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Re: Civil War and Reconstruction

There are statistics for lynchings but I'm not at all certain they're accurate. Many more must have taken place in various parts of the country that were not reported.

You may be missing at least two of my points. The Redeemers and others like them wanted to return society to status quo ante bellum as best they could. Lynchings took place whenever a black man did something to challenge the social order. By the way, similar violence took place north of the Ohio River whenever people felt threatened by blacks and other 'undesirables'.

In Unionist Republican areas in Alabama, Tennessee and other states, black people simply weren't allowed in. It didn't matter how they behaved -- their presence wasn't permitted. I suspect the number of reported lynchings in those areas was small, simply because there weren't many to lynch. If they were fortunate, Negroes who attempted to come into those areas were merely turned away. Otherwise, they disappeared.

The Redeemers came down on ex-slaves (and others, too) who dared challenge the social order. Those who didn't make trouble were left alone. However, in the Alabama hill country, there were places a black man didn't dare take his family. It didn't matter how they behaved -- they just weren't going to be allowed to live in certain areas. Of course, they could die there if they wanted.

My second point is, in the North there was little need for movements like the Redeemers because most folks were happy with the social order. Outsiders like ex-slaves and immigrants were marginalized, and everything remained much as it had been before the war. Besides, ample supplies of rope were available if any uppity blacks tried to stir up any trouble. Yankees didn't need lessons about how to tie a good noose.

In the summer of 1963 I happened to be visiting in Grand Rapids. It was my first real opportunity to interact with Northerners. Adults seemed genuinely disturbed about having these boys from Alabama in their midst. One lady in particular lectured us on how horrible Southerners treated black people. A few minutes later she was talking to a neighbor (we weren't supposed to overhear) about how things were missing from her garden. She was sure it had something to do with the Negro family that just moved in down the street. Why, before long there would be more of them around, and then what would she do?

There goes the neighborhood! If only Grand Rapids had a local chapter of the Redeemers!

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