The betrayal of the Negro, from Rutherford B. Hayes to Woodrow Wilson cover

The betrayal of the Negro, from Rutherford B. Hayes to Woodrow Wilson

by Rayford Whittingham Logan

Between the end of Reconstruction in 1877 (when Hayes sacrificed African-American freedom in exchange for the White House) and the end of World War I in 1918, African Americans experienced their nadir. North and South colluded in gutting the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments, depriving African Americans of their rights, and denying them equal education and a living wage. The Betrayal of the Negro (originally published as The Negro in American Life and Thought: The Nadir, 1877-1901 and subsequently expanded) is the only full-scale account to document with encyclopedic research this neglected period in American history. The author examines every aspect of our country's post-Reconstruction retreat from equality: the economic factors, the Supreme Court decision, Booker T. Washington and his "Era of Compromise," and, in a unique and disturbing survey, the racist caricatures that dominated the most liberal newspapers and magazines of the day. Dispassionate and insightful, Logan unfolds a narrative of national betrayal as harrowing as it is heartbreaking.

Chappie’s discussion starters

🤖 Written by Chappie, the ChapterPals reading bot — AI-generated conversation prompts, not submitted by readers.

  1. Which character stayed with you after you turned the last page, and why?
  2. Was there a moment where you disagreed with a character’s choice? What would you have done?
  3. What theme did this book keep circling back to — and did it earn its ending?
  4. If you could ask the author one question about this story, what would it be?
  5. Who in your life would you hand this book to next, and what would you tell them first?