The Abolitionist Legacy ─ From Reconstruction to the Naacp

Building on arguments presented in The Struggle for Equality,
James McPherson shows that many abolitionists did not retreat from
Reconstruction, as historical accounts frequently lead us to believe,
but instead vigorously continued the battle for black rights long
after the Civil War. Tracing the activities of nearly 300
abolitionists and their descendants, he reveals that some played a
crucial role in the establishment of schools and colleges for southern
blacks, while others formed the vanguard of liberals who founded the
NAACP in 1910. The author's examination of the complex and unhappy
fate of Reconstruction clarifies the uneasy partnership of northern
and southern white liberals after 1870, the tensions between black
activists and white neo-abolitionists, the evolution of resistance to
racist ideologies, and the origins of the NAACP.