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In the years immediately following the Civil War, the nation's
leaders called desperately for reform as they struggled to rebuild
a society scarred by death and mass destruction. Recognizing
America's need for enlightened leadership, Republican senator Henry
Blair (1834--1920) of New Hampshire embarked on an ambitious
crusade to enact dramatic progressive changes. Henry W. Blair's
Campaign to Reform America follows Blair's remarkable political
career. At the heart of his efforts was a push to improve the
nation's system of public education, but his reform programs
addressed a wide range of issues, including legal rights, economic
rights, women's suffrage, and racial equality. He consistently
supported black voting rights, introduced an antilynching bill in
1894, and worked as a lobbyist with the NAACP at the age of eighty.
In this long-overdue biography, Gordon B. McKinney sheds light on
the brilliant career of a man who maintained a strong commitment to
reform, liberty, and equality through a formative period in the
nation's history. McKinney deftly demonstrates that, despite the
social and economic challenges of the time, Senator Blair defended
moral reform in a hostile climate and affirmed that the federal
government had an important and active role to play in improving
American society.
In this comprehensive biography of the man who led North Carolina
through the Civil War and, as a U.S. senator from 1878 to 1894,
served as the state's leading spokesman, Gordon McKinney presents
Zebulon Baird Vance (1830-94) as a far more complex figure than has
been previously recognized. Vance campaigned to keep North Carolina
in the Union, but after Southern troops fired on Fort Sumter, he
joined the army and rose to the rank of colonel. He was viewed as a
champion of individual rights and enjoyed great popularity among
voters. But McKinney demonstrates that Vance was not as progressive
as earlier biographers suggest. Vance was a tireless advocate for
white North Carolinians in the Reconstruction Period, and his
policies and positions often favored the rich and powerful.
McKinney provides significant new information about Vance's third
governorship, his senatorial career, and his role in the origins of
the modern Democratic Party in North Carolina. This new biography
offers the fullest, most complete understanding yet of a legendary
North Carolina leader.
The mountaineer stereotype--violent people who preserve a
traditional lifestyle and vote Republican--has been perpetuated
through the years. McKinney found that the impact of the Civil War
and the absence of blacks, rather than economic and geographical
factors, were responsible for the persistence of Republican voting
patterns. Also, mountain Republicanism was the conscious creation
of politicians in a five-state region to shape their party to
conform to local political conditions. Originally published 1978. A
UNC Press Enduring Edition -- UNC Press Enduring Editions use the
latest in digital technology to make available again books from our
distinguished backlist that were previously out of print. These
editions are published unaltered from the original, and are
presented in affordable paperback formats, bringing readers both
historical and cultural value. |The first comprehensive account of
U.S. involvement in the war against Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia),
exploring how our relationship with Rhodesia helped define
interracial dynamics in the United States, and vice versa.
Families, communities, and the nation itself were irretrievably
altered by the Civil War and the subsequent societal
transformations of the nineteenth century. The repercussions of the
war incited a broad range of unique problems in Appalachia,
including political dynamics, racial prejudices, and the regional
economy. Andrew L. Slap's anthology Reconstructing Appalachia
reveals life in Appalachia after the ravages of the Civil War, an
unexplored area that has left a void in historical literature.
Addressing a gap in the chronicles of our nation, this vital
collection explores little-known aspects of history with a
particular focus on the Reconstruction and post-Reconstruction
periods. Acclaimed scholars John C. Inscoe, Gordon B. McKinney, and
Ken Fones-Wolf are joined by up-and-comers like Mary Ella Engel,
Anne E. Marshall, and Kyle Osborn in a unique volume of essays
investigating postwar Appalachia with clarity and precision.
Featuring a broad geographic focus, these compelling essays cover
postwar events in Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee,
West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. This approach provides an intimate
portrait of Appalachia as a diverse collection of communities where
the values of place and family are of crucial
importance.Highlighting a wide array of topics including racial
reconciliation, tension between former Unionists and Confederates,
the evolution of post--Civil War memory, and altered perceptions of
race, gender, and economic status, Reconstructing Appalachia is a
timely and essential study of a region rich in heritage and
tradition.
In the mountains of western North Carolina, the Civil War was
fought on different terms than those found throughout most of the
South. Though relatively minor strategically, incursions by both
Confederate and Union troops disrupted life and threatened the
social stability of many communities. Even more disruptive were the
internal divisions among western Carolinians themselves. Differing
ideologies turned into opposing loyalties, and the resulting strife
proved as traumatic as anything imposed by outside armies. As the
mountains became hiding places for deserters, draft dodgers,
fugitive slaves, and escaped prisoners of war, the conflict became
a more localized and internalized guerrilla war, less rational and
more brutal, mean-spirited, and personal--and ultimately more
demoralizing and destructive. From the valleys of the French Broad
and Catawba Rivers to the peaks of the Blue Ridge and Great Smoky
Mountains, the people of western North Carolina responded to the
war in dramatically different ways. Men and women, masters and
slaves, planters and yeomen, soldiers and civilians, Confederates
and Unionists, bushwhackers and home guardsmen, Democrats and
Whigs--all their stories are told here. |A comprehensive history of
a non-combat region of the Confederacy, the 17 mountain counties of
western North Carolina where loyalties were divided. This area
suffered incursions by troops from both sides; attracted draft
dodgers, deserters, fugitive slaves, and escaped prisoners; and
experienced brutal and demoralizing internal conflicts.
This collection is the first comprehensive, cohesive volume to
unite Appalachian history with its culture. Richard A. Straw and H.
Tyler Blethen's High Mountains Rising provides a clear, systematic,
and engaging overview of the Appalachian timeline, its people, and
the most significant aspects of life in the region. Bringing
together many of the most prestigious scholars in Appalachian
studies, this volume has been designed for general and classroom
use, and includes suggestions for further reading. Appalachian
history with its culture. Richard A. Straw and H. Tyler Blethen's
High Mountains Rising provides a clear, systematic, and engaging
overview of the Appalachian timeline, its people, and the most
significant aspects of life in the region. The first half of the
fourteen essays deal with historical issues including Native
Americans, pioneer settlement, slavery, the Civil War and
Reconstruction, industrialization, the Great Depression, migration,
and finally, modernization. The remaining essays take a more
cultural focus, addressing stereotypes, music, folklife, language,
literature, and religion. Bringing together many of the most
prestigious scholars in Appalachian studies, this volume has been
designed for general and classroom use, and includes suggestions
for further reading.
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