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Tour of the Magnolia State, October 1908

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Booker T. Washington and the Struggle against White Supremacy

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Abstract

African Americans suffered extreme terror in the Magnolia State around the turn of the century. Neil McMillen called Mississippi the “heartland of American Apartheid.” Racial discrimination so prevailed in Mississippi at the end of Reconstruction that some whites there did not see the need for Jim Crow legislation. Blacks and whites in the state were separated in private and public hospitals and did not use the same entrances to state-funded healthcare facilities. Black and white criminals were not even incarcerated in the same prison cells. In Mississippi, racial segregation largely became a matter of custom, and the state “seems to have had fewer Jim Crow laws during the entire segregation period than most southern states,” noted McMillen.1

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Notes

  1. McMillen, Dark Journey, 9, 10, 11, 1–32.

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  2. Ibid., 10; Wharton, Negro in Mississippi, 230–233; See also Rabinowitz, Race Relations in the Urban South.

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  3. Ibid., 120–121, 233–234; Oshinsky, Worse than Slavery, 100, 1–133; Cobb, The Most Southern Place on Earth, 112–118; Holmes, “Whitecapping: Agrarian Violence in Mississippi,” 166, 165–185.

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  4. Oshinsky, Worse than Slavery, 101–102, 278, n.40; Thompson, Lynching in Mississippi.

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  5. Vicksburg Evening Post, February 13, 1904; Oshinsky, Worse than Slavery, 101–102; Cobb, Most Southern Place on Earth, 112–118.

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  6. Litwack, Been in the Storm, Chapter 8; Oshinsky, Worse than Slavery, 86.

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  7. Franklin and Moss, Slavery to Freedom, 236; Wharton, Negro in Mississippi, 206–15.

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  8. Quoted in Norrell, “Understanding the Wizard,” 68.

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  9. McMillen, Dark Journey, 73, 78; Wharton, The Negro in Mississippi, 234–255; Oshinsky, Worse than Slavery, 89.

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  10. Booker T. Washington to Emily Howland, October 13, 1901, Booker T. Washington Papers, Ed. by Harlan and Smock, 6: 240–241 (hereafter cited as BTWP); New York Evening Post, October 21, 1901 cited in BTWP, 6: 243–247.

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  11. Washington to Theodore Roosevelt, October 16, 1901, BTWP, 6: 243; Harlan, Making of a Black Leader, 304.

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  12. Ibid., 311; for full discussion see pp. 304–324.

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  13. Bennett, Before the Mayflower, 256, 329.

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  14. Jackson Clarion-Ledger, October 24, 1901.

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  15. Biloxi Daily Herald, October 20, 1901.

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  16. Jackson Clarion-Ledger, November 7, 1901.

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  17. Oshinsky, Worse than Slavery, 87–88.

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  18. Jackson Clarion-Ledger, October 24, 1901.

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  19. Ibid., November 7, 1901.

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  20. New York Age, October 22, 1908.

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  21. Baltimore Afro-American Ledger, July 8, 1911; See entire study, Jackson, A Chief Lieutenant; Hamilton, Beacon Lights, 207.

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  22. Washington, My Larger Education, 207–208; Washington, “Charles Banks,” 731–733; Jackson, A Chief Lieutenant, 1–216, especially pp. 154–155.

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  23. Wiggins, The Life & Works of Paul Lawrence Dunbar, 184; circular letter from Charles Banks to whites in adjoining counties, ca. October 5, 1912, BTWPF.

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  24. Charles Banks to Booker T. Washington, November 12, 1912, BTWPF; Jackson, A Chief Lieutenant, 45–46.

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  25. Charles Banks to Booker T. Washington, September 4, 1908, BTWPF.

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  28. Charles Banks to newspaper editors, September 23, 1908, BTWPF.

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  29. Charles Banks to Perry Howard, September 23, 1908, BTWPF.

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  34. Charles Banks to Booker T. Washington, September 18, 1908, BTWPF.

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  35. Charles Banks to J. T. Harahan, September 16, 1908, BTWPF.

