Throughout the Civil War, newspaper headlines and stories
repeatedly asked some variation of the question posed by the New
York Times in 1862, "What shall we do with the negro?" The future
status of African Americans was a pressing issue for those in both
the North and in the South. Consulting a broad range of
contemporary newspapers, magazines, books, army records, government
documents, publications of citizens' organizations, letters,
diaries, and other sources, Paul D. Escott examines the attitudes
and actions of Northerners and Southerners regarding the future of
African Americans after the end of slavery. "What Shall We Do with
the Negro?" demonstrates how historians together with our larger
national popular culture have wrenched the history of this period
from its context in order to portray key figures as heroes or
exemplars of national virtue.
Escott gives especial critical attention to Abraham Lincoln.
Since the civil rights movement, many popular books have treated
Lincoln as an icon, a mythical leader with thoroughly modern views
on all aspects of race. But, focusing on Lincoln's policies rather
than attempting to divine Lincoln's intentions from his often
ambiguous or cryptic statements, Escott reveals a president who
placed a higher priority on reunion than on emancipation, who
showed an enduring respect for states' rights, who assumed that the
social status of African Americans would change very slowly in
freedom, and who offered major incentives to white Southerners at
the expense of the interests of blacks.Escott's approach reveals
the depth of slavery's influence on society and the pervasiveness
of assumptions of white supremacy. "What Shall We Do with the
Negro?" serves as a corrective in offering a more realistic, more
nuanced, and less celebratory approach to understanding this
crucial period in American history.
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