I have been reading a book about Reconstruction for my Civil War class, and it is crazy to think about how much blunt racism actually used to exist in our crazy. During the 1868 election, the democratic vice president candidate, Francis Blaire, embarked on a speaking campaign riddled with blatant hate. He accused the Republicans of placing the south under the rule of "a semi barbarous race of blacks who are worshipers of fetishes and poligamists" and longed to "subject the white women to their unbridled lust." Turns out these beliefs stemmed from his interpretations of Darwin's Origin of Species. He felt as if racial intermixing would reverse evolution, produce a less advanced species incapable of reproducing itself, and destroy the vast improvements of society.
I understand that this took place close to 150 years ago, and it would not happen today, but it is definitely important to look at what life used to be like. Even when this campaign was going on, it was extremely controversial and resulted in a lot of votes going to the republican ticket. I just thought that it is interesting tid bit, and something to think about.
Meredith Cotter #24
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