The Double V

Home Front ◽  
2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
North Carolina ◽  
African Americans ◽  
Death Rates ◽  
Economic Opportunities ◽  
The Military ◽  
New Jobs ◽  
At Home

African Americans in North Carolina were third class citizens with lower levels of education, higher disease and death rates, and higher unemployment while living in a segregated society that left them disenfranchised. Blacks had greater economic opportunities during the war with new jobs and enlistment in the military, but despite their willingness to fight for their country, they still faced discrimination. They continued to pursue the Double V—victory for democracy both at home and abroad—with protests and occasional armed clashes.

The Black Businessman in the Postwar South: North Carolina, 1865–1880

1989 ◽  
Vol 63 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-87 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert C. Kenzer
Keyword(s):  
North Carolina ◽  
Civil War ◽  
Political Power ◽  
Credit Ratings ◽  
Black Business ◽  
Business Community ◽  
Business History ◽  
Financial Resources ◽  
Local Economies ◽  
Economic Opportunities

This article uses the R. G. Dun and Company credit ratings to analyze North Carolina black businessmen and their firms in the fifteen years following the Civil War. When combined with data in local histories and in the federal census, the credit ratings reveal how the postbellum black business community, especially the mulatto population, was significantly shaped by antebellum emancipation. Blacks who shared the advantage of prewar freedom employed their superior financial resources and business experience to dominate their local economies after the war. Further, both as individuals and collectively, blacks used their newly acquired political power to foster economic opportunities in ways hitherto unrecognized by both political and business history scholars.

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