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Interpretation A:

The white supremacists after 1877 tolerated a lingering black voice in politics and showed no haste in raising the barriers of racial separation. A number of them harboured at least some benevolence towards blacks. A former slave owner, said an editor from South Carolina, 'had no wish to browbeat, maltreat and spit up on the coloured man' because he saw no threat to his status, blacks sat in the state legislatures of South Carolina until 1900 and Georgia until 1908. The South sent black congressmen to Washington in every election until 1900. The disenfranchisement of black voters remained inconsistent, but it was enough to ensure white control of the southern states. In segregation, the colour line was drawn less strictly than it would be in the twentieth century. In 1885 a black journalist reported from South Carolina that he rode first class cars on the railways and saw blacks dining with whites at train stations. Very soon, though, after Plessy v Ferguson, the principle of social segregation extended into every area of southern life, including street railways, hotels, restaurants, hospitals, recreations, sports and employment.

From GB Tindall and David Shi, America: a Narrative History, WW Norton, 1996.

Interpretation B

In the '80s, the long subdued poor whites of the South exploded in an