| Abstract | This dissertation examines the Black pursuit of equality in the US capital during the postemancipation period. It places the interracial alliance developed by prewar political abolitionists in the Colored Conventions Movement and American Missionary Association at the center of the pursuit for a colorblind citizenry and traces this coalition’s efforts into the Reconstruction era. I argue that these Black and white abolitionists formed a coalition premised on the shared belief in an equal colorblind citizenry, one which emphasized the New England values of settled living, industrious labor, and an embrace of a broadly defined Christian faith. During the Civil War and Reconstruction, a significant number of these advocates settled in Washington, DC, to petition Congress and the president to pass and support legislation aimed at a total transformation of society. Obstacles including the pervasiveness of white supremacy in both the North and South and resistance from liberated freedpeople, who had their own concepts of equality, weakened the alliance and paved the way for its ultimate decline and the entrenchment of Black second-class citizenship by the end of the nineteenth century. I base these conclusions on the analysis of convention and annual meeting minutes, letters, judicial rulings, and legislative action. I address the subject matter chronologically beginning with the start of this interracial alliance in the antebellum era until it’s fracturing during the latter years of Reconstruction. The dissertation challenges the typical timeline of Reconstruction and demonstrates both the potential and limits of interracial cooperation in the postemancipation era. Although these race progressives failed to achieve their vision in the nineteenth century, they helped lay the groundwork for future progress. |
