State politics, railroads, and Civil Rights in South Carolina, 1883-89

In 1889 the General Assembly of South Carolina repealed the state's Civil Rights Act (1870), following a protracted debate that had been prompted by the United States Supreme Court's decision in the Civil Rights Cases (1883). This article examines in detail the contours of the civil rights...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inAmerican nineteenth century history Vol. 5; no. 2; pp. 71 - 91
Main Author Oldfield, John
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Taylor and Francis Ltd 01.07.2004
Subjects
Civil Rights
Interest Groups
Judicial Decisions
Legislation
Politics
Railroads
Segregation
South Carolina
United States Supreme Court
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:In 1889 the General Assembly of South Carolina repealed the state's Civil Rights Act (1870), following a protracted debate that had been prompted by the United States Supreme Court's decision in the Civil Rights Cases (1883). This article examines in detail the contours of the civil rights controversy in South Carolina and, in doing so, identifies a number of competing dynamics, among them outside corporate interests (in this case, railroads), local state interests, and regional loyalties. Taken together, these different factors demonstrate conclusively that civil rights in South Carolina during the 1880s was a contested space. They also shed important new light on the development of de jure segregation in the South and, in particular, the complex relationship between Jim Crow legislation and the social and economic issues related to railroad expansion.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 23
ISSN:1466-4658
1743-7903
DOI:10.1080/1466465042000257864