38,880 Speaker 1: of enormous historical sort of gravity and wait, it was 136 00:09:39,240 --> 00:09:43,360 Speaker 1: captured that point by the Confederacy, and there were enormous 137 00:09:43,400 --> 00:09:50,520 Speaker 1: guns on Fort Sumter. When Smalls got to the point 138 00:09:50,640 --> 00:09:53,600 Speaker 1: where he believed he was safely beyond the range of cannons, 139 00:09:54,120 --> 00:09:57,400 Speaker 1: he fired up the engine and it was full steam ahead. 140 00:09:58,160 --> 00:10:02,000 Speaker 1: But while Smalls and his crew had otherwise meticulously planned 141 00:10:02,080 --> 00:10:07,520 Speaker 1: this escape, they'd overlooked one key detail. Their ship, speeding 142 00:10:07,559 --> 00:10:11,600 Speaker 1: straight toward the Union blockade, was still flying a giant 143 00:10:11,760 --> 00:10:16,199 Speaker 1: Confederate flag. Luckily, his wife Hannah, my great great grandmother, 144 00:10:16,640 --> 00:10:20,400 Speaker 1: so together some white bedsheets, and so they quickly lowered 145 00:10:20,440 --> 00:10:24,720 Speaker 1: the Confederate flag, raised the flag of surrender the white sheets, 146 00:10:25,160 --> 00:10:27,680 Speaker 1: and they were greeted at the Union blockade of the 147 00:10:27,720 --> 00:10:32,280 Speaker 1: USS onward, the Union forces had suddenly gained a heavily 148 00:10:32,400 --> 00:10:37,240 Speaker 1: armed ship ideal for navigating Charleston's Harbor. Even more valuable 149 00:10:37,280 --> 00:10:40,520 Speaker 1: than the ship, though, was the pilot's expert knowledge of 150 00:10:40,559 --> 00:10:44,800 Speaker 1: the harbor, and the fledgling Northern War effort suddenly gained 151 00:10:44,960 --> 00:10:49,640 Speaker 1: an honest to goodness war hero. I mean, there are 152 00:10:49,640 --> 00:10:54,280 Speaker 1: all kinds of articles about how what Robert did was 153 00:10:54,400 --> 00:10:57,600 Speaker 1: just sort of mind boggling. Of course, Robert was persona 154 00:10:57,679 --> 00:10:59,880 Speaker 1: on grata in the South. There was a bounty on 155 00:11:00,040 --> 00:11:03,040 Speaker 1: his head, but in the North he was received as 156 00:11:03,120 --> 00:11:09,160 Speaker 1: a as a hero. You read these contemporaneous accounts, this 157 00:11:09,240 --> 00:11:13,920 Speaker 1: is not a modern day sort of inflation of what 158 00:11:14,080 --> 00:11:16,720 Speaker 1: happened at the time, and it was a really big deal. 159 00:11:17,480 --> 00:11:20,440 Speaker 1: It's interesting to remember that at that point in time 160 00:11:21,080 --> 00:11:24,600 Speaker 1: people thought of of enslaved people as African Americans, really 161 00:11:24,640 --> 00:11:28,280 Speaker 1: as beasts of burden, but really blew people's minds because 162 00:11:28,880 --> 00:11:32,439 Speaker 1: it just was beyond what people thought an enslaved person 163 00:11:32,480 --> 00:11:36,760 Speaker 1: could do. Robert Smalls received fifteen hundred dollars as a 164 00:11:36,800 --> 00:11:40,040 Speaker 1: reward for delivering the Planter, enough for him to hire 165 00:11:40,120 --> 00:11:43,440 Speaker 1: private tutors and sent his children to the best schools 166 00:11:43,480 --> 00:11:46,880 Speaker 1: that would accept African Americans at that time. And just 167 00:11:47,200 --> 00:11:51,320 Speaker 1: three months after stepping aboard the US is onward, Robert 168 00:11:51,400 --> 00:11:56,319 Speaker 1: Smalls met with President Abraham Lincoln himself. Lincoln had been 169 00:11:56,320 --> 00:12:00,640 Speaker 1: cautious about employing runaway slaves in the Union military, but 170 00:12:00,800 --> 00:12:03,440 Speaker 1: Smalls helped to make the case to the Great Bearded 171 00:12:03,520 --> 00:12:06,400 Speaker 1: One that black men should be allowed to serve in 172 00:12:06,440 --> 00:12:11,280 Speaker 1: the Union ranks. Lincoln eventually relented, clearing the way for 173 00:12:11,400 --> 00:12:17,120 Speaker 1: some two hundred thousand African Americans to serve, including Robert Smalls, 174 00:12:17,400 --> 00:12:21,040 Speaker 1: who went on to fight in seventeen naval battles, rising 175 00:12:21,080 --> 00:12:25,360 Speaker 1: to the rank of captain. Why didn't he just take 176 00:12:25,400 --> 00:12:29,240 Speaker 1: his winnings and settle into a comfortable life up north. 177 00:12:29,640 --> 00:12:33,000 Speaker 1: I think he could have it. It would. He earned 178 00:12:33,480 --> 00:12:38,240 Speaker 1: his freedom, he earned the future of just relaxing and 179 00:12:38,440 --> 00:12:40,720 Speaker 1: living the life of a Civil War hero. But it 180 00:12:40,760 --> 00:12:43,840 Speaker 1: wasn't enough for him, and he he came back, and 181 00:12:43,880 --> 00:12:47,920 Speaker 1: he fought for others to gain them the same freedom 182 00:12:47,960 --> 00:12:52,360 Speaker 1: that he had already won for himself. After the war, 183 00:12:52,559 --> 00:12:56,560 Speaker 1: Smalls returned to Beauford, South Carolina, and, in a sign 184 00:12:56,600 --> 00:12:59,480 Speaker 1: of how radically things had shifted in such a short time, 185 00:13:00,120 --> 00:13:04,280 Speaker 1: he purchased the home of his former master. In eighteen 186 00:13:04,320 --> 00:13:08,280 Speaker 1: sixty eight, as a delegate to South Carolina's Constitutional Convention, 187 00:13:08,760 --> 00:13:13,280 Speaker 1: he helped to ratify an amendment that banned discrimination quote 188 00:13:13,320 --> 00:13:17,240 Speaker 1: on account of race or color in any case. He 189 00:13:17,400 --> 00:13:20,880 Speaker 1: then won a seat in the South Carolina State Legislature. 190 00:13:21,440 --> 00:13:24,720 Speaker 1: That same state house depicted in such a demeaning way 191 00:13:24,880 --> 00:13:27,280 Speaker 1: in the Birth of a Nation, but in the real 192 00:13:27,320 --> 00:13:31,440 Speaker 1: world version of events, small spot for compulsory public schooling 193 00:13:31,600 --> 00:13:35,960 Speaker 1: for all children black and white, and in eighteen seventy four, 194 00:13:36,320 --> 00:13:40,439 Speaker 1: Robert Smalls was elected to the U. S. House of Representatives. 