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A richly detailed record of the problems blacks faced before and during the Civil War
Proceedings of the Black State Conventions, 1840-1865
Volume II
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edited by Philip S. Foner and George E. Walker
Volume II covers deliberations at conventions held in New Jersey, Connecticut, Maryland, Illinois, Massachusetts, California, New England, Kansas, Missouri, Louisiana, Virginia, and South Carolina. Together with the recently published first volume, it provides a richly detailed record of the problems blacks faced before and during the Civil War: racial self-improvement, slavery, the war, the franchise, and emigration.
Black youngsters, for example, were denied the right to attend public schools even though their parents were tax-paying citizens. Consequently, equal educational opportunity was an important issue at black conventions in Chicago, Illinois, in October of 1853 and at Charleston, South Carolina, in November 1865. Discussion of such issues at the state and local level helped to set up a national agenda for change and paved the way for such organizations as the NAACP.
The collection has been thoroughly annotated by the editors and also contains an introduction that places the conventions in historical perspective. The records are amplified in some instances by contemporary newspaper accounts and are made easily accessible by a thorough index.
About the Author(s)
Philip S. Foner, recently retired Professor of History at Lincoln University, Pennsylvania, is the author of numerous articles and books in labor history and black history, including Essays in Afro-American History (Temple).
George E. Walker is Assistant Professor of History at George Mason University, Virginia.