Reactions to a Life and Death

Extract

[...] Freed slaves admired him for his courage to stand up to the whites, and for his ability to make a difference in their lives. Another prominent group in existence during the late 1800s was the newspapers. Most newspapers were against Turner most southern newspapers wrote daily or weekly editorials in opposition to Turner. At one point during Turner's political career, he was accused of leading Invasion of Butler” an “invasion” in which Turner and other blacks were accused of marching into Butler, armed, ready to attack the courts, after being arrested for taking part in a whipping, while in reality they were subpoenaed and came to court armed in self-defense. [...]

[...] Reactions to a Life and Death The account of Jack Turner's life, as shown in William Warren Rogers Sr. and Robert David Ward's August Reckoning, demonstrates the drama that occurred in Choctaw County, Alabama in the late 1800s. Jack Turner, a well- known Republican leader and freed slave, was lynched after being accused of leading a conspiracy to massacre the whites of Choctaw County. There are many opposing reactions to Turner's lynching in Alabama and throughout the entire United States. [...]

[...] “Saturday night could have been no less than a nightmare to Jesse Wilson, Range West, Fred Barney, Peter Hill, Willis Lyman, and Aaron Scott. They knew that Jack was dead, and it seemed likely that a similar fate lay in store for them.” It can be determined that the freed black people were in support of a reformed South after the Civil War. If reform would take place, incidents like this would not occur between blacks and whites. Political reaction to Turner's lynching was vast. [...]