<I>The Prostrate State: South Carolina Under Negro Government</I>
date: label: Date
content: 1873
name: label: Written by
content: James Shepherd Pike, American, 1811 - 1882
notes: label: Caption
content: Written in 1873 by James S. Pike, a white Republican journalist from Maine, this racist portrayal of Black legislators in South Carolina influenced many northern white Republicans to abandon support for Reconstruction.
label: Description
content: A hardcover book titled The Prostrate State: South Carolina Under Negro Government with worn red cover. The cover has no markings, front, back, or spine. Copyright 1873. The interior cover has a stamp in red ink for the [ROOMS OF THE / Y.M.C.A.] in Richmond, Virginia. The text on the title page reads [THE / PROSTRATE STATE: / SOUTH CAROLINA UNDER NEGRO GOVERNMENT. / BY / JAMES S. PIKE, / LATE MINISTER OF THE UNITED STATES AT THE HAGUE. / NEW YORK: / D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, / 549 & 551 BROADWAY, / 1874.]. The volume opens with a preface dated [New York, Oct., 1873], that begins, "The following pages were written in Soth Carolina, during the session of the Legislature, in the months of February and March, 1873. They take their coloring from the scenes by which the writer was surrounded." and continues to posit the purpose of the book is to prevent "the Africanization" of South Carolina. The preface is followed by a table of contents. 279 pages total.
label: Statement
content: Objects depicting racist and/or stereotypical imagery or language may be offensive and disturbing, but the NMAAHC aims to include them in the Collection to present and preserve the historical context in which they were created and used. Objects of this type provide an important historical record from which to study and evaluate racism.
place: label: Place depicted
content: United States, North and Central America
topic: label: Topic
content: African American
label: Topic
content: American South
label: Topic
content: Government
label: Topic
content: Politics
label: Topic
content: Reconstruction, U.S. History, 1865-1877
label: Topic
content: Slavery
label: Topic
content: White supremacy movements
setName: label: See more items in
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection
label: Collection title
content: Stanley Turkel's Collection of Reconstruction Era Materials
label: Classification
content: Library Collections
label: Classification
content: Racist and Stereotypical Objects
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Stanley Turkel's Collection of Reconstruction Era Materials
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture
identifier: label: Object number
content: 2012.160.176
objectType: label: Type
content: hardcover books
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: No Known Copyright Restrictions
label: Restrictions & Rights
content: Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: ink on paper
label: Dimensions
content: H x W x D (closed): 7 1/4 × 5 × 3/4 in. (18.4 × 12.7 × 1.9 cm)
label: Dimensions
content: H x W x D (open): 7 1/4 × 8 1/2 × 4 1/4 in. (18.4 × 21.6 × 10.8 cm)