American and 19thcentury u. S. History, he earned his phd in 1985, so he is no stranger to richmond. His 1993 book is one of the most important studies of one of the most important slave compares these conspiracies in history. He was invited to speak at the university of richmond 20 years ago and he will be interviewed about that book later today. Most of his work has been on the subject of slave resistance, colonization, and evolutionism. List of find a partial his publications in his program. He has worked at the intersection of race and politics and his most recent books deal with the mid19th century. Years of meteors, Stephen Douglas and Abraham Lincoln in the election that brought on the civil war, and the wars of reconstruction, the brief violent history of americas most progressive era. His talk today will draw mostly from the final book and his title of the talk today is black activism during the civil war. Ladies and gentlemen, Douglas Egerton. [applause] Douglas Egerton thank you. Nice to be back in richmond. I have already learned an important lesson, not to follow the doctor. [laughter] i will see what i can do to keep you awake. Thank you for the nice introduction. Here we are, the centennial of the end of the war. And the dawn of reconstruction. Surrenders, when lee the war is over and this union itcalled unstopped and then is done. 50 years ago, secretary seward announced that they had gratified the 13 commitment, slavery was dead and the war was over and when it comes to reconstruction, it gets very confusing. Asked me ton john come to speak, he wanted me to provide paragraphs about why you would want to come and hear this. And his question, why should Americans Care about reconstruction and well, this is not over. It goes on for a long time. So, 1866, the war was over. Wasa new kind of war beginning, and that is why i titled my book the way i did. This was a new struggle, he knew more a new war. And of course as it was mentioned, this was overly by a good deal. Congress has responded. Most classic books on the reconstruction era, they all begin in 1863, because they began with a fight in washington dc between which president will have jurisdiction in the 10 plan, whether congress will have jurisdiction. And of course, this is really a disagreement on jurisdiction, because the fact is, the temperature plan is not different 10 plan is not very different from the way the davis response. Black americans, 1865, this is the end of something and to the start of a new struggle. So, when historians look at reconstruction, they focus on the disagreements between the moderates and the radical republicans, and the most conservative democrats who do not want to use the term reconstruction, they want to say restoration, putting it back together. Bringing it back the way it was before. Despite the disagreements, the one thing that most white republicans and democrats in congress could agree on, was that this was something designed to be imposed on the confederacy. Activists,ans, former slaves, new otherwise nknew otherwise. The entire nation needed reclamation. Ofstory begins outside washington, i am looking at people who advance the agenda, those pushing to make this more gala terry and a more perfect nation. Lincoln was focused on winning the war. Republicans in congress were focused on posing some kind of peace and a solution. So, for the most part, this was not people in washington taken about how this country have to be different has to be different, but not just the south, the entire country. That is not the story you get in popular culture. Saw it,that most of you lincoln the vampire slayer. [laughter] sidekick. A black a college down the road said, this is not very accurate. And i said, well, he is a vampire. But you get the same thing in other movies, weller where one is shouting, the time is now. And that is the story i think i do not want to tell in this book or today. Looking atlly was the future and envisioning what kind of country was this going to be . Wasthe most cpart, it black men and women who had fought against slavery. Many of them had been born in the south, douglas had come to the north. But there were ones who understood that the entire country required reconstruction and not just simply virginia or South Carolina or alabama. Can recall that slavery existed in all 13 original colonies and they understood that the entire country had to be fixed. That slavery had been a National Problem and therefore it legacy, racism, would remain. For decades, even as they fought against slavery, the faced they faced discrimination in the north that made life difficult. Voting was a prerogative. Before the civil war, the only state that allowed black men to vote on an equal basis, was in new england, state that had very few black men. These activists understood that Jefferson Davis might be the ultimate enemy. But that they were facing problems at home in places like syracuse. Slavery in 1827. They had a new constitution that minated the qualifications but imposed them on black men, but this did not make sense, because there was still slavery at the time. So Frederick Douglass, who owned a house and newspaper in rochester, he could vote, but it black barber in syracuse could not vote. The two sons of Frederick Douglass who worked for him, they did not have qualifications to vote, despite being 19 and 23. In 1860, new york try to put a Ballot Initiative on to get the qualifications imposed only on men and of course lincoln carries new york, but the Initiative Went down in flames, meaning that a lot of republicans who went to the polls for lincoln, they then banned together and voted down this qualification elimination. So things were worse in illinois. Also in ohio. Pennsylvania, not a single black man could vote. Years midwest, states for had passed discrimination laws. This was something that they would pass in 1855, before that, the black code existed in indiana and ohio. Ohio, illinois, indiana, they all caps laws passed laws banning blacks from coming into the states. And they imposed a fine on any white business and knowingly doing business with a free black that entered the states illegally. 