195 00:13:41,120 --> 00:13:43,920 Speaker 1: Once black people get the right to vote in the South, 196 00:13:44,080 --> 00:13:46,599 Speaker 1: they start electing people to office, which is one of 197 00:13:46,640 --> 00:13:50,719 Speaker 1: the most remarkable changes in this whole period. That's Columbia 198 00:13:50,840 --> 00:13:57,079 Speaker 1: University history professor Eric Foner, his landmark book on Reconstruction 199 00:13:57,480 --> 00:14:01,720 Speaker 1: inspired a modern day reevaluation of the period. His latest 200 00:14:01,760 --> 00:14:06,920 Speaker 1: book is about fourteenth and fifteenth amendments to the U. S. Constitution. 201 00:14:07,440 --> 00:14:10,160 Speaker 1: Those are the ones ratified in the years after the 202 00:14:10,240 --> 00:14:15,000 Speaker 1: Civil War that banned slavery, extended citizenship to all people 203 00:14:15,120 --> 00:14:18,760 Speaker 1: born in the US, and effectively gave the vote to 204 00:14:18,840 --> 00:14:22,880 Speaker 1: African American men the last most women of any race 205 00:14:22,960 --> 00:14:26,600 Speaker 1: would have to wait another half century to vote. Well, 206 00:14:26,640 --> 00:14:29,440 Speaker 1: when I look back at Reconstruction, I think of it 207 00:14:29,560 --> 00:14:33,479 Speaker 1: as a pivotal moment in the history of American democracy. 208 00:14:33,600 --> 00:14:36,880 Speaker 1: It's the first time in this country or really anywhere, 209 00:14:37,480 --> 00:14:41,360 Speaker 1: that an interracial democracy was created. That's a really big deal, 210 00:14:41,400 --> 00:14:44,640 Speaker 1: by the way, to say that the first time in history. Yes, yes, 211 00:14:45,360 --> 00:14:48,880 Speaker 1: you don't have any examples of this in other countries. Really. 212 00:14:48,960 --> 00:14:51,600 Speaker 1: Of course, slavery is abolished in many plots of the 213 00:14:51,640 --> 00:14:56,400 Speaker 1: Western hemisphere in the nineteenth century. But a functioning interracial 214 00:14:56,400 --> 00:14:59,720 Speaker 1: democracy is not really created in any of those places. 215 00:14:59,760 --> 00:15:02,600 Speaker 1: And here you have it. You have people who a 216 00:15:02,640 --> 00:15:07,240 Speaker 1: few years before with slaves now holding political office. My 217 00:15:07,520 --> 00:15:12,920 Speaker 1: estimate is that about two thousand African American men held 218 00:15:13,040 --> 00:15:16,840 Speaker 1: some kind of public office. I'm talking about from Congress 219 00:15:16,880 --> 00:15:20,040 Speaker 1: down to members of the legislature, down to sheriff and 220 00:15:20,120 --> 00:15:24,360 Speaker 1: school board official and Justice of the Piece. I think 221 00:15:24,600 --> 00:15:27,880 Speaker 1: Robert Smalls was the type of individual who rolled up 222 00:15:27,920 --> 00:15:32,920 Speaker 1: his sleeves and stuck his neck out to make things happen. 223 00:15:33,960 --> 00:15:38,400 Speaker 1: Robert Smalls's tenure in Congress coincided with the rise of 224 00:15:38,400 --> 00:15:41,840 Speaker 1: a black political elite in the nation's capital and in 225 00:15:41,960 --> 00:15:46,880 Speaker 1: emerging social one too. Next the story of the black 226 00:15:46,920 --> 00:15:56,240 Speaker 1: senator from Mississippi and his socialite wife. There was a 227 00:15:56,320 --> 00:16:00,520 Speaker 1: time where like all I did was think, eat and sleep. 228 00:16:00,640 --> 00:16:05,520 Speaker 1: Josephine Bruce Alison Hobbs is a director of African American 229 00:16:05,560 --> 00:16:09,720 Speaker 1: Studies at Stanford University. A few years back, she wrote 230 00:16:09,760 --> 00:16:15,200 Speaker 1: about the June eight wedding of Mississippi Senator Blanche K. 231 00:16:15,440 --> 00:16:22,640 Speaker 1: Bruce to the former Josephine Wilson. This would have been 232 00:16:23,680 --> 00:16:28,680 Speaker 1: the wedding of the century. We can imagine this very 233 00:16:29,040 --> 00:16:36,080 Speaker 1: well appointed, gorgeous home where this very fancy wedding is 234 00:16:36,160 --> 00:16:43,200 Speaker 1: taking place. Crowds gathered outside that home, hoping for a glimpse. 235 00:16:43,920 --> 00:16:47,120 Speaker 1: But the house belonged not to the senator, but to 236 00:16:47,160 --> 00:16:51,800 Speaker 1: the bride's father, a wealthy African American dentist in Cleveland. 237 00:16:52,480 --> 00:16:56,520 Speaker 1: The beautiful Josephine was a socialite in a burgeoning black 238 00:16:56,640 --> 00:17:01,120 Speaker 1: upper class, So it was the senator who was marrying up. 239 00:17:03,640 --> 00:17:07,359 Speaker 1: Blanche Bruce is going to look out on the family 240 00:17:07,359 --> 00:17:11,360 Speaker 1: and friends that have gathered and not see one person 241 00:17:11,600 --> 00:17:14,480 Speaker 1: from his own family, and perhaps not even see one 242 00:17:14,600 --> 00:17:19,560 Speaker 1: familiar face. And this is a sitting US senator right right. 243 00:17:20,320 --> 00:17:26,560 Speaker 1: Perhaps Josephine's family did not want any kind of reminders 244 00:17:26,720 --> 00:17:31,399 Speaker 1: of the slave past at this wedding. That most of 245 00:17:31,480 --> 00:17:38,159 Speaker 1: Blanche Bruce's family members had been enslaved, while Josephine's family 246 00:17:38,240 --> 00:17:42,120 Speaker 1: were born free. Bruce had been enslaved for more than 247 00:17:42,160 --> 00:17:47,439 Speaker 1: half of his life, and so that automatically places him 248 00:17:47,480 --> 00:17:52,199 Speaker 1: in a very different kind of category than Josephine Bruce 249 00:17:52,440 --> 00:17:56,639 Speaker 1: and her circle and her parents circle. Blanche Bruce was 250 00:17:56,720 --> 00:17:59,120 Speaker 1: living in Missouri at the start of the Civil War, 251 00:17:59,680 --> 00:18:02,680 Speaker 1: he led to the Free State of Kansas, and after 252 00:18:02,720 --> 00:18:06,399 Speaker 1: the war studied at Oberlin College in Ohio before making 253 00:18:06,400 --> 00:18:10,280 Speaker 1: his way to Mississippi. There he bought a plantation, got 254 00:18:10,320 --> 00:18:14,119 Speaker 1: involved in local