Unequal Freedoms

Ethnicity, Race, and White Supremacy in Civil War–Era Charleston

Jeff Strickland

• Publisher: University Press of Florida
• Year: 2015
• eBook ISBN: 9780813055411
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: American Civil War History
• Index: History

During the latter half of the nineteenth century, German and Irish immigrants were as central to the development of the political economy of Charleston, South Carolina, as white southerners and African Americans. As artisans and entrepreneurs, foreigners occupied a middle tier in the racial and ethnic hierarchy of the South's most economically and politically important city. As agents of change, they provided a buffer, alleviating tensions between the castes until assimilating after emancipation and, in many instances, effectively embracing white supremacy.

In Unequal Freedoms, Jeff Strickland examines the complex interplay of race, ethnicity, and class to reveal the pivotal ways in which European immigrants influenced the social, economic, and political development of the South.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Unequal Freedoms
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of Figures
• List of Maps
• List of Tables
• Foreword
• Acknowledgments
• List of Abbreviations
• Chronology
• Introduction
• 1. Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Urban South
• 2. Slavery and Urban Life
• 3. Antebellum Municipal Politics and Social Control
• 4. Postwar Wage Labor and Petty Capital Formation
• 5. Racial and Ethnic Relations during Reconstruction
• 6. The German Schuetzenfest and the Culture of White Supremacy
• 7. Postwar Municipal Politics and the Failure of Reconstruction
• Conclusion
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index