Lies Through His Eyes
Artist Statement
Artist Statement
On July 30, 1866, delegates were meeting in The Mechanic’s Institute to discuss African American rights, and more specifically the right to vote. Meanwhile about 200 African American veterans, who fought with the Union Army, were marching towards the institute as a peaceful protest to show that because they had fought in the Civil War, they deserve to have the right to vote. They had no idea what they were walking into. Mayor John T. Monroe, accompanied by the chief of police and policemen of New Orleans, aimed to stop the meeting from happening and punish those who dared to bring such a “radical” point of view to his city. However, he did not anticipate the conflict his actions would result in. In the end, an estimated 200 persons died, and the New Orleans Massacre turned out to be an excellent example of how reconstruction failed in the Deep South, due to the government officials not believing in the very laws they were implementing.
This cartoon shows the massacre happening, as a person is watching through a pair of glasses; that person is Andrew Johnson, the President of the United States at the time. Above the glasses there is a quote from him saying he is in favor of giving negros the right to vote, and this quote also went on to say that as long as they owned a certain amount of land, could read and write, and served in the army with credit. Subsequently Andrew Johnson admitted that he was in favor of giving them the right to vote, but at the same time allowed Louisiana to enact the Black Codes, a set of codes that would strip African Americans of most rights, including the right to vote. When Louisiana passed these laws there probably wasn’t anything Johnson could do because of “State’s Rights vs. Nation’s Rights”, but no complaint came from the white house. Also, he wrote a telegraph telling the standing Union army of New Orleans to stand down the day of the (very heated) convention, and not interfere with any of the happenings unless called upon by the city police. The police force of the city was made up mostly of ex-Confederate soldiers, and even the mayor of the city was a strong ex-Confederate, so there perspective towards “Negro Rights” was made pretty clear during the war and when the Emancipation Proclamation was enacted by Lincoln. So Andrew Johnson gave free rein to a police force made up mostly of ex-Confederates, to “protect” the participants of a convention put in place to discuss giving African Americans the right to vote.
In the lenses you see two men fighting, or more like one man beating another with a club, but these men represent what happened at the massacre that day. One man, in typical Confederate attire, is holding a club that represents the Black Codes, beating an African American man that represents Negro Rights of the time. I’m not saying that there were actual Confederate soldiers present at the massacre, but the police force that started the brawl and the on-looking participants of the fight were mostly made up of ex-Confederate soldiers, or people that agreed with Confederate Ideals. Also the man on the ground not only represented the African Americans that were beat, but anyone that was associated with their cause, as in the delegates that were meeting that day. A newspaper article spoke of an instance where the chaplain of the convention walked out of the Institute with a flag as a gesture of surrender, only to be taken and die an agonizing death by the attackers.
I’m depicting this happening in the reflection of Johnson’s glasses to show that while he was talking about how Negroes should have rights, he observed and allowed the massacre of New Orleans to happen “under his orders.” So on one hand he was for African American rights, but at the same time he allowed a band of ex-Confederate government officials overrun an abolitionist convention, and furthermore commanded standing soldiers to not act on the pending massacre. Andrew Johnson’s actions were hypocritical to say the least, and contributed heavily to the perpetuation of racial ineaqualities in the South.
Looking back on this narrative project, I feel that it was a great success. I was able to draw a political cartoon accompanied by an artist statement for my narrative, so I turned what I thought would be a long writing project into a fun drawing project. Anytime I can sketch out my opinion of an event, it sticks with me longer because I will always have the drawing, and the information that inspired me to draw the picture.
The one challenge I had with this project was trying to convey to much information, in the short amount of time we had to complete our narratives in. I was going to draw a political cartoon trio at first, but once I realized the time crunch, I felt it would be better to have one large, good quality cartoon, than three cartoons that are mediocre at best.
This project caused me to come face-to-face with the harsh reality of post-Civil War South, and how in no way did the Southern population believe that their right to slaves was taken away. The stories I read will stick with me forever, and my very large cartoon I drew will be a reminder of the events that occurred in the late 1860s.
Failed Reconstruction of the Deep South
Synthesis
Synthesis
On July 30, 1866, delegates were meeting in The Mechanic’s Institute to discuss African American rights, and more specifically the right to vote. Meanwhile about 200 African American veterans, who fought with the Union Army, were marching towards the institute in peaceful protest. This act was there attempt to show that because they fought in the Civil War, they deserve to have the right to vote, but they had no idea what they were walking into. Mayor John T. Monroe, accompanied by the chief of police and policemen of New Orleans, aimed to stop the meeting from happening and punish those who dared to bring such a “radical” point of view to his city. In the end, the New Orleans Massacre turned out to be an excellent example of how reconstruction failed in the Deep South, due to the government officials not believing in the very laws they were implementing.
