The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 87, July 1983 - April, 1984 Page: 44
468 p. : ill. (some col.), maps (some col.), ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
Southwestern Historical Quarterly
and the "dark, swelling, muttering mass along the social horizon,
gathering strength with education, and ambitious to rise, will grow
increasingly restless and sullen under repression, until at length, con-
scious, through numbers, of superior power, it will assert that power
destructively, and, bursting forth like an angry furious cloud, avenge,
in tumult and disorder, the social law broken against it."14
Scientific theories aside, only a minority of white southerners could
view black advancement as anything less than a threat. Freedom had
erased the lines of caste; black codes, which had been designed for
race control, were legally banned. Avenues of social and economic
advancement, at least in theory, were opened to blacks. The most far-
sighted of southern leaders knew that once cracks in their social sys-
tem appeared, they could never be totally mended, and that theoreti-
cal freedoms would in time become actual ones. Some feared that
when this occurred, there would be a racial war. Writing in the North
American Review, Senator John T. Morgan of Alabama warned that
the further blacks progressed from slavery, the closer they moved to-
ward a racial showdown: "The greater their personal success may be[,]
the more they will feel the pressure of caste, . . . so that the race-
prejudice will forever remain as an incubus on all their individual or
aggregated efforts." More to the point, as E. W. Gilliam wrote, "The
advancement of the blacks . . . becomes a menace to the whites." Thus
any social, educational, or economic gains made by blacks were inter-
preted as steps toward a final collision."5
More than any other black of his generation, Johnson was the man
who gave flesh to the white's jeremiads. He was the one who, freed
from the restraints of slavery, would go forward toward the ultimate
confrontation. Other black leaders such as Booker T. Washington and
even W. E. B. Du Bois would disguise their progress with cautious
words and curry white opinion. Not so Johnson. He moved boldly
forward, not out of control but locked in only one direction. He
would not maneuver around obstacles or alter his speed. He would live
by his own rules or not at all. In doing so, Johnson threatened order.
He was the white man's nightmare of racial anarchy and chaos. It was
14George M. Fredrickson, The Black Image in the White Mind: The Debate on Afro-
American Character and Destiny, 1817-1914 (New York, 1971), 228-255; E. W. Gilliam,
"The African in the United States," Popular Science Monthly, XXII (Feb., 1883), 436
(Ist quotation), 441 (2nd quotation).
15Gilliam, "The African in the United States," 440 (2nd quotation); Frederickson,
The Black Image, 228-229; John T. Morgan et al., "The Future of the Negro," North
American Review, CXXXIX (July, 1884), 83 (Ist quotation).
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Periodical.
Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 87, July 1983 - April, 1984, periodical, 1983/1984; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth117150/m1/64/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.