Before Obama

This book introduces America to the Black Reconstruction politicians who fought valiantly for the civil rights of all people-important individuals who have been ignored by modern historians as well as their contemporaries.
Between 1865 and 1876, about 2,000 blacks held elective and appointive offices in the South, but these men faced astounding odds. They were belittled as corrupt and inadequate by their white political opponents, who used legislative trickery, libel, bribery, and brutal intimidation of their constituents to rob these black lawmakers of their base of support.
Before Obama: A Reappraisal of Black Reconstruction-Era Politicians comprises two volumes that examine the leadership and contributions of black politicians during the Reconstruction era-diverse men whose efforts during Reconstruction should not be overlooked. Each biographical essay examines how each individual contributed to the Reconstruction Era and fostered the development of a parallel civil society within black communities, what influence his actions had on the future of blacks in politics, and why he has been ignored. This work also serves to set the record straight about these black politicians who are often scapegoated for the overall failure of the Reconstruction.

Matthew Lynch is associate professor of education at Langston University, Langston, OK. His published works include It's Time for A Change: School Reform for the Next Decade and A Guide to Effective School Leadership Theories.

Foreword by Molefi Kete Asante
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction by Matthew Lynch
Chapter 1 "No Peer in His Race": Robert Brown Elliott and the Racial Politics of Reconstruction Era South Carolina
J. Brent Morris
Chapter 2 A Lasting Legacy: James Edward O'Hara's Post-Reconstruction Struggle for Racial Equality
Kevin E. Grimm
Chapter 3 "That Is All We Ask For-an Equal Chance": Oscar James Dunn, Louisiana's First Black Lieutenant Governor
Linda English
Chapter 4 In the Midst of the "Nadir": Samuel A. McElwee and the Search for Democracy and Freedom
Derrick D. McKisick
Chapter 5 From "Just above Slave Level" to State Treasurer: Antoine Dubuclet and the Politics of Race in Reconstruction Louisiana
Joshua Butler
Chapter 6 Joseph Hayne Rainey and the Beginnings of Black Political Authority
William P. Kladky
Chapter 7 Race, Reconstruction, Radical Republicans, and a Renegade: The Rise and Fall of Tunis Campbell
F. Erik Brooks
Chapter 8 Footprints of Freedom: Mifflin Wistar Gibbs and the Pursuit of Equality across North America
Jake Sudderth
Chapter 9 The Biography of John Willis Menard, First African American Elected to the U.S. Congress
Glenn L. Starks
Chapter 10 "Rise in the Scale of Being": Jonathan Clarkson Gibbs, Philadelphia Ministry, and Florida Politics
Kaye Wise Whitehead
Chapter 11 "I Shall Not Be Muffled Here": Thomas E. Miller, the Lost African American Congressman, 1890-1891
Travis D. Boyce and Winsome M. Chunnu-Brayda
Chapter 12 Like a Lion Bound, Hear Him Roar: Richard Harvey Cain and a Rhetoric of Reconstruction
Martin A. Parlett
Chapter 13 Robert Smalls and the Politics of Race and Freedom in Low Country South Carolina, 1865-1890
Karen Cook Bell and Peter J. Breaux
About the Editor and Contributors
Index