Category Archives: Racism

March 27, 1863: The Dispatch — why does the North like black people so much?

Wow. What do you say about this? Southern writers of the time keep talking about how they love black people and how slavery is the best thing for them. Richmond Daily Dispatch “Hung be the Heavens in Black” We have … Continue reading

Posted in Emancipation, Racism | 1 Comment

March 26, 1863: Irish won’t fight for slaves

I always take reports of Northern disunity from the Richmond Daily Dispatch with a grain of salt. Still, there’s considerable evidence of enmity between recent Irish immigrants and freed blacks at the time. The Yankee Irish soldiers. –An Irish Legion … Continue reading

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August 2, 1862: Uppity in Chicago

The Richmond Daily Dispatch reports an incident in Chicago. Some “Negroes” got the idea that they were allowed to ride the bus! Negro equality in Chicago — a negro Ejected from an omnibus — Intense excitement in consequence. A Chicago … Continue reading

Posted in Abolitionism, Illinois, Racism | Leave a comment

June 26, 1862: A Northern Democrat against emancipation

The Richmond Daily Dispatch reprinted approvingly the remarks of Rep. William Richardson of Illinois. Northern Democrats hoped to use racism for leverage against Lincoln; a war for the Union was unassailable in the North, but a war against slavery was … Continue reading

Posted in Abolitionism, Illinois, Racism | 1 Comment

April, 1861: All men are brothers, but some need to be slaves.

James D. B. Debow I have drawn material several times from DeBow’s Review, a bastion of slavery apologetics in the deep South. In the April, 1861 issue, DeBow gives a glowing review of a book: The testimony of modern science … Continue reading

Posted in Racism, Science, Slavery | 2 Comments

December, 1860 DeBow’s Review: Slavery needs better P.R.

James D.B. DeBow From the December, 1860, DeBow’s Review: The tone of the public mind is at this era of the world’s history almost entirely directed by the periodical press. Especially is this observable at the North, where immense newspaper … Continue reading

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December, 1860: Dr. Scull takes on Dr. Cartwright on human unity

James D.B. DeBow In December, 1860, James DeBow was gracious enough to publish a rebuttal of S.A. Cartwright’s August article, in which the author claimed Biblical warrant for African slavery on the grounds that blacks were a separate and inferior … Continue reading

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November, 1860: Racism splits some hairs

John C. Breckinridge, a “wild, fierce, fearless, and religious” Celt. In the November 1860 issue of the Southern Literary Messenger, a monthly magazine “devoted to every department of literature and the fine arts”, an anonymous article appears titled “Northern Mind … Continue reading

Posted in Racism, Secession, Slavery | 1 Comment

Anti-Slavery Racism and Disunionism?

An item in the September 19, 1860 Franklin (PA) Repository and Transcript, a pro-Lincoln paper: According to a silly article in the Spirit, our candidate for the Presidency, “honest ole Abe,” is so homely that in his infancy his personal … Continue reading

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Comparing Africans and “Coolies”

Lord John Russell A letter to the editor of the New York Times on 8/24/1860 says that Lord Russell’s proposal to substitute Chinese labor for African slaves in Cuba is doomed to failure because the Cuban planters don’t want Chinese … Continue reading

Posted in Lord John Russell, Racism, Slave trade, Slavery | 1 Comment