1848, indiana even allocated money in the state assembly to colonize black men who entered the state and they also allocated men money, for men who wanted to leave the u. S. And go to africa. So that is why i begin in 1863, not because of the fight between lincoln and the congress, but because as we all know, january 18 succeeded, emancipation proclamation goes into effect and black men are able to serve. Major, aglas, a member of the massachusetts 54th. Massachusettsto and found out that a ravine pay less. Being pay less. They would deduct three dollars for clothing. So this was about half of what white soldiers earned. I would not be fixed until june, 1864, thanks to stephen. And they cannot be noncommissioned officers, so Lewis Douglas is a Sergeant Major. In 1863,s why i began because of the expense of men like this. Of the 1500 identifiable men of color who hold national and local office during the reconstruction, at least 130 our military our military. No big surprise. This is my fathers generation, so could run for office, black men all across the north marched to join in the 54th. I am sure that you have seen the film glory. It manages to get everything wrong about the story. They come from all across the north, 19 men come from syracuse. New york state had a several second ledgers largest contingent. Ohio was number two. Ohio has the largest contingent. And it is interesting, because it means that young men are leaving ohio and they are joining up, yet they cannot vote back home. And they are told that they are not a citizen in the country of their birth, but they are putting on a uniform and ready to die for a country that does not want them and will not allow them to go back home. Because of all of this, and activist decides to start advancing political demand by 1863. Other than a black convention movement, they are looking at the antislavery commitment, black activists just gave up after 1857. They seem to walk away. Even Frederick Douglass could announce the idea of colonization and he looked at tickets to go to haiti and to see what things were like. Trip. Ed up canceling the the final straw was the behavior of the new york governor, seymour was a democrat. He had been silent during the draft riots, when they condemned the rioters. The mob had burned a black orphanage and lynched black men from streetlamps. A 13yearold child that was mob,d by the small, his his uncle was in the 54th. So they killed his nephew when he was getting ready to fight at fort sumter. Had noernor said, he interest in raising a black regiment in the empire state. So the summer of 1863, the man on the left, Robert Purvis called for a convention to meet to restart the black convention movement. He was from charleston. He was like complex is. Like complected. He was the mastermind. Right,s man on the randolph. He would go on to become a u. S. Army chaplain in South Carolina, and when the war was over, he would become a minister and be assassinated getting on a train in columbia. He had the same combination of power,us, and political that got the church in trial said shut up last june. So they gather and the gathering. Roke up in july and then they saw their first act on james island. They had friends and cousins and sons. Their sons had bleated on the island in the first engagement just outside of charleston. They issued a document called the manifesto of they said this is not just against southern slavery. This is a battle for selfgovernment and true democracy. So they are simply saying, this is about South Carolina, the confederacy, they are more saying that this is a war for something. It is for democracy, Voting Rights for black men all across the nation. They had to reinterpret what the war was about. And if their sons are going to fight and die, in the 54th and 55th, they want to make sure that the country gets things right in new york, peddling it, and ohio. Pennsylvania and ohio. They called for future conventions. This is going to be restarting the black convention movement, organizing across the north. It took more than a year, but in october of 1864, a Big Convention took place in syracuse. Dc delegates from washington and 17 states, they bill this as a black mans right convention. One member gave a speech. Left,termind, on the logan who was a tennessee runaway who had gotten out and became ao syracuse and minister. And of course, without the mail of the antislavery movement, douglas, and they were about to become relatives. Daughter was engaged. Her fiance comes back home. Exists. Is church still it is now a mexican food restaurant. [laughter] Douglas Egerton they do not have a hard Liquor License and they make the margaritas with white wine. Enough said. If you go to the restaurant, you can sort of feel the vibe of the place. So, they meet for three days. Issue a series of demands. Syracuse hads been attracting free blacks from the delaware area for decades. And this is the only sizable city in new york and i had integrated schools, rochester did not. This is still america. Those in attendance were veterans of the old antislavery movement, douglas was there, of course. Langston would soon be working for the freedom bro and become a congressman. Gate, whoe of high elbowed her way in. And on the right, brown. The best and the brightest of the black Antisocial Movement met in syracuse. Movement, a Philadelphia School teacher, integrated inwho philadelphia. Cain,so reverend kane who would go into state politics. , who hade downing restaurants in rhode island, probably one of the most