White supremacy shaped all aspects of post-Civil War southern life, yet its power was never complete or total. The form of segregation and subjection nicknamed Jim Crow constantly had to remake itself over time even as white southern politicians struggled to extend its grip. Here, some of the most innovative scholars of southern history question Jim Crow's sway, evolution, and methods over the course of a century. These essays bring to life the southern men and women--some heroic and decent, others mean and sinister, most a mixture of both--who supported and challenged Jim Crow, showing that white supremacy always had to prove its power. Jim Crow was always in motion, always adjusting to meet resistance and defiance by both African Americans and whites. Sometimes white supremacists responded with increased ferocity, sometimes with more subtle political and legal ploys. Jumpin' Jim Crow presents a clear picture of this complex negotiation. For example, even as some black and white women launched the strongest attacks on the system, other white women nurtured myths glorifying white supremacy. Even as elite whites blamed racial violence on poor whites, they used Jim Crow to dominate poor whites as well as blacks. Most important, the book portrays change over time, suggesting that Strom Thurmond is not a simple reincarnation of Ben Tillman and that Rosa Parks was not the first black woman to say no to Jim Crow. From a study of the segregation of household consumption to a fresh look at critical elections, from an examination of an unlikely antilynching campaign to an analysis of how miscegenation laws tried to sexualize black political power, these essays about specific southern times and places exemplify the latest trends in historical research. Its rich, accessible content makes Jumpin' Jim Crow an ideal undergraduate reader on American history, while its methodological innovations will be emulated by scholars of political history generally. In addition to the editors, the contributors are Edward L. Ayers, Elsa Barkley Brown, W. Fitzhugh Brundage, Laura F. Edwards, Kari Frederickson, David F. Godshalk, Grace Elizabeth Hale, Jacquelyn Dowd Hall, Stephen Kantrowitz, Nancy MacLean, Nell Irwin Painter, and Timothy B. Tyson.

Table of Contents:
Preface ix Acknowledgments xiii Introduction 3 Chapter 1: by Laura Edwards The Politics of Marriage and Households in North Carolina during Reconstruction 7 Chapter 2: by Elsa Barkely Brown Negotiating and Transforming the Public Sphere: African American Political Life in the Transition from Slavery to Freedom 28 Chapter 3: by Stephen Kantrowwitz One Man's Mob Is Another Man's Militia: Violence, Manhood, and Authority in Reconstruction South Carolina 67 Chapter 4: by Jane Daily The Limits of Liberalism in the New South: The Politics of Race, Sex, and Patronage in Virginia, 1879-1883 88 Chapter 5: by W. Fitzhugh Brundage White Women and the Politics of Historical Memory in the New South, 1880-1920 115 Chapter 6: by David F. Godshalk William J. Northen's Public and Personal Struggles against Lynching 140 Chapter 7: by Grace Elizabeth Hale "For Colored" and "For White": Segregating Consumption in the South 162 Chapter 8: by Nancy MacLean The Leo Frank Case Reconsidered: Vender and Sexual Politics in the Making of Reactionary Populism 183 Chapter 9: by Glenda Elizabeth Gilmore False Friends and Avowed Enemies: Southern African Americans and Party Allegiances in the 1920s 219 Chapter 10: by Bryant Simon Race Reactions: African American Organizing, Liberalism, and White Working-Class Politics in Postwar South Carolina 239 Chapter 11: by Kari Frederickson "As a Man, I Am Interested in States' Rights": Gender, Race, and the Family in the Dixiecrat Party, 1948-195O 260 Chapter 12: by Timothy B. Tyson Dynamite and "The Silent South": A Story from the Second Reconstruction in South Carolina 275 Afterwards Portraying Power by Edward Ayers 301 Reflections by Jacquelyn Dowd Hall 304 The Shoah and Southern History by Nell Irvin Painter 308 Contributors 311 Index 315