Black Huntington
Black Huntington

Author: Cicero M Fain III

Publisher: University of Illinois Press

Published: 2019-05-16

Total Pages: 247

ISBN-13: 0252051432

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How African Americans thrived in a West Virginia city By 1930, Huntington had become West Virginia's largest city. Its booming economy and relatively tolerant racial climate attracted African Americans from across Appalachia and the South. Prosperity gave these migrants political clout and spurred the formation of communities that defined black Huntington--factors that empowered blacks to confront institutionalized and industrial racism on the one hand and the white embrace of Jim Crow on the other. Cicero M. Fain III illuminates the unique cultural identity and dynamic sense of accomplishment and purpose that transformed African American life in Huntington. Using interviews and untapped archival materials, Fain details the rise and consolidation of the black working class as it pursued, then fulfilled, its aspirations. He also reveals how African Americans developed a host of strategies--strong kin and social networks, institutional development, property ownership, and legal challenges--to defend their gains in the face of the white status quo. Eye-opening and eloquent, Black Huntington makes visible another facet of the African American experience in Appalachia.

Disorder on the Border
Disorder on the Border

Author: Joe Geiger, Jr.

Publisher: 35th Star Publishing

Published: 2020-11-02

Total Pages: 744

ISBN-13: 1735073946

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In the last half of the 1850s, the Virginia counties of Cabell and Wayne became immersed in the national debate over slavery. Located only a stone’s throw away from the free state of Ohio, some western Virginians practiced and defended slavery, and the contentiousness between supporters and those who opposed the institution increased dramatically as the nation moved closer to civil war. When the conflict erupted in 1861, disorder was the order of the day. Although the overwhelming majority of voters in Cabell and Wayne counties opposed the Ordinance of Secession, the most prominent and influential citizens in the area favored leaving the Union. When the state seceded, some who had opposed this step now cast their loyalty with Virginia rather than the Union. During and after the Civil War, dozens of skirmishes, raids, and armed encounters occurred in this border area, and the lengthy struggle only ended with the statewide Democratic victory in the 1870 election. Federal supporters in Cabell and Wayne counties lived through years of terror. Their efforts to save the Union and create the new state of West Virginia, and their willingness to die on behalf of the country ensured its survival from the greatest conflict in the history of the United States. Table of Contents Acknowledgments xiii Introduction 1 1 – The Antebellum Years in Cabell and Wayne Counties 3 2 – The Institution of Slavery on the Border 13 3 – The Road to Armed Conflict 33 4 – The Battle of Barboursville 55 5 – Lawlessness Abounds 73 6 – The Raid on Guyandotte 103 7 – Reaping the Whirlwind 119 8 – The Darkest Hour of our Perils 147 9 – Piatt’s Zouaves 179 10 – Outrages and Fiendish Acts 207 11 – Welcome to Western Virginia 229 12 – The Plough Stands Still 247 13 – Depredations of the Most Shameful Character 275 14 – The War Ends? 307 15 – Federal Occupation 327 Epilogue 349 Notes 361 Bibliography 411 Index 421 About the Author 443

University, Court, and Slave
University, Court, and Slave

Author: Alfred L. Brophy

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2016-07-18

Total Pages: 409

ISBN-13: 0199964246

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University, Court, and Slave reveals long-forgotten connections between pre-Civil War southern universities and slavery. Universities and their faculty owned people-sometimes dozens of people-and profited from their labor while many slaves endured physical abuse on campuses. As Alfred L. Brophy shows, southern universities fought the emancipation movement for economic reasons, but used their writings on history, philosophy, and law in an attempt to justify their position and promote their institutions. Indeed, as the antislavery movement gained momentum, southern academics and their allies in the courts became bolder in their claims. Some went so far as to say that slavery was supported by natural law. The combination of economic reasoning and historical precedent helped shape a southern, pro-slavery jurisprudence. Following Lincoln's November 1860 election, southern academics joined politicians, judges, lawyers, and other leaders in arguing that their economy and society was threatened. Southern jurisprudence led them to believe that any threats to slavery and property justified secession. Bolstered by the courts, academics took their case to the southern public-and ultimately to the battlefield-to defend slavery. A path-breaking and deeply researched history of southern universities' investment in and defense of slavery, University, Court, and Slave will fundamentally transform our understanding of the institutional foundations pro-slavery thought.