Dynasty Allen
History 3071
March 31, 2016
Exam 2
The Great New Orleans Kidnapping Case: Race,Law, and Justice in the Reconstruction Era, by Michael Ross highlights some of the most critical moments in the height of Radical Reconstruction and in the history of New Orleans. In June 1870, two African American women kidnapped a seventeen-month-old named Mollie Digby. This happened in front of Mollie’s New Orleans home. Molly Digby, was the daughter of a working-class Irish family in New Orleans. The twenty-eight year old Louisiana governor, Henry Clay Warmoth put an Afro- Creole detective named John Baptiste Jourdain on this case. A big reward was also posted for the return of Mollie Digby and the capture of the people responsible for the crime.
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The New Orleans police force became racially integrated. John Baptiste Jourdain, a man of mixed race, became the lead detective on the publicized Digby kidnapping case. Men of color ran for office, accepted patronage posts, or, like Jourdain, joined the integrated police force. Afro-Creoles took on all of these newly integrated positions while understanding that their accomplishments or failures could affect all black people in Louisiana. If they didn’t succeed, ex- Confederate reactionaries could validate restoring white supremacy. If they did succeed they could convince whites to join biracial coalitions and work alongside other Afro- Creoles for efficiency. “Although some Afro- Creoles sought social distance from former slaves they knew that whites considered them representatives of the race as a whole... If they proved inept, it would bolster the opponent of biracial …show more content…
This is demonstrated heavy by the Digby Kidnapping case. Once editors soon realized how the story could grow. It took a few days for the public to realize the child was really missing but interest in the story did not steadily grow until the readers learned that Mollie was abducted by two Afro- Creole women of color. This case was now calling attention and scaring white parents throughout the city of New Orleans. The idea of a seemingly respectable Afro- Creole women abducting a white baby for ransom terrified elite white families in Garden District mansions and French Quarter who relied on African American nannies to care for their children. The Digby story came about when Americans had become fascinated with true crime stories. Newspaper editors who once only focused on business and political news before reconstruction, had discovered that accounts of sensational crimes made more money and sold more papers. The Digby investigation, with its many false leads, became extremely popular. When Mollie Digby was taken from her front yard in June of 1870, the swirling of Reconstruction chaos seemed to reach a peak. Media outlets began unprecedented press coverage of the story. Missing children were not new to the city of New Orleans, but this was the opportunity for the owners of news outlets to have their distortions of the case publicized. Many different ideas were swirled around in the press. One publication
In the documentary 13th by director Ava DuVernay, a racial stigma is investigated regarding the skin colors of those being incarcerated in the U.S. prison systems. Some questions being introduced in 13th leave us intrigued and those relate to the presidents at the time handling every situation differently. Those questions and many more will be answered along with a critique of the handling by those in power regarding incarceration. Many symbols with meaning are introduced in 13th, such as the whites power over the media, their exaggeration of the release of Birth of a Nation and the presidency itself. The documentary goes in-depth into the incarceration of many blacks, and it does that with the questions it asks.
Martinsville had been suggested to be an all-white town that had known KKK organizations. Therefore, when police investigated the murder, they saw finding the murderer to be an unimportant task due to the color of Carol Jenkins. They also saw no reason to find a murderer because they assumed the murdered to be white and were trying to be lenient of the situation. 4.)
Section 1: Identification and Evaluation of sources (508) This investigation will explore the question: To what extent did the death of Emmett Till spark the Civil Rights movement? The year 1955 will be the central point of this investigation to authorize for a research of Emmett Till’s death case in Mississippi, as well as its impact on the Civil Rights movement. The first source which will be evaluated in extent is Keith Beauchamp’s documentary “The Untold Story of Emmett Louis
Introduction Theoretical assumptions about diversity and contact theory inform the view that a more ethnically diverse criminal justice system will reveal a broader range of voices that can shape and influence policy and attitudinal changes for the better. The focal point of this essay is on the law enforcement branch of the criminal justice system. It makes the argument that diversity in the police force can help reduce levels of racial and ethnic bias as well as disproportionality to the extent that diversity is able to change or influence the occupational and institutional structures that create these disproportionalities. To make this claim, this essay will first show that there are indeed disproportionate outcomes in policing and attempt
Wilmington Race riot: How did it influence segregation? Nearly two centuries to about 5 decades ago, segregation was alive and well throughout North Carolina and the United states. Segregation had given whites a higher ranking than the lesser African American population. During the late 1870’s the town of Wilmington, NC was starting to integrate their population.