prosperous black men at the time and he became sort of the estaurantt toward r owner, who operated inside of the house and had an opinion of what should be done in congress. They met for three days and issued demands and most simply, abolishing slavery. This was october, 1864. Before congress would really consider it seriously as an amendment. They asked for Voting Rights for black men in all states, illinois, ohio, new york, this is not just about the south. This is about the entire country. Pay fored for equal black soldiers and the right for black men to become commissioned officers. Many of these men had sons, nephews, friends serving in the black regiments. So they are speaking for black veterans. Been moved,s had and charles douglas, the baby of the family, finally served in the fifth calorie as a clerk. He was in the calvary when they came marching into richmond. Metad the delegates who had earlier, they end the convention by calling for more conferences. They want them all across the country to push the agenda. They see this not as the end of something, but as the beginning of a National Reform drive. So they met in albany, 1865. And it changed everything. By the time they met, the war was over and Abraham Lincoln was dead. Moved course, many had south. On may 9, 1865, they met in richmond in the house of a black shoemaker. That is. Amazing this is to accept a robert e. Lee surrenders and blacks are meeting here for the organization in richmond. In june, they met in norfolk. And typically, you can see at the early conventions, they were trying to convey a message. So they go all the way down to explain what had been happening in syracuse and in albany. At a church, within weeks, they met in alexandria, virginia. There they endorsed the earlier agenda, issued by the syracuse delegations. Virginia beed that restored on the basis of universal coverage. Met some blacks from the old slave trading factory and we had done this two months before, we would have been hanged. They moved across the river and the met in washington dc. The list went on. As early as 1862, the Africanamerican Community had been divided. Fairly prosperous, mixed race, now black slaves. But then they went all the way down to new orleans and counseled the black communities to put aside differences. You had an amazing convention of welltodo new orleans people of color who had been born free, sitting next to phil hands and black field hands and black veterans. And of course the south had been passing black codes and the end of the war and that shows those who are free before the war and those after the war, making a new alliance. In nashville, one of the speakers was a former South Carolina slave turned sergeant. Henry maxwell, this again was no accident, he came back from the war with the uniform. Bear in mind, one of the 17,000 men in the army one is a 40,000 were born slaves 140,000 were born slaves. They come home and like the delegates in syracuse, they do not accept turning the clock back. Maxwell,here, sergeant americans black now it is time for us to win the black the ballot box. The same is true on august 9 in sacramento. There they were dealing with segregated streetcars. Soon, they met in harrisburg, cleveland, and after every convention, at least one of the men agreed to go to another city and start the convention and keep with the drive. I was in a conference in raleigh last summer, walking down the street, and there was a sign for a convention. South haveacross the or should have a sign like this, where the convention met and they started to make political demands. The question is, how do you get congress to agree . Now they have a movement going, now what they have to do is force somebody in washington to Pay Attention to start change. Again, how progressive they are by comparison to the socalled radicals in congress. Riotsthere are antiblack in memphis, new orleans, Congress Passes the Civil Rights Act and what does it not call for . It is not call for black Voting Rights. These guys, at least two years out in front of the radicals in congress who are calling for Voting Rights all across the country, calling for an end to slavery. They finally decide they are going to go to washington and make a case. They have a convention, but then decided it is time to make their case. They have a delegation in 1866, Frederick Douglasss wounded son , they all go down. They have a disastrous meeting with the acting president , andrew johnson. Seems not to know who douglas was, but and by the way, i do not think that lincoln ever read douglass narrative, he said he had heard all about johnson says it seems not to. Says he was born in maryland. It is a disastrous meeting. And johnson turns to his secretary and says, i know people like douglas, he used the term negro, saying that he would put a knife in the white mans back any day. But they go on to make two different pitches. Data 180,000 black men have risked their lives, it is time for the country to fight for them. These guys are pragmatic and practical, theyre not going to make a moral argument. They want to remind politicians how elections work. They point out how the amendment is passed and how it changes other parts of the constitution. 3 5 a minute. The awarded. Will be black men can vote on but it will be different. Theyo have aligned also remind them how the Electoral College works. Lincoln one with a record low popular vote. In 18 61, 1000 87 in what is87 votes now with regime. He got votes in kentucky. Nobody was handing out lincoln tickets in South Carolina and a douglas remind the congressmen, South Carolina and mississippi have a black majority. So, lincoln wins in 1860 because he is running against a former wake. Wig. He says things will be different. In 1868, grant loses new york. Carried North Carolina, South Carolina, florida and alabama. Lets make quick