Temperance and Racism: John Bull, Johnny Reb, and the Good Templars ]]> Florence historian Lee Freeman notes: "Founded in 1851 in Upstate New York, the Independent Order of Good Templars (IOGT) was an international Evangelical Protestant fraternal order open to men and women dedicated to temperance and while the lodge ostensibly espoused an ideology of universal membership its policy towards blacks was more ambiguous. Florence had a lodge (Sparkling Water Lodge) of Good Templars starting in the 1870s however I'm not certain it had black members or whether there was a separate black lodge."]]> 1996]]> The Search for the Promised Land: A Slave Family in the Old South ]]> This book examines the Thomas and Rapier families of Florence, Alabama. ]]> 2006]]> Rambles of a Runaway from Southern Slavery]]> This book tells of the life of Henry Goings, born Elisha Turner, who escapes from slavery. Goings was born in Virginia and brought to Florence where he worked on the Smith plantation near the Forks of Cypress.]]> 2012]]> This is a link to a 1949 "Green Book," which was a guidebook for African American tourists published between 1936 and 1966. The books helped African American travelers find accomodations in segregated cities, as well as to identify businesses across the nation that were friendly towards African Americans. ]]> https://archive.org/details/history_green_book]]> 1949]]> Father of the Blues: An Autobiography]]> This book is an autobiography of W.C. Handy.]]> 1969]]> This is a link to an account of the escape of John Burtwell, who was a slave of steamboat captain and Florence, Alabama resident John Trumball Burtwell.]]> https://hepl.lib.in.us/self-emancipation-john-burtwell/]]> This is an account of Peter Still, who purchased his freedom from slavery in Tuscumbia. ]]> http://www.algw.org/colbert/aa-struggle.htm]]> 1978]]> This is an article about African American religion, with an emphasis on the Shoals area.]]> http://www.algw.org/colbert/aa-religion.htm]]> 1978]]> This is an article about slavery in the Shoals area.]]> http://www.algw.org/colbert/aa-aspectsofslavery.htm]]> 1974]]> A history of the formation of the Republican Party in Wisconsin in 1854, its campaign on behalf of abolition in Kansas, and its actions during the Civil War, focusing in particular on the Radical Republicans like Charles Sumner, Salmon P. Chase, Lucy Stone, Harriet Beecher Stowe, John and Bessie Benton Fremont, Henry David Thoreau, prominent black Republicans, and others and their efforts towards the abolition of slavery and the guarantee of civil rights before, during and after the Civil War. Also examines the strained relationship abolitionist John Brown of Harper's Ferry fame had with many in the Republican Party who deemed him too radical.

Until FDR's New Deal of the 1930s began to court away their votes, most African-Americans in the US voted Republican as it was the party of Lincoln and emancipation. Keith's book examines how that black allegiance to the GOP originally came about.]]>
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