One July week in 1900 an obscure black laborer named Robert Charles drew national headlines when he shot twenty-seven whitesincluding seven policemenin a series of encounters with the New Orleans police. An avid supporter of black emigration, Charles believed it foolish to rely on southern whites to uphold the law or to acknowledge even minimal human rights for blacks. He therefore systematically armed himself, manufacturing round after round of his own ammunition before undertaking his intentionally symbolic act of violent resistance. After the shootings, Charles became an instant hero among some blacks, but to most people he remained a mysterious and sinister figure who had promoted a back-to-Africa movement. Few knew anything about his early life. This biography of Charles follows him from childhood in a Mississippi sharecroppers cabin to his violent death on New Orleanss Saratoga Street. With the few clues available, William Ivy Hair has pieced together the story of a man whose life spanned the thirty-four years from emancipation to 1900a man who tried to achieve dignity and self-respect in a time when people of his race could not exhibit such characteristics without fear of reprisal. Hair skillfully penetrates the world of Robert Charles, the communities in which he lived, and the daily lives of dozens of people, white and black, who were involved in his experience. A new foreword by W. Fitzhugh Brundage sets this unique and innovative biography in the context of its time and demonstrates its relevance today.
- | Author: William Ivy Hair
- | Publisher: LSU Press
- | Publication Date: February 01, 2008
- | Number of Pages: 256 pages
- | Language: English
- | Binding: Paperback
- | ISBN-10: 0807133345
- | ISBN-13: 9780807133347