Rethinking the Role of State Courts in the Lives of Black Southerners, 1865–1900

This paper examines African Americans’ participation in civil and criminal cases in eight states in the U.S. South between 1865 and 1900.  Drawing from an analysis of thousands of archival appellate case records, the paper argues that black defendants often found profoundly limited justice in criminal cases. However, during this period black southerners could at times leverage the courts for their own purposes through civil cases against white southerners.  By using white lawyers and witnesses and presenting themselves in certain ways, black litigants had surprising success in litigating certain kinds of civil cases against white southerners.  This occurred not only during the period of Reconstruction, but also in the succeeding years. Indeed, during the period of Jim Crow, the author contends, the courts were the one area where black southerners were still able to consistently access a government institution.  The paper will focus in particular on how black southerners worked within the southern legal system to litigate successful civil cases against whites during this period, and the limits of their ability to gain some kind of justice in the courts.  Finally, the paper will address the significance of black litigants’ limited access to the courts between 1865 and 1900 and why black litigants experienced the courts differently in civil and criminal suits.