politics, and in eighteen seventy five was 255 00:18:14,200 --> 00:18:18,600 Speaker 1: sworn in as the state's junior U. S. Senator, occupying 256 00:18:18,720 --> 00:18:22,800 Speaker 1: the very same seat once held by Jefferson Davis, the 257 00:18:22,840 --> 00:18:26,320 Speaker 1: former President of the Confederacy. This was not a man 258 00:18:26,400 --> 00:18:28,320 Speaker 1: who was not ready for prime time. Is that someone 259 00:18:28,359 --> 00:18:30,400 Speaker 1: who was in over there had. This was someone who, 260 00:18:30,520 --> 00:18:36,000 Speaker 1: despite all the odds against him, succeeded enormously. Lawrence Otis 261 00:18:36,040 --> 00:18:38,520 Speaker 1: Graham is the author of a history of the Bruce 262 00:18:38,600 --> 00:18:42,720 Speaker 1: family called The Senator and the Socialite. You write that 263 00:18:42,760 --> 00:18:46,240 Speaker 1: he had the manners of a Chesterfield. What does that mean? 264 00:18:46,760 --> 00:18:50,479 Speaker 1: He was sort of an upper class gentleman who, you know, 265 00:18:50,720 --> 00:18:55,120 Speaker 1: carried the walking stick and was finally groomed and almost 266 00:18:55,119 --> 00:18:59,520 Speaker 1: British in his carriage and behavior. He knew that even 267 00:18:59,520 --> 00:19:02,200 Speaker 1: though he at this slave heritage and people were always 268 00:19:02,240 --> 00:19:05,080 Speaker 1: going to know that he needs to present himself as 269 00:19:05,440 --> 00:19:12,280 Speaker 1: a sophisticated Washington political leader. Sophistication came more naturally to Josephine. 270 00:19:12,800 --> 00:19:16,640 Speaker 1: She grew up ensconced in a world of privilege unattainable 271 00:19:16,720 --> 00:19:20,080 Speaker 1: for all but the wealthiest Americans at the time, black 272 00:19:20,240 --> 00:19:26,480 Speaker 1: or white. After the couple's wedding, they set sail on 273 00:19:26,560 --> 00:19:31,080 Speaker 1: a four month European honeymoon, which stops in Germany, Holland, 274 00:19:31,119 --> 00:19:36,959 Speaker 1: and Switzerland. The newly weds attended the theater in London 275 00:19:37,119 --> 00:19:40,680 Speaker 1: and shopped in Paris. If half is true, that is 276 00:19:40,760 --> 00:19:44,880 Speaker 1: told of her beauty and accomplishments, The Washington Post gushed 277 00:19:45,000 --> 00:19:48,679 Speaker 1: just before their wedding, her entry here as a senator's 278 00:19:48,720 --> 00:19:56,320 Speaker 1: wife is likely to create a sensation for this is phenomenal. 279 00:19:57,080 --> 00:20:00,760 Speaker 1: Graham and I visited the five story read Rick Washington, 280 00:20:00,840 --> 00:20:04,359 Speaker 1: d c. Townhouse the Bruces called home, and some of 281 00:20:04,400 --> 00:20:10,920 Speaker 1: these windows are almost Florida ceiling. You must have been 282 00:20:10,960 --> 00:20:14,680 Speaker 1: so happy to find out that the house is still here. Oh, absolutely, 283 00:20:15,680 --> 00:20:18,359 Speaker 1: just a mile from the White House. This was an 284 00:20:18,400 --> 00:20:22,240 Speaker 1: integrated neighborhood in the eighteen seventies. To be able to 285 00:20:22,240 --> 00:20:25,919 Speaker 1: walk down the steps and feel like I would understand 286 00:20:26,000 --> 00:20:29,280 Speaker 1: the life of this wealthy, black, powerful couple at a 287 00:20:29,359 --> 00:20:32,919 Speaker 1: time when you didn't even think blacks existed in a 288 00:20:32,960 --> 00:20:39,679 Speaker 1: lifestyle like this. That house became an important stop on 289 00:20:39,720 --> 00:20:43,400 Speaker 1: the Washington social circuit. If Bravo had been around back 290 00:20:43,400 --> 00:20:45,959 Speaker 1: then would Blanche and Josephine have been on it. They 291 00:20:45,960 --> 00:20:48,080 Speaker 1: would have come after them for a TV show. Oh 292 00:20:48,119 --> 00:20:50,320 Speaker 1: my gosh, they would be the great reality show. Can 293 00:20:50,359 --> 00:20:52,679 Speaker 1: you imagine this living in a home like this and 294 00:20:53,200 --> 00:20:55,920 Speaker 1: you know, socializing in because they're moving from the black world. 295 00:20:55,920 --> 00:20:58,159 Speaker 1: There's their black world and then there's their white world. 296 00:20:58,200 --> 00:21:00,840 Speaker 1: And she's terrific looking. Oh, she's of and she knows 297 00:21:00,840 --> 00:21:02,239 Speaker 1: how that. She knows how to pull it off. She 298 00:21:02,320 --> 00:21:04,560 Speaker 1: knew how to enter a room, she knew how to 299 00:21:04,600 --> 00:21:07,159 Speaker 1: make people want to know her. But she was not 300 00:21:07,240 --> 00:21:09,520 Speaker 1: doing it for herself. She was doing it for her husband, 301 00:21:09,560 --> 00:21:11,800 Speaker 1: and she was doing it for his career. So she 302 00:21:11,840 --> 00:21:15,280 Speaker 1: would invite and host the wives of senators, on the 303 00:21:15,280 --> 00:21:18,800 Speaker 1: wives of Supreme Court justices, and these women would come, 304 00:21:18,920 --> 00:21:21,720 Speaker 1: they would come, they would come, and because of their presence, 305 00:21:21,960 --> 00:21:25,919 Speaker 1: the society columns would cover them. But news accounts also 306 00:21:26,000 --> 00:21:32,159 Speaker 1: made constant, unsettling reference to Josephine's light complexion. It requires 307 00:21:32,240 --> 00:21:35,400 Speaker 1: much more than usual attention to notice that she has 308 00:21:35,480 --> 00:21:39,080 Speaker 1: any African blood in her veins. Read one dispatch on 309 00:21:39,160 --> 00:21:42,560 Speaker 1: the front page of the New York Times. Her looks, 310 00:21:42,600 --> 00:21:46,960 Speaker 1: along with her wealth and bearing, made Josephine particularly vexing 311 00:21:47,119 --> 00:21:50,679 Speaker 1: to many in the Washington political establishment, And in some 312 00:21:50,720 --> 00:21:56,280 Speaker 1: ways that was exactly what was so disturbing to many 313 00:21:56,480 --> 00:21:59,560 Speaker 1: of the members of the Senate and their wives, was 314 00:21:59,640 --> 00:22:03,040 Speaker 1: that she just acted like a white woman to them. 315 