The life and death of Gus Reed
Subtitle: a story of race and justice in Illinois during the Civil War and Reconstruction
By: Thomas Bahde
Series: Ohio University Press series on law, society, and politics in the Midwest
Publisher: Ohio University Press
Published: 2014
Place of publication: Athens
Language: eng
Number of pages: 226
ISBN-13: 9780821421048; 9780821421055; 9780821444948
Subjects: African Americans; Biography; Freedmen; Race relations; History; African American prisoners; Crimes against; Legal status, laws; Discrimination in criminal justice administration; Racism; Reconstruction (U.S. history, 1865-1877); HISTORY / United States / Civil War Period (1850-1877); HISTORY / United States / General; HISTORY / General
Description: "Gus Reed was a freed slave who traveled north as Sherman's March was sweeping through Georgia in 1864. His journey ended in Springfield, Illinois, a city undergoing fundamental changes as its white citizens struggled to understand the political, legal, and cultural consequences of emancipation and Black citizenship. Reed became known as a petty thief, appearing time and again in the records of the state's courts and prisons. In late 1877, he burglarized the home of a well-known Springfield attorney--and brother of Abraham Lincoln's former law partner--a crime for which he was convicted and sentenced to the Illinois State Penitentiary. Reed died at the penitentiary in 1878, shackled to the door of his cell for days with a gag strapped in his mouth. An investigation established that two guards were responsible for the prisoner's death, but neither they nor the prison warden suffered any penalty. The guards were dismissed, the investigation was closed, and Reed was forgotten. Gus Reed's story connects the political and legal cultures of white supremacy, Black migration and Black communities, the Midwest's experience with the Civil War and Reconstruction, and the resurgence of nationwide opposition to African American civil rights in the late nineteenth century. These experiences shaped a nation with deep and unresolved misgivings about race, as well as distinctive and conflicting ideas about justice and how to achieve it"--
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 207-221) and index.
Table of contents: title: Georgia Roots; title: Illinois in Wartime; title: Black Springfield; title: A White Man's Country; title: The Underworld; title: The Penitentiary; title: Epilogue: Springfield, 1908; title: Appendix A: Timeline of Known Dates in the Life of Augustus "Gus" Reed; title: Appendix B: Nativity of Springfield's Black Population, 1860, 1870, 1880; title: Appendix C: Sangamon County Convicts Sent to Illinois State Penitentiary by Year and Race, 1860/80; title: Appendix D: Criminal Cases in Sangamon County Circuit Court, 1870/80; title: Appendix E: Disposition of Criminal Cases (Continuance and Appearance) in Sangamon County Circuit Court, 1870/80.