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  36. See itinerary in Jackson Evening News, ca. August 28, 1908, in BTWPF, slide 141.

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  37. Hine, Hine, and Harold, African American Odyssey, 380; Franklin and Moss, From Slavery to Freedom, 316; Crouthamel, “Springfield Race Riot of 1908,” 164–181. For examples of Northern racism, see Loewen, Sundown Towns, 12, 197.

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  38. Miller, report, October 6, 1908, in BTWP, 9: 641; New York Age, October 22, 1908; Moton, Finding a Way Out, 180–181.

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  39. Harlan, Wizard of Tuskegee, 263; Miller, report, October 6, 1908, in BTWP, 9: 642–643; Oshinsky, Worse than Slavery, 85.

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  41. New York Age, October 8, 1908.

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  42. Washington, “A Cheerful Journey through Mississippi,” BTWP, 10: 63; Kealing, “Booker T. Washington’s Tour through Mississippi,” BTWP, 9: 676, 678; New York Age, October 22, 1908; Baltimore Afro-American Ledger, October 17, 1908; Oshinsky, Worse than Slavery, 89; Lakey, History of the CME Church, 289.

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  44. New Orleans Picayune, October 6, 1908; Baltimore Afro-American Ledger, October 10, 1908; Memphis Commercial Appeal, October 6, 1908; New York Age, October 22, 1908; Kealing, “Booker T. Washington’s Tour through Mississippi,” in BTWP, 9: 677, 680; Moton, “The Significance of Mr. Washington’s Lecture Trip In Mississippi,” 691–695; “Principal Washington’s Tour of Mississippi,” 1, 4; “Principal Washington’s Mississippi Visit,” 1, 3; “Booker T. Washington’s Trip through Mississippi” [Part I], 1; “Booker T. Washington’s Trip through Mississippi” [Part II], 1, 4.

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  45. Baltimore Afro-American Ledger, October 10, 1908.

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  46. Indianapolis Freeman, October 17, 1908; Baltimore Afro-American Ledger, October 17, 1908.

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  48. Jackson, “Perry Wilbon Howard,” 417–419; McMillen, “Perry W. Howard: Boss of Black-and-Tan Republicanism in Mississippi,” 205–224.

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  49. New York Age, October 22, 1908; Washington, “A Cheerful Journey through Mississippi,” 10: 66; Washington to Seth Low, October 8, 1908, BTWP, 9: 647; The Indianapolis Freeman, October 17, 1908, asserts that eight thousand people turned out to hear Washington of whom six hundred were “leading” whites.

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  50. Indianapolis Freeman, October 10, 1908; New York Age, October 22, 1908; Baltimore Afro-American Ledger, October 17, 1908; Reports of Pinkerton Detective E. E. Miller, October 3-December, 1908, BTWP, 9: 640–645. The Indianapolis Freeman, October 17, 1908, asserted that “two hundred or more people fell through to the bottom floor. In a rush for the exits there were a dozen or more, both white and colored badly mashed. Some got broken legs, some broken arms.”

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  51. New York Age, October 22, 1908; Indianapolis Freeman, October 17, 1908; Baltimore Afro American Ledger, October 24, 1908.

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  52. Oshinsky, Worse than Slavery, 87, 91, see also Chapter 4; BTWP, 7: 267, n.1.

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  53. Washington to Francis J. Garrison, October 10, 1908, BTWP, 9: 648–649, 646; New York Age, October 22, 1908; Indianapolis Freeman, October 17, 1908; Baltimore Afro-American Ledger, October 24, 1908.

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  54. New York Age, October 22, 1908; Indianapolis Freeman, October 17, 1908; Baltimore Afro-American Ledger, October 24, 1908.

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  55. Hattiesburg Mississippi News, November 23, 1909.

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  56. Vicksburg Daily Herald, October 9, 1908; Washington, “Cheerful Journey through Mississippi,” BTWP, 10: 64, 66; Washington, My Larger Education, 196.

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  57. New York Age, October 22, 1908.