00:22:03,119 --> 00:22:07,800 Speaker 1: And in many cases, she's more refined, she's more well 316 00:22:07,960 --> 00:22:13,760 Speaker 1: educated than any of the white senators wives. One paper 317 00:22:13,800 --> 00:22:16,879 Speaker 1: went so far as to run an article titled ought 318 00:22:16,920 --> 00:22:20,879 Speaker 1: we to visit Her, describing the dilemma many white senators 319 00:22:20,920 --> 00:22:25,399 Speaker 1: wives faced. I mean, you could imagine that these white 320 00:22:25,560 --> 00:22:29,920 Speaker 1: women who are in Washington, who are married to senators, 321 00:22:30,440 --> 00:22:35,400 Speaker 1: they perceived themselves as being at the very top of 322 00:22:35,520 --> 00:22:43,120 Speaker 1: the social ladder, and then a black woman comes, and 323 00:22:43,720 --> 00:22:48,360 Speaker 1: all of the sudden, she is the topic that everyone 324 00:22:48,480 --> 00:22:53,119 Speaker 1: can't stop talking about, and she's the one that the 325 00:22:53,160 --> 00:22:56,640 Speaker 1: newspapers want to write about. There was no rule book 326 00:22:56,840 --> 00:23:00,879 Speaker 1: for how to receive the wife of an African American senator, 327 00:23:02,800 --> 00:23:06,880 Speaker 1: and so all of these white women are sort of 328 00:23:06,920 --> 00:23:10,919 Speaker 1: making it up as they go along, and some seem 329 00:23:11,080 --> 00:23:19,400 Speaker 1: to do it with some grace, and others don't now. 330 00:23:19,440 --> 00:23:22,880 Speaker 1: It probably won't surprise you that some politicians and their 331 00:23:22,920 --> 00:23:27,040 Speaker 1: wives did snub the Bruces. But what's interesting to me 332 00:23:27,520 --> 00:23:32,080 Speaker 1: is the disapproval those politicians were met with. For example, 333 00:23:32,400 --> 00:23:36,399 Speaker 1: there's this eight seventy nine editorial from a Wisconsin newspaper 334 00:23:36,840 --> 00:23:42,719 Speaker 1: that scolds the politicians who have quote studiously ignored Josephine 335 00:23:42,720 --> 00:23:48,399 Speaker 1: Bruce's existence. The editorial concludes, they have allowed themselves to 336 00:23:48,480 --> 00:23:53,680 Speaker 1: be controlled by that old race prejudice. To me, it's 337 00:23:53,720 --> 00:23:57,760 Speaker 1: so striking that this editorial is not making any excuses 338 00:23:58,359 --> 00:24:01,919 Speaker 1: for the white editors and their wives who have not 339 00:24:01,960 --> 00:24:06,000 Speaker 1: received the Bruces right, which is so interesting. It seems 340 00:24:06,040 --> 00:24:12,199 Speaker 1: surprising that anyone would be surprised that there were white 341 00:24:12,560 --> 00:24:15,879 Speaker 1: wives who did not visit the Bruces. I mean, it 342 00:24:16,000 --> 00:24:19,080 Speaker 1: seems like that would have been what people would have 343 00:24:19,200 --> 00:24:23,040 Speaker 1: expected at the time. And so that's where I think 344 00:24:23,400 --> 00:24:26,280 Speaker 1: we do have to kind of think, well, maybe there 345 00:24:26,320 --> 00:24:32,160 Speaker 1: were people who really did believe that a social revolution 346 00:24:32,280 --> 00:24:37,639 Speaker 1: had happened and that people needed to accept that and 347 00:24:37,720 --> 00:24:42,040 Speaker 1: move on and move ahead. As Senator Blanche Cave, Bruce 348 00:24:42,119 --> 00:24:45,240 Speaker 1: advocated not only for the rights of black people, but 349 00:24:45,359 --> 00:24:50,000 Speaker 1: also Native Americans and Chinese immigrant laborers. He was the 350 00:24:50,080 --> 00:24:54,080 Speaker 1: first African American to preside over the Senate. He even 351 00:24:54,160 --> 00:25:00,600 Speaker 1: chaired a Republican national Convention. For many Americans, the Bruce's 352 00:25:00,640 --> 00:25:04,320 Speaker 1: wealth and status must have embodied the heights to which 353 00:25:04,359 --> 00:25:08,520 Speaker 1: African Americans could aspire in a reconstructed America. But the 354 00:25:08,640 --> 00:25:12,160 Speaker 1: uneasiness some felt about them being part of the Washington 355 00:25:12,320 --> 00:25:27,920 Speaker 1: establishment would be a sign of things to come back. 356 00:25:28,000 --> 00:25:31,080 Speaker 1: In eighteen sixty one, on the eve of the Civil War, 357 00:25:31,560 --> 00:25:36,160 Speaker 1: Alexander Stephens, the vice president of the newly formed Confederate 358 00:25:36,200 --> 00:25:40,440 Speaker 1: States of America, delivered a speech laying out the reasoning 359 00:25:40,480 --> 00:25:46,919 Speaker 1: behind the nascent rebellion. The great truth, he proclaimed, was 360 00:25:47,000 --> 00:25:49,879 Speaker 1: that the negro is not equal to the white man, 361 00:25:50,240 --> 00:25:54,760 Speaker 1: that slavery, subordination to the superior race is his natural 362 00:25:54,880 --> 00:25:59,800 Speaker 1: and normal condition. But by eighteen seventy four a lot 363 00:25:59,840 --> 00:26:06,240 Speaker 1: had changed. Over six hundred thousand Americans had died in 364 00:26:06,320 --> 00:26:10,600 Speaker 1: the war that followed that speech, four million slaves were freed, 365 00:26:10,720 --> 00:26:13,840 Speaker 1: and many of them now held public office throughout the South, 366 00:26:14,400 --> 00:26:18,399 Speaker 1: and the US Congress was fiercely debating a Republican backed 367 00:26:18,520 --> 00:26:22,640 Speaker 1: civil rights bill that would outlaw discrimination based on race. 368 00:26:22,840 --> 00:26:27,919 Speaker 1: In hotels, theaters, and railway cars. The Democratic opposition to 369 00:26:28,000 --> 00:26:32,160 Speaker 1: the law was being led by none other than former 370 00:26:32,240 --> 00:26:37,320 Speaker 1: Vice President of the Confederacy Alexander Stevens. He was now 371 00:26:37,400 --> 00:26:42,120 Speaker 1: back in Congress from Georgia again, Professor Eric Fohner, and 372 00:26:42,240 --> 00:26:45,040 Speaker 1: he'd given a speech denouncing the civil Rights law and 373 00:26:45,119 --> 00:26:48,680 Speaker 1: really defending slavery and saying the Civil War had nothing 374 00:26:48,680 --> 00:26:51,720 Speaker 1: to do with slavery. It