Building on arguments presented in The Struggle for Equality, James McPherson shows that many abolitionists did not retreat from Reconstruction, as historical accounts frequently lead us to believe, but instead vigorously continued the battle for black rights long after the Civil War. Tracing the activities of nearly 300 abolitionists and their descendants, he reveals that some played a crucial role in the establishment of schools and colleges for southern blacks, while others formed the vanguard of liberals who founded the NAACP in 1910. The author's examination of the complex and unhappy fate of Reconstruction clarifies the uneasy partnership of northern and southern white liberals after 1870, the tensions between black activists and white neo-abolitionists, the evolution of resistance to racist ideologies, and the origins of the NAACP.
- ISBN10 069110039X
- ISBN13 9780691100395
- Publish Date 21 February 1976
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country US
- Imprint Princeton University Press
- Edition Revised edition
- Format Paperback (US Trade)
- Pages 456
- Language English
- URL https://press.princeton.edu/titles/1500.html