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  58. Ibid; Vicksburg Daily Herald, October 9, 1908; On Ewing, see James, James, and James, The Mississippi Black Bankers, 39; On Mollison, see BTWP, 6: 249, n.1. For more on Dr. Miller see McMillen, Dark Journey, 31, 171; and Ward, Black Physicians, 237, 275. Although Miller tried never to “meddle in the white man’s affairs…or complain at the many acts of lawlessness” against his race, in 1918, after America’s entry into World War I, and some eighteen years after he had been practicing medicine in Vicksburg, a white “vigilance committee” comprised of “leading citizens” and a policeman charged Dr. Miller with “sedition” and tarred and feathered him. After which, they paraded him through town, displayed him near City Hall, put him in jail, and then finally ran him out of Vicksburg under the threat of death. Miller migrated to Detroit, but had to sell his Vicksburg property at a great loss.

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  59. Vicksburg Daily Herald, October 9, 1908.

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  60. Ibid; New York Age, October 22, 1908; New Orleans Picayune, October 9, 1908.

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  61. Lampton died in 1910, just two years after Washington’s speech. See Wright, Bishops of the A.M.E. Church, 251, 252; BTWP, 6: 447–448, n.3; New York Age, October 22, 1908.

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  62. Washington, “Cheerful Journey through Mississippi,” BTWP, 10: 64, 66; Washington, My Larger Education, 196; New York Age, October 22, 1908.

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  63. Booker T. Washington, The Negro in Business; Willey, “Mound Bayou—A Negro Municipality,” 163; Hood, The Negro at Mound Bayou, 10–45; Hamilton, Black Towns and Profit, 63, 68; McMillen, Dark Journey, 120–121; Holmes, “Whitecapping: Agrarian Violence in Mississippi,” 165–185; Meier, “Booker T. Washington and the Town of Mound Bayou,” 217–223.

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  64. New York Age, October 22, 1908; Baltimore Afro-American Ledger, October 24, 1908; Hartshorn, An Era of Progress and Promise, 516; Washington, My Larger Education, 196–197; Hemmingway, “Booker T. Washington in Mississippi,” 36; Reports of Pinkerton Detective F. E. Miller, October 10, 1908, BTWP, 9: 645. The Pinkerton report says that he spoke to about three thousand people in Mound Bayou.

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  65. New York Age, October 22, 1908; Baltimore Afro-American Ledger, October 24, 1908; Hartshorn, An Era of Progress and Promise, 516; Washington, My Larger Education, 196–197.

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  66. The townspeople in Lula said that the bodies were left hanging because none of their family members claimed them that day. For details on the lynching, see the Memphis Commercial Appeal, October 12–13, 1908. See also Holmes, “Whitecapping: Agrarian Violence in Mississippi,” 165–185; Hemmingway, “Booker T. Washington in Mississippi,” 39–42.

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  67. Emmett Scott to Charles Banks, October 15, 1908, BTWPF.

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  70. Washington, “Cheerful Journey through Mississippi,” 10: 67; see also Washington, My Larger Education, 197; Moton, “The Significance of Mr. Washington’s Lecture Trip in Mississippi,” 691–695; for further reading on the progress of Mississippi Negroes, see also Woodard’s, “Negro Progress in a Mississippi Town,” 3–8.

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  71. Emmett Scott to Charles Banks, October 15, 1908, BTWPF; New York Age, July 9, and October 22, 1908.

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  72. Roscoe C. Simmons to Charles Banks, n.d., BTWPF, slide 137; New York Age, July 9, 1908, October 22, 1908.

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  73. See, for example, Indianapolis Freeman, October 24, 1908; New York Age, October 22, 1908; Baltimore Afro-American Ledger, November 21, 1908.

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Authors
  1. David H. Jackson Jr.
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© 2008 David H. Jackson, Jr.

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Jackson, D.H. (2008). Tour of the Magnolia State, October 1908. In: Booker T. Washington and the Struggle against White Supremacy. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230615502_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230615502_4

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-230-62138-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-0-230-61550-2

  • eBook Packages: Palgrave History CollectionHistory (R0)

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