was all local rights. Remember 375 00:26:51,760 --> 00:26:56,000 Speaker 1: when the South seceded, Stevens gave a speech saying slavery 376 00:26:56,080 --> 00:26:59,600 Speaker 1: is the cornerstone of the Confederacy. Fast forward fifteen years 377 00:26:59,640 --> 00:27:02,080 Speaker 1: and he's, oh, no, no, it wasn't about slavery. And anyway, 378 00:27:02,080 --> 00:27:05,680 Speaker 1: black people don't deserve these rights anyway. We don't want 379 00:27:05,680 --> 00:27:07,720 Speaker 1: to be in a hotel with a black person, or 380 00:27:07,840 --> 00:27:10,320 Speaker 1: a railroad with a black person, or anything like that. 381 00:27:10,680 --> 00:27:13,800 Speaker 1: And the Republican floor leader, when Stevens was finished, said, 382 00:27:13,800 --> 00:27:16,040 Speaker 1: you know, it's kind of late. Now. We're gonna adjourn 383 00:27:16,119 --> 00:27:20,160 Speaker 1: until tomorrow morning when Robert B. Elliott will give the 384 00:27:20,200 --> 00:27:28,440 Speaker 1: Republican response. South Carolina Congressman Robert Brown. Elliott was famous 385 00:27:28,480 --> 00:27:33,119 Speaker 1: for his sterling oratory, his effortless display of classical learning, 386 00:27:33,480 --> 00:27:38,080 Speaker 1: and his eloquence in debate. He was also black, but 387 00:27:38,160 --> 00:27:41,920 Speaker 1: among his African American colleagues, most of whom were mixed race, 388 00:27:42,440 --> 00:27:46,720 Speaker 1: Elliott stood out for his darker skin, A living, breathing 389 00:27:46,800 --> 00:27:50,719 Speaker 1: rebuttal to racist ideology of the time. If you were 390 00:27:50,760 --> 00:27:54,400 Speaker 1: an intelligent black person and you were mixed, like Frederick Douglas, 391 00:27:54,800 --> 00:27:59,080 Speaker 1: of course racists would say, yes, of course, your braun 392 00:27:59,280 --> 00:28:02,679 Speaker 1: comes from your freaking heritage. Your brain comes from your 393 00:28:02,720 --> 00:28:06,560 Speaker 1: European heritings. So I think he must have caused quite 394 00:28:06,600 --> 00:28:12,480 Speaker 1: as their Elliott was also more radical in his politics 395 00:28:12,600 --> 00:28:16,679 Speaker 1: than his black colleagues were. He had opposed granting amnesty 396 00:28:16,760 --> 00:28:20,040 Speaker 1: to former Confederates, so when word got out that he 397 00:28:20,040 --> 00:28:24,199 Speaker 1: would give the response to Steven's, African Americans filled the 398 00:28:24,240 --> 00:28:27,879 Speaker 1: house galleries. They came to see what one paper dubbed 399 00:28:27,880 --> 00:28:31,760 Speaker 1: as quote the African take on the quote brain of 400 00:28:31,800 --> 00:28:37,119 Speaker 1: the Confederacy. Elliott began his response to Stevens by insisting 401 00:28:37,400 --> 00:28:42,200 Speaker 1: that the rights guaranteed by this bill were quite simply inalienable. 402 00:28:43,080 --> 00:28:48,760 Speaker 1: Here are Elliot's words, read by actor Delroy Lindo. While 403 00:28:48,800 --> 00:28:52,479 Speaker 1: I am sincerely grateful for this high mark of courtesy 404 00:28:52,640 --> 00:28:56,000 Speaker 1: that has been accorded to me by this House. It 405 00:28:56,080 --> 00:28:58,320 Speaker 1: is a matter of regret to me that it is 406 00:28:58,440 --> 00:29:02,360 Speaker 1: necessary at this that I should rise in the presence 407 00:29:02,720 --> 00:29:06,840 Speaker 1: of an American Congress to advocate a bill which simply 408 00:29:06,880 --> 00:29:11,520 Speaker 1: asserts equal rights and equal public privileges for all classes 409 00:29:11,760 --> 00:29:16,480 Speaker 1: of American citizens. I regret, sir, that the dark hue 410 00:29:16,480 --> 00:29:19,240 Speaker 1: of my skin may lend the color to the imputation 411 00:29:19,720 --> 00:29:23,160 Speaker 1: that I am controlled by motives personal to myself in 412 00:29:23,240 --> 00:29:29,000 Speaker 1: my advocacy of this great measure of national justice. Elliott 413 00:29:29,120 --> 00:29:33,920 Speaker 1: then faced down the aged, stooped and Billius Stevens and 414 00:29:34,040 --> 00:29:38,880 Speaker 1: his colleagues, calling them out for their Confederate past. It 415 00:29:39,000 --> 00:29:43,480 Speaker 1: is scarcely twelve years since that gentleman shocked the civilized 416 00:29:43,480 --> 00:29:48,320 Speaker 1: world by announcing the birth of a government which rested 417 00:29:48,320 --> 00:29:53,800 Speaker 1: on human slavery as its cornerstone. The progress of events 418 00:29:54,040 --> 00:29:58,520 Speaker 1: has swept away that pseudo government, which rested on greed, pride, 419 00:29:58,560 --> 00:30:02,960 Speaker 1: and tyranny, and the race whom he then ruthlessly spurned 420 00:30:03,000 --> 00:30:10,040 Speaker 1: and trampled on are here to meet him in debate. Sir, 421 00:30:11,160 --> 00:30:16,560 Speaker 1: the gentleman from Georgia has not much since eighteen sixty one, 422 00:30:17,200 --> 00:30:22,360 Speaker 1: but he is still a laggered now that he's addressing 423 00:30:22,400 --> 00:30:24,640 Speaker 1: the vice President of the Confederacy, you know, who wasn't 424 00:30:24,720 --> 00:30:27,320 Speaker 1: used to black people talking about him that way, And 425 00:30:27,360 --> 00:30:30,360 Speaker 1: I wonder what the protocol was. Did people cheer? I mean, 426 00:30:30,480 --> 00:30:32,800 Speaker 1: I mean, well, they weren't supposed to cheer, but they did. 427 00:30:33,600 --> 00:30:38,080 Speaker 1: Elliott concluded the speech by citing biblical precedent and making 428 00:30:38,080 --> 00:30:41,000 Speaker 1: the case that this bill would serve as the capstone 429 00:30:41,320 --> 00:30:46,160 Speaker 1: to Reconstruction itself. The results of the war, as seen 430 00:30:46,240 --> 00:30:51,280 Speaker 1: in Reconstruction, have settled forever the political status of my race. 431 00:30:52,640 --> 00:30:56,080 Speaker 1: The passage of this bill will determine the civil status 432 00:30:56,120 --> 00:31:00,000 Speaker 1: not only of the Negro, but if any other class 433 00:30:59,880 --> 00:31:04,880 Speaker 1: of citizens who may feel themselves discriminated