From the beginning, even before the confrontation between the police and the delegates/African Americans, there was tension from this meeting. Originally, there was going to be Union soldiers either outside the Institute, or very close, until Lieutenant-Governor Voorhees felt it would be better for the soldiers to not be so close. He suggested rather a “small” police force nearby to take care of any problem that could arise, but under the command that they shouldn’t interfere with the convention unless given the order by President Johnson. This suggestion was backed up even more when President Johnson wrote a telegraph to Voorhees stating, “The military will be expected to sustain, and not obstruct or interfere with the proceedings of the courts.” General Baird followed this “order”, moved his men three miles across the city, and waited to be called upon if necessary. Little did he know that the men of the “small” police force were going to directly disobey what was agreed upon, and wreak havoc on the convention and everyone associated.
The convention was released for recess at about the same time the African American marchers arrived at the institute and greeted with loud cheers from the African American crowd, who were overjoyed to see people sticking up for there rights. However, as with most peaceful protest that turn into a brawl, no one knows who made the first shot but as soon as it rang out, it was certain disaster for anyone besides the police. The convention was released for a recess around the time the marchers arrived, and so the delegates let some of the African Americans into the lobby of the Institute, and at this point the shots started to ring out and people started dropping. The soldiers were marching without arms, although some speculate they carried some weapons of sorts, but regardless the police had the obvious upper hand. The African Americans took refuge in the Institute, where they barricaded themselves in as the police were shooting at them and they were firing back with the arms they did have. Eventually the group inside the Institute realized they weren’t getting anywhere by fighting the police (and the citizens of New Orleans that had joined in) so they began to surrender, not understanding that the men fighting them were not particularly interested in taking “prisoners”, rather killing those who dared to think Louisiana wasn’t a slave state any longer.
At first the trapped people tried to make a break for it out the side or back of the building, but this option lead to a more brutal death because the citizens that got involved moved around the building and would beat anyone that came out to death. There were people that attempted to surrender as well, but these attempts also led to death for some. In a newspaper article from Pennsylvania I read recapping the event, they spoke of a man by the name of Rev. Horton, the chaplain of the convention, who went out in front displaying a flag of truce and surrender, only to de seized and beat to death by the men in the street. Eventually the police did let people start to come out of the building and be put under arrest, but just because the police had them didn’t mean they were safe from all of the citizens that still surrounded the area. The people being taken away were often spit on, or possibly attacked further by the crowd, due to the number of people in the crowd out numbering the policemen. Once General Baird was able to reach the Mechanics Institute, he immediately applied martial law on the city, and regaining what should have never been taken from him. Centuries were placed at the Institute and patrols began, to prevent any further onslaught .
In the aftermath of the riot martial law was implemented over the city, and mayor John Monroe requested that anyone willing would become sworn in as a police officer to handle the apparent rage in the city. Major-General Sheridan was someone that wasn’t afraid to voice his opinion towards the matter, and did so in letters written to General U.S. Grant in Washington D.C. All of his letters that have been analyzed show his frustration with how things were, and are still being run in New Orleans, and eventually came out and told Grant (or whoever else read the letter) that both the governor of Louisiana and the mayor of New Orleans should be removed from office and replaced. This was a letter that was written strong enough to not only get a response, but a response from President Andrew Johnson himself. In this letter Johnson took a very defensive tone, never actually stating a fact, rather just asking questions over and over again throughout the whole letter, a tone that tells me he had no offensive voice, he was merely defending himself or the government officials involved.
Looking at the roots of the matter, President Johnson’s lack of objecting the enacted law, subsequently caused the massacre that happened during July of 1866. The meeting at the Mechanic’s Institute was convened because, the state of Louisiana enacted the Black Codes (laws that took most rights away from African Americans, especially the right to vote) and when they put these laws in place you heard no complaint from President Johnson. Also, in an interview after the death of Lincoln, he told the reporter, “I am alright with giving the ballot to three classes of Negroes: those who could read and write, those who had served in the army with credit, and those who owned $250 in real estate”, but he blatantly went back on this statement when he allowed the Black Codes to be put in place. Furthermore he commanded that the Union army only sustain the proceedings of the court, not interfere or obstruct, a command that resulted in the army moving all the way across town, and not being able to make it to the Institute in time to stop the massacre. Finally, he defended the mayor of New Orleans when Sheridan felt they should be removed from office, even though he knew what was going to occur at the convention. The numbers of deaths and injuries sustained by the African Americans vary greatly due to the lack of the ability to get a good count that day, but generally they are between 50-300 people killed and 100-300 people wounded. These facts show how reconstruction failed in the deep south, mainly because government officials didn’t believe in the laws the were putting in place.
Projcet Reflection
Looking back on this narrative project, I feel that it was a great success. I was able to draw a political cartoon accompanied by an artist statement for my narrative, so I turned what I thought would be a long writing project into a fun drawing project. Anytime I can sketch out my opinion of an event, it sticks with me longer because I will always have the drawing, and the information that inspired me to draw the picture.
The one challenge I had with this project was trying to convey to much information, in the short amount of time we had to complete our narratives in. I was going to draw a political cartoon trio at first, but once I realized the time crunch, I felt it would be better to have one large, good quality cartoon, than three cartoons that are mediocre at best.
This project caused me to come face-to-face with the harsh reality of post-Civil War South, and how in no way did the Southern population believe that their right to slaves was taken away. The stories I read will stick with me forever, and my very large cartoon I drew will be a reminder of the events that occurred in the late 1860s.
