Eric Anderson

Thirty years after the publication of John Hope Franklin's influential interpretative essay Reconstruction: After the Civil War, ten distinguished scholars have contributed to a new appraisal of Reconstruction scholarship. Recognising Professor Franklin's major contributions to the study of the Reconstruction era, their work of analysis and review has been dedicated to him. Although most of the contributors studied with John Hope Franklin, The Facts of Reconstruction is not a festschrift, at least not the conventional sense. The book does not offer a comprehensive assessment of Franklin's remarkably wide-ranging work in southern and Afro-American history, but instead engages his influential interpretation of Reconstruction. The essays in The Facts of Reconstruction focus upon questions raised in Reconstruction: After the Civil War. Was southern white intransigence the decisive influence in Presidential Reconstruction? What as the role of violence in southern ""redemption""? How successful were the educational experiments of the Reconstruction era? Why did southern Republicans fail to build an effective coalition capable of surviving the pressure of racism? In addition, several essays discuss questions not directly addressed in Franklin's book, since his pathbreaking work indirectly stimulated study in a variety of new areas. For example, contributors to The Facts of Reconstruction examine the ante-bellum origins of Reconstruction, evaluate the development of racial segregation during the late nineteenth century, analyse the political and legal ideas behind the Reconstruction debates, and study the prospering minority among blacks. Representing a variety of perspectives, the authors have sought to follow John Hope Franklin's admonition that Reconstruction should not be used as ""a mirror of ourselves."" If they have succeeded, this book in honor of a profound scholar and inspiring teacher will provoke new discussion about ""the facts of Reconstruction.

Eric Anderson studies one of the most remarkable centers of black political influence in the late nineteenth century, North Carolina's second congressional district. From its creation in 1872 as a result of gerrymandering to its collapse in the extremism of 1900, the ""black second"" produced increasingly effective black leaders in public office, from postmasters to prosecuting attorneys and congressmen. Race and Politics in North Carolina illuminates the complex effects upon whites of the rise of black leadership, both within the Republican party and in the larger community. Although many white Republicans found it difficult to accept an increasing role for blacks, they worked in acceptable if awkward partnership with Negro Republicans. By 1900 strident appeals for white solidarity had cracked the fragile biracial unit of the Republican second district. With the emergence of such Democratic leaders as Furnifold Simmons, Josephus Daniels, Charles B. Aycock, and Claude Kitchin, second district men all, a restrictive notion of the Negro's place in society had triumphed in North Carolina and the nation. Eric Anderson's study examines regional and national history. His record clarifies a confusing, uneven period of promise from the emancipation to the disfranchisement of black Americans.