against. It will 434 00:31:04,920 --> 00:31:09,160 Speaker 1: form the capstone of that temple of liberty begun on 435 00:31:09,240 --> 00:31:14,520 Speaker 1: this continent under discouraging circumstances, carried on in spite of 436 00:31:14,560 --> 00:31:18,760 Speaker 1: the sneers of monarchists and the cavils of pretended friends 437 00:31:18,760 --> 00:31:22,400 Speaker 1: of freedom, until the last it stands, in all its 438 00:31:22,440 --> 00:31:27,680 Speaker 1: beautiful symmetry and proportions, a building the grandest of which 439 00:31:28,320 --> 00:31:36,040 Speaker 1: the world has ever seen. And the speech was widely 440 00:31:36,040 --> 00:31:40,400 Speaker 1: reported in the press. It was widely hailed. One Kentucky 441 00:31:40,440 --> 00:31:44,800 Speaker 1: newspaper said, this was the most impressive speech by a 442 00:31:44,880 --> 00:31:48,200 Speaker 1: black man in American history. Now that's saying something when 443 00:31:48,240 --> 00:31:51,080 Speaker 1: you had Frederick Douglas out there getting brilliant speeches. But 444 00:31:51,800 --> 00:31:54,800 Speaker 1: it made an impact. Elliot became a nationally known figure 445 00:31:54,840 --> 00:31:57,720 Speaker 1: because of his speech on the Civil Rights Bill. With 446 00:31:57,880 --> 00:32:02,480 Speaker 1: the votes of African American cong Risman Joseph Rainey, Richard Kane, 447 00:32:03,000 --> 00:32:07,120 Speaker 1: James t Rapier, and John Roy Lynch, that Civil Rights 448 00:32:07,160 --> 00:32:12,800 Speaker 1: Bill passed, and on March one, eight President Ulysses S. 449 00:32:12,880 --> 00:32:17,920 Speaker 1: Grant signed it into law. Discrimination in restaurants, theaters, and 450 00:32:18,040 --> 00:32:22,520 Speaker 1: street cars was now illegal in the United States, at 451 00:32:22,600 --> 00:32:38,440 Speaker 1: least it was on paper. The slave went free stood 452 00:32:38,480 --> 00:32:42,200 Speaker 1: a brief moment in the sun. That's how the great 453 00:32:42,240 --> 00:32:46,120 Speaker 1: writer and civil rights activist W. E. B. Du Bois 454 00:32:46,160 --> 00:32:55,880 Speaker 1: described Reconstruction. Sadly, that moment in the sun wouldn't last. All. 455 00:32:55,920 --> 00:33:01,360 Speaker 1: Throughout Reconstruction, white supremacist groups terrorized black voters and office 456 00:33:01,360 --> 00:33:05,960 Speaker 1: holders in the South with violence and intimidation, slowly eroding 457 00:33:05,960 --> 00:33:10,000 Speaker 1: their power. And then in eighteen seventy six, a dispute 458 00:33:10,080 --> 00:33:13,640 Speaker 1: over who won the presidential election I think Bush v. Gore, 459 00:33:13,920 --> 00:33:18,240 Speaker 1: but without the hanging chads, led to a deal, Republicans 460 00:33:18,240 --> 00:33:20,719 Speaker 1: could have the White House as long as they agreed 461 00:33:20,760 --> 00:33:24,160 Speaker 1: to the demands of the Southern Democrats also known as 462 00:33:24,320 --> 00:33:28,320 Speaker 1: the former Confederates, to withdraw federal troops from the South. 463 00:33:28,960 --> 00:33:32,160 Speaker 1: Those federal troops were essential to protecting the rights of 464 00:33:32,160 --> 00:33:37,880 Speaker 1: the newly emancipated black population, rights that included voting. Just 465 00:33:38,000 --> 00:33:40,320 Speaker 1: a few years later, the Civil Rights Bill of eighteen 466 00:33:40,360 --> 00:33:44,080 Speaker 1: seventy five, which had never really been enforced, was struck 467 00:33:44,160 --> 00:33:49,640 Speaker 1: down by the Supreme Court. Reconstruction doesn't end immediately. It 468 00:33:49,720 --> 00:33:54,280 Speaker 1: loses impetus, it loses power. But like in the eighteen eighties, 469 00:33:54,280 --> 00:33:56,600 Speaker 1: black people are still voting in many parts of the South. 470 00:33:56,640 --> 00:34:00,400 Speaker 1: There was still black congressman in the eighties, still black 471 00:34:00,400 --> 00:34:04,440 Speaker 1: office holders, less political power than they had had during Reconstruction. 472 00:34:05,040 --> 00:34:07,640 Speaker 1: But it's not until really the turn of the century 473 00:34:08,160 --> 00:34:11,879 Speaker 1: that a whole new system of racial equality is put 474 00:34:11,920 --> 00:34:14,880 Speaker 1: into place, what we call Jim Crow as a shorthand. 475 00:34:17,320 --> 00:34:20,640 Speaker 1: By the year nineteen hundred, there was just one African 476 00:34:20,680 --> 00:34:25,520 Speaker 1: American in Congress, George White. He chose not to run 477 00:34:25,560 --> 00:34:28,560 Speaker 1: for re election that year after his home state of 478 00:34:28,600 --> 00:34:34,640 Speaker 1: North Carolina passed laws restricting black voting in his farewell 479 00:34:34,680 --> 00:34:40,520 Speaker 1: Address of January one, White addressed the US House in 480 00:34:40,600 --> 00:34:44,480 Speaker 1: words that managed to capture both the deep disappointment of 481 00:34:44,480 --> 00:34:48,880 Speaker 1: reconstruction and the fierce determination for a better future that 482 00:34:49,000 --> 00:34:53,239 Speaker 1: it had inspired. I asked Henry Lewis Gates to read 483 00:34:53,320 --> 00:35:01,000 Speaker 1: white speech. This Mr. Chairman is perhaps the nig temporary 484 00:35:01,080 --> 00:35:06,280 Speaker 1: farewell to the American Congress. But let me say phoenix 485 00:35:06,360 --> 00:35:13,160 Speaker 1: like he will rise up someday and come again. These 486 00:35:13,200 --> 00:35:18,920 Speaker 1: parting words are in behalf of an outraged, heartbroken, bruised 487 00:35:19,239 --> 00:35:30,440 Speaker 1: and bleeding, but God fearing people. After that speech, it 488 00:35:30,560 --> 00:35:34,440 Speaker 1: took twenty seven years before another African American would be 489 00:35:34,480 --> 00:35:39,520 Speaker 1: elected to the US House. Over on the Senate side, 490 00:35:39,719 --> 00:35:44,960 Speaker 1: Blanche K. Bruce left office in He and Josephine remained 491 00:35:44,960 --> 00:35:47,919 Speaker 1: for much of their lives in Washington, d C. Where 492 00:35:47,920 --> 00:35:53,800 Speaker 1: she founded