Post-Reconstruction whites shifted blame to Black behavior

Evidence

Or as congressional representative and future president James A. Garfield put it, “The Fifteenth Amendment confers upon the African race the care of its own destiny. It places their fortunes in their own hands.” These sentiments were widespread despite the fact that the formerly enslaved escaped their bondage with absolutely nothing. An Illinois newspaper proclaimed, “The negro is now a voter and a citizen. Let him hereafter take his chances in the battle of life.” From this point forward, white Americans were ready to blame Black behavior, and not racism and the deprivations of 250 years of enslavement, for persisting racial inequities. — Nikole Hannah-Jones et al., The 1619 Project, 1271

Categorization

• XREF: This is a concrete, citable empirical instance of the reframing: the shift from structural explanation to behavioral blame after formal rights were granted. Useful ammunition for the reader’s taxonomy. — connects to: City neglect of black neighborhoods was misread by whites as black-caused decay — Kevin M. Kruse, White Flight: Atlanta and the Making of…, 180; Municipal neglect caused the decay whites blamed on black residents — Kevin M. Kruse, White Flight: Atlanta and the Making of…, 180