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Reviews
| A Black Congressman in the Age of Jim Crow: South Carolina's George Washington Murray. By John F. Marszalek. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2006. xix + 212 pp. Notes, bibliographic essay, appendix, and index. $55.00 (cloth).
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Distinguished historian John F. Marszalek uses the life of George Washington Murray as a symbol of African American political and legal agency in resisting the onslaught of Jim Crow segregation in South Carolina by placing Murray's life within the larger framework of late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century U.S. history. Written from the black perspective, this book is an important addition to the growing literature on African American life in South Carolina, along with works by Bernard Powers, Stephen Kantrowitz, Richard Zuczek, and Julie Saville. |
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The book begins with an impressive chapter on slavery and emancipation in South Carolina in which Marszalek does not shy away from the brutality of his subject. Murray was born a slave in 1852 in Sumter County, South Carolina, and he became literate and learned math as a slave. During Reconstruction, he farmed a small, local plot and later attended an integrated University of South Carolina campus until he and the other African American students were expelled after the Democratic Party's so-called "redemption" in 1876–77. Murray returned to farming and had amassed nearly fifty acres of land by 1880. |
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With their return to political power, white Democrats focused on disfranchising black voters and legislating segregation. In 1882, not only did white Democrats make it difficult for African Americans to register to vote, but they also gerrymandered the state's congressional districts to ensure victories in six districts while sacrificing the Seventh Congressional District to Republicans because so many African Americans were concentrated there. Not surprisingly, Murray began his political career here when selected as a delegate to the state Republican Party Convention in 1880. In 1892 Murray ran successfully to represent the Seventh District. Murray's voting record reveals a strong commitment to the Republican Party. In late 1893 the Democrats broke up the Seventh Congressional District and the Republican Party would not win another election there until the 1960s. |
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Marszalek concludes that, "Disenfranchisement and failure in South Carolina came not because of acquiescence, incompetence, or venality, but because of the brute power of uncompromising racism" (p. 165). But Murray held some conflicting views on the role of race and racism in southern and American society. Murray often ignored or downplayed white racism in public oratory and in his writings. In Light in Dark Places (1922), Murray argued that "American society is the result of the environmental impact of slavery on both whites and blacks, and consequently their attitudes toward themselves and toward each other are conditioned to admire whiteness and denigrate blackness" (p. 159). Importantly, his manuscript was based upon an earlier publication titled Race Ideals (1914), in which Murray "did not consider white racism to be a major problem" (p. 154). At the same time, Murray focused his energies on promoting race pride and economic self-sufficiency in the black community. Many of his speeches mirrored Marcus Garvey's later espousal of economic autonomy and "black is beautiful" philosophy. In promoting educational opportunity, some of Murray's beliefs were moderate enough for Booker T. Washington to invite him to give a commencement address at Tuskegee Institute. On the other hand, some of Murray's attitudes regarding political activism and social and economic integration were closer to those of W. E. B. Du Bois. |
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This book is thoroughly researched and well-written. Marszalek's effort to unearth material on Murray led him to numerous archives and state libraries around the United States. It is an in-depth study of black political life in Jim Crow South Carolina and intended for specialists in South Carolina political history and African American history. Marszalek has added George Washington Murray to the list of influential black leaders of a period that includes Booker T. Washington, W. E. B. Du Bois, Ida B. Wells Barnett, and Marcus Garvey.
Jeff Strickland
Montclair State University
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