the National Association of Colored Women. Bruce's Senate 493 00:35:53,840 --> 00:35:58,520 Speaker 1: seat went to a former Confederate general. Five years went 494 00:35:58,600 --> 00:36:02,120 Speaker 1: by before another Frican American was elected to the U. 495 00:36:02,239 --> 00:36:06,600 Speaker 1: S Senate. Not long after his famous speech on the 496 00:36:06,640 --> 00:36:10,319 Speaker 1: floor of the House, Robert Brown Elliott resigned his House 497 00:36:10,360 --> 00:36:14,480 Speaker 1: seat and returned to South Carolina. He started a law practice, 498 00:36:14,920 --> 00:36:18,760 Speaker 1: but it attracted few clients, and Elliott died in poverty 499 00:36:18,880 --> 00:36:25,280 Speaker 1: in four As for naval hero turned congressman Robert Smalls, 500 00:36:25,320 --> 00:36:28,640 Speaker 1: he served five terms in the House. After losing his 501 00:36:28,760 --> 00:36:32,800 Speaker 1: last election, he returned to Beauford, South Carolina, and died 502 00:36:33,000 --> 00:36:41,760 Speaker 1: in ninetift That same year, the Birth of a Nation 503 00:36:41,920 --> 00:36:45,560 Speaker 1: was released. You remember the Birth of a Nation. That 504 00:36:45,680 --> 00:36:47,479 Speaker 1: was the movie I told you about at the start 505 00:36:47,480 --> 00:36:51,719 Speaker 1: of this episode, with that disgraceful scene depicting black lawmaker 506 00:36:51,760 --> 00:36:54,680 Speaker 1: as a drinking eating chicken, their bare feet up on 507 00:36:54,760 --> 00:37:02,359 Speaker 1: desks in the South Carolina State House. Now remember, by 508 00:37:02,400 --> 00:37:05,880 Speaker 1: that time, blacks had lost the right to vote throughout 509 00:37:05,920 --> 00:37:08,480 Speaker 1: the South, and Birth of a Nation is telling you 510 00:37:09,000 --> 00:37:12,480 Speaker 1: that is justifiable. Why because look what happened when black 511 00:37:12,520 --> 00:37:15,920 Speaker 1: people held office. It was a travesty of government. This 512 00:37:16,000 --> 00:37:19,640 Speaker 1: is a complete fabrication. It's what you would call today 513 00:37:19,640 --> 00:37:23,440 Speaker 1: fake history. But it had a powerful impact on public 514 00:37:23,520 --> 00:37:27,640 Speaker 1: sentiment in the early twentieth century. Now, the Birth of 515 00:37:27,640 --> 00:37:31,160 Speaker 1: a Nation wasn't just some indie flick playing down at 516 00:37:31,160 --> 00:37:35,080 Speaker 1: the one art house in town. Director D. W. Griffith's 517 00:37:35,080 --> 00:37:38,120 Speaker 1: epic was one of the highest grossing films of the 518 00:37:38,239 --> 00:37:41,960 Speaker 1: Silent era. It's star Lillian Gish was known as the 519 00:37:41,960 --> 00:37:45,920 Speaker 1: first Lady of American cinema, and despite protests from the 520 00:37:46,040 --> 00:37:49,440 Speaker 1: n double A c P. And there were protests, President 521 00:37:49,560 --> 00:37:53,200 Speaker 1: Woodrow Wilson hosted a screening of the movie at the 522 00:37:53,239 --> 00:37:58,880 Speaker 1: White House. That image, that scene was that than and 523 00:37:59,400 --> 00:38:04,200 Speaker 1: the dominant view of how blacks had held office and 524 00:38:04,200 --> 00:38:08,000 Speaker 1: how they had comported themselves during Reconstruction. By the time 525 00:38:08,080 --> 00:38:12,080 Speaker 1: Birth of a Nation came out, you already had scholars, 526 00:38:12,719 --> 00:38:16,359 Speaker 1: my predecessors at Columbia University among them, who had, in 527 00:38:16,400 --> 00:38:20,680 Speaker 1: a more academic way, written that black suffrage was a 528 00:38:20,760 --> 00:38:25,000 Speaker 1: terrible mistake, that black people are incapable of holding political 529 00:38:25,000 --> 00:38:28,640 Speaker 1: office or taking part in democracy. So those ideas were 530 00:38:28,640 --> 00:38:30,800 Speaker 1: out there, But a film like Birth of a Nation 531 00:38:31,719 --> 00:38:35,480 Speaker 1: conveys those ideas to far more people than an academic 532 00:38:35,480 --> 00:38:39,759 Speaker 1: treatise is ever going to do. The North and may 533 00:38:39,760 --> 00:38:42,360 Speaker 1: have won the war, but the South won the movie 534 00:38:42,360 --> 00:38:47,680 Speaker 1: houses and the text books. Henry Lewis Gates remembers how 535 00:38:47,719 --> 00:38:51,000 Speaker 1: he was taught about Reconstruction in his West Virginia High 536 00:38:51,040 --> 00:38:55,560 Speaker 1: school history class. Was it really embarrassing? It was? You 537 00:38:55,600 --> 00:38:58,200 Speaker 1: can't imagine how embarrassing it was. We with the few 538 00:38:58,239 --> 00:39:00,040 Speaker 1: black people to claim we had hold her books in 539 00:39:00,080 --> 00:39:03,920 Speaker 1: her face and sort of slide down because Abraham Lincoln, 540 00:39:04,480 --> 00:39:09,560 Speaker 1: the greatest American since George Washington, had given his life 541 00:39:10,080 --> 00:39:14,600 Speaker 1: for you people, and when you people were freed, he 542 00:39:14,760 --> 00:39:22,120 Speaker 1: squandered the opportunity in this embarrassing period called Reconstruction. That's personally. 543 00:39:24,120 --> 00:39:27,640 Speaker 1: I grew up in Long Island, near New York City suburb. 544 00:39:28,120 --> 00:39:30,000 Speaker 1: That's what I was taught in high school in the 545 00:39:30,120 --> 00:39:34,400 Speaker 1: nineteen fifties. Reconstruction was the worst period in American history. 546 00:39:34,400 --> 00:39:38,360 Speaker 1: It was a travesty of democracy. Black people misused the 547 00:39:38,440 --> 00:39:42,000 Speaker 1: right to vote, were not capable of serving in public office. 548 00:39:42,360 --> 00:39:45,480 Speaker 1: You know that that was toward everywhere, and it's still 549 00:39:46,040 --> 00:39:49,319 Speaker 1: has a hold on an older generation of people who 550 00:39:49,480 --> 00:39:52,279 Speaker 1: learned this in school. So you know, it's a very 551 00:39:52,320 --> 00:39:56,400 Speaker 1: pernicious set of myths. But it shows you that history matters. 