Tyna L. Steptoe’s book, Houston Bound: Culture and Color in a Jim Crow City explores the significance of Wheatley High School, a public secondary school located in the heart of Fifth Ward, Houston, Texas, established in the 1930s to serve black and Creole students during the Jim Crow era. Despite being segregated, the students at Wheatley did not let this hold them down and instead made the best of the situation by getting heavily involved in their school. Wheatley High School gave their black and creole students tools for advancement and helped strengthen their cultural identity and in a historic period in which racial discrimination attempted to curtail their political and economic potential. In this Jim Crow era, the institutions of the city were divided by the racial categories of white and black, which would force everyone into one or the other category, even if they did not necessarily associate themselves with it. Accordingly, racially ambiguous people would either receive the benefits that accompanied the white label or the grim treatment that accompanied the black label.
How a person acquires fundamental opinions has been a controversial topic for generations. Some people claim that a person’s opinion is inborn. Others theorize that a person’s opinion is learned. However, most will agree that a person’s surroundings, environment, and history have a great impact on their worldly views. One’s environment can be described as where they live, where they spend their time, the place where they attend school or work, who they live with, and who they associate with.
Although they both express the failure, each person acts as a representative of the two competing sides concerning whether or not to allow former slaves and other African Americans to live under full civil rights as whites. Smalls demonstrated how continued massacres, assaults, and whippings of blacks clearly proved that the signs of ending slavery by allowing them in state legislation and voting was a simple cover-up because they were never given the opportunity to enjoy their rights as whites. On the contrary, Hampton worked hard to prove that blacks were never qualified for the same rights as those of native white Americans. Hampton’s political-instigated support of malign activities of extremists such as Red Shirts and the Ku Klux Klan against blacks indicated made clear indication that Reconstruction could never have worked for people who just came to America as
Daisy Bates was the author of a memoir titled The Long Shadow of Little Rock 1962. Bates discusses the trials and tribulations she faced throughout her childhood and into adulthood. Daisy Bates helped nine African American students, known as the Little Rock Nine to desegregate Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas in the fall of 1957. She published a weekly African American newspaper, the Arkansas State Press. Bates also became the president of the Arkansas chapter of the National Association for Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
America’s history has been marked by periods of tumult and periods of stability within its borders, C. Vann Woodward’s book, The Strange Career of Jim Crow, chronicles the events that happen after the Reconstruction period, showcasing the problems that Americans went through. The Strange Career of Jim Crow attacks segregation starting with its foundations and then records the laws and codes that the African-American population lived under during that time period. In his book Woodward points out the origins of Jim Crow laws and the segregation that goes with it, stating “One of the strangest things about the career of Jim Crow was that the system was born in the North and reached an advanced age before moving South in force. ”1 This book review
The Black Codes This article, published in the New Orleans Tribune in December 1865 and located in the Early American Newspaper database from the FIU library, focuses on the creation of the black codes, which were laws passed in 1865 that “had the intent and the effect of restricting African Americans’ freedom” (Roark et al. 463). The article provides a general summary of the black codes restrictions against people of color and the effects it had on the country. The fact that the article mentions “that there can be no black codes” (“Black Codes”) suggest that the newspaper is in opposition towards the black codes.
For over 20 years, millions of Americans have been following the twisted and unsolved murder of six-year old beauty contestant JonBenet Ramsey. Christmas of 1996 brought terror to Boulder, Colorado as the world watched the crime scene unfold as Little Miss Colorado was found strangled in the basement of her family’s home. Pieces from the brutal murder such as a lengthy ransom note are unheard of, leaving the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) shocked. Two decades later, the case remains a mystery due to police mishap, mishandled evidence, and an abundance of conspiracy theories. Suspicions have ranged from her parents, John and Patsy Ramsey, to the outrageous, Santa Claus.
African-American historian W.E.B Dubois illustrated how the Civil War brought the problems of African-American experiences into the spotlight. As a socialist, he argued against the traditional Dunning interpretations and voiced opinions about the failures and benefits of the Civil War era, which he branded as a ‘splendid failure’. The impacts of Civil War era enabled African-Americans to “form their own fraternal organizations, worship in their own churches and embrace the notion of an activist government that promoted and safeguarded the welfare of its citizens.”
According to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, departments that serve less than 2,500 people are 84.4% white and departments that serve millions are 53.4% white (as cited in Fifield, 2016). Notably, Over the years, a lack of diversity within law enforcement has become a pertinent issue. Notably, the underrepresentation of minorities within law enforcement influences the relationship between communities and law enforcement by engendering distrust with law enforcement. To say nothing of, underrepresentation of minorities have had many people question whether departments mirror a diverse community. Nevertheless, with that being said, underrepresentation of minorities have generated tension and distrust between communities and law enforcement and many believe that police department need to mirror the race composition within their cities.
If you can take a moment to think to yourself, how many times have you been treated differently just because of your race? Maybe not at all, or maybe a lot. Understanding systematic racism may help you understand why. Systematic racism affects people’s lives greatly or just a little. If you want to learn about what Jim Crow started systematic racism and what it is, then read this essay.