Let Us Grow Strong by Organization and Earnest Cooperation

This chapter focuses on the formation of national civil rights organizations in Boston and how they confronted the rising tide of Jim Crow in the final decade of the nineteenth century. Through these organizations, black men and women merged local political concerns with a broader movement for racial equality. This chapter pays particular attention to the Boston black community’s response to the rise in southern lynching. In doing so, it expands the historical narrative that has focused on anti-lynching during the 1890s as a product of the actions of central national leaders.

No Peace until the Suffrage Question Is Settled

This chapter focuses on the post-civil war election of Massachusetts’ first black legislators and the debates over the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments. It argues that in these early debates issues of black suffrage were central to visions of citizenship and that conflicts over the breadth of the amendments planted the seeds for future skepticism of the Republican Party. Following the passage of the amendments, portions of Boston’s black community remained unsure of Republicans’ commitment to civil rights protections.

Conclusion

This chapter summarizes the book and recounts its major themes. It argues that while the pursuit of independent politics began optimistically, by the end of the nineteenth century such hopes were tragically misplaced. The legacy of the dedication to race-first politics, however, remained an influential force in Black political organizing of the twentieth century civil rights struggles.

For Ireland’s Cause

This chapter examines the successful formation of black and Irish politics coalitions in the city. It argues that interethnic coalition building was important for attaining political power and that black and Irish residents came together over ideas of a shared history of oppression, mutual support for Democratic politics, and their remembrance of sacrifice during the American Revolution. This chapter belies the assumption that Irish political power was antagonistic to the goals of African Americans or that Boston’s Irish founded political strength by wholly embracing white racism.

A Recognized and Respected Part of the Body Politic

This chapter documents the aftermath of Butler’s defeat for reelection in 1883. Butler’s supporters and a growing group of black independents backed Grover Cleveland for president of the United States. They hoped that Cleveland’s election would inaugurate a national black commitment to political independence and push the national Democratic Party towards a pro-civil rights agenda. Black Bostonians worked with like-minded activists in other states to leverage black political power towards recognition from the Cleveland administration. Despite some success, the limited gains in black rights during the Cleveland administration illuminated the limits of siding with the Democratic Party.

You Will Find the Colored Voters on the Butler Ship This Fall

This chapter focuses on black activism in and around Benjamin’s Butler’s campaigns as a Democrat for governor in the late 1870s and early 1880s. This campaign exposed fissures in the black political community over how best to achieve their political vision. One side advocated continued loyalty to the Republican Party. The other depended on partisan independence and the willingness of black voters to support Democratic candidates. Despite eventual defeat, black independents hardened their resolve and attracted new supporters best seen through the retrenchment of black independent politics in new organizations and their turn to national politics.

Where There Is No Will There Is No Way

This chapter explores Black Bostonians’ response to the deterioration of the national climate of race relations in the late 1890s. As the 1890s ended, black Bostonians questioned their previous trust in the two major parties and their faith in white allies. In their opposition, they enunciated a new political vision that advocated racial solidarity and rejected allegiance to the U. S. party system. By the beginning of the twentieth century, African Americans conceived a new political culture in which racial solidarity was paramount and partisan politics mistrusted.

Vote, That the Work Might Be Finished

This chapter examines black participation in state level elections from the late 1860s and concludes with the controversies surrounding the 1872 presidential election. During these elections, African Americans increasingly questioned their electoral loyalty to the Republican Party and discussed potential alternatives.

An Atmosphere More Liberal, Although by No Means Unbiased

This chapter describes the demographic and social landscape of Boston after the Civil War. It explores the Black community’s traditions of political activism and roots in the anti-slavery movement. It highlights the importance of voting to African American conceptions of citizenship and early fights for suffrage.

Epilogue

The final chapter examines the legacy of black political action in Boston. The emergence of William Monroe Trotter as editor of the Boston Guardian helped black Boston’s new political vision reach a national audience. In particular, Trotter’s influence encouraged W. E. B. Du Bois to join a more radical politics that had grown in Boston during the previous decades. This chapter argues that Trotter and Du Bois’s politics were rooted in the political legacies and traditions of Boston’s black community.