552 00:39:56,440 --> 00:39:59,719 Speaker 1: What people think about history matters. But what if the 553 00:39:59,760 --> 00:40:03,160 Speaker 1: story way of Reconstruction had been told differently? What if 554 00:40:03,239 --> 00:40:06,120 Speaker 1: instead of the birth of a nation, people thought of 555 00:40:06,160 --> 00:40:10,719 Speaker 1: that beautiful eight seventy two courier and ives lithograph, the 556 00:40:10,800 --> 00:40:14,720 Speaker 1: one of the Black Congressman of Reconstruction. When Henry Lewis 557 00:40:14,760 --> 00:40:17,319 Speaker 1: Gates and I were admiring it. I asked him if 558 00:40:17,360 --> 00:40:21,560 Speaker 1: maybe it was time that Hollywood reconsider Reconstruction. I hate 559 00:40:21,560 --> 00:40:25,000 Speaker 1: to produce everything to casting, but I do think that 560 00:40:25,080 --> 00:40:30,319 Speaker 1: John Amos could play Hiram Revels. I love Johnny. So 561 00:40:30,440 --> 00:40:34,239 Speaker 1: you have Billy Dee Williams. Billy Billy d Williams is 562 00:40:34,320 --> 00:40:41,240 Speaker 1: just u Mersila Ali Ali as would be Robert Brown Elliott. 563 00:40:43,800 --> 00:40:47,520 Speaker 1: One last thing. When I started this story, I thought 564 00:40:47,520 --> 00:40:52,680 Speaker 1: of the black Congressman of Reconstruction as forgotten forerunners, and 565 00:40:52,719 --> 00:40:56,960 Speaker 1: they were forgotten by Hollywood, by high school history books, 566 00:40:57,719 --> 00:41:01,000 Speaker 1: by most of us. But it turns out they weren't 567 00:41:01,000 --> 00:41:07,759 Speaker 1: forgotten by everyone. During the Great Depression in the late 568 00:41:07,840 --> 00:41:14,040 Speaker 1: nineteen thirties, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Works Progress Administration sent 569 00:41:14,160 --> 00:41:17,680 Speaker 1: out of work writers into the South to document the 570 00:41:17,800 --> 00:41:22,200 Speaker 1: lives of now elderly former slaves. And one of the 571 00:41:22,239 --> 00:41:25,840 Speaker 1: coolest things is that when w p A workers would 572 00:41:25,880 --> 00:41:29,200 Speaker 1: go into sharecroppers homes in the South and they find 573 00:41:29,239 --> 00:41:32,760 Speaker 1: faded copies of the lithograp still on the wall, people 574 00:41:32,840 --> 00:41:37,520 Speaker 1: keeping in line the memory of the apex of black achievement. 575 00:41:37,600 --> 00:41:41,160 Speaker 1: Immediately following the Civil War, so when I was growing up, 576 00:41:41,160 --> 00:41:44,080 Speaker 1: it's a picture. There was Jesus and John Kennedy and 577 00:41:44,160 --> 00:41:47,319 Speaker 1: Martin Lure the King, but at that time there was 578 00:41:47,360 --> 00:42:00,160 Speaker 1: this lithograph. Next time on Mobituaries, we take the show 579 00:42:00,200 --> 00:42:06,239 Speaker 1: on the road, Seth Paul Prudeome is not altogether now, 580 00:42:08,120 --> 00:42:10,239 Speaker 1: Oh my god, I just got a whole audience to say, 581 00:42:10,480 --> 00:42:15,600 Speaker 1: Don Deloise and Unison, I certainly hope you enjoyed this moment. 582 00:42:16,000 --> 00:42:18,640 Speaker 1: May I ask you to please rate and review the podcast. 583 00:42:19,040 --> 00:42:22,880 Speaker 1: You can also follow Mobituaries on Facebook and Instagram, and 584 00:42:22,960 --> 00:42:26,440 Speaker 1: you can follow me on Twitter at Morocca. For more 585 00:42:26,520 --> 00:42:30,360 Speaker 1: great content, go to mobituaries dot com. You can subscribe 586 00:42:30,400 --> 00:42:34,680 Speaker 1: to Mobituaries wherever you get your podcasts. This episode of 587 00:42:34,719 --> 00:42:39,920 Speaker 1: Mobituaries was produced by Kate mccauliffe and Mark Hudspeth. It 588 00:42:40,000 --> 00:42:43,759 Speaker 1: was edited by Michael Levine. Our team of producers also 589 00:42:43,800 --> 00:42:48,480 Speaker 1: includes Megan Marcus, Harry Wood, and me Morocca. It was 590 00:42:48,560 --> 00:42:54,080 Speaker 1: engineered by Dan Gazula special thanks to Harvard University's Hoton Library. 591 00:42:54,440 --> 00:42:58,800 Speaker 1: Charleston Harbord tours everyone in Beaufort, South Carolina, home of 592 00:42:58,880 --> 00:43:02,560 Speaker 1: the Reconstruction Era National Historic Park and my friend the 593 00:43:02,680 --> 00:43:05,640 Speaker 1: Great del Roy Lindo, who you can see on The 594 00:43:05,680 --> 00:43:09,600 Speaker 1: Good Fight streaming on CBS All Access. To learn more 595 00:43:09,640 --> 00:43:13,160 Speaker 1: about reconstruction, be sure to check out Henry Lewis Gates's 596 00:43:13,360 --> 00:43:19,120 Speaker 1: latest book, Dark Sky Rising, and Philip Dre's Gripping Capital Men. 597 00:43:19,719 --> 00:43:24,640 Speaker 1: Indispensable support from Genius Donski, Richard Rorer and everyone at 598 00:43:24,680 --> 00:43:28,560 Speaker 1: CBS News Radio. Our theme music is written by Daniel 599 00:43:28,600 --> 00:43:33,239 Speaker 1: Hart and as always, undying thanks to Rand Morrison and 600 00:43:33,360 --> 00:43:43,440 Speaker 1: John Carp without whom Mobituaries couldn't live. Hi, It's mo. 601 00:43:44,040 --> 00:43:47,839 Speaker 1: If you're enjoying Mobituaries the podcast, may I invite you 602 00:43:47,920 --> 00:43:51,839 Speaker 1: to check out Mobituaries the book. It's chock full of 603 00:43:51,960 --> 00:43:55,960 Speaker 1: stories not in the podcast. Celebrities who put their butts 604 00:43:56,000 --> 00:43:58,880 Speaker 1: on the line, sports teams that threw in the towel 605 00:43:58,960 --> 00:44:04,920 Speaker 1: for good, for fashions, defunct diagnoses presidential candidacies that cratered 606 00:44:05,200 --> 00:44:09,320 Speaker 1: whole countries that went to put and dragons, Yes, dragons, 607 00:44:09,480 --> 00:44:11,520 Speaker 1: you see. People used to believe the dragons will real 608 00:44:11,640 --> 00:44:15,600 Speaker 1: until just get the book. You can order Mobituaries the 609 00:44:15,640 --> 00:44:18,960 Speaker 1: Book from any online bookseller, or stop by your local 610 00:44:19,000 --> 00:44:21,760 Speaker 1: bookstore and look for me when I come to your city. 611 00:44:22,160 --> 00:44:30,640 Speaker 1: Tour information and lots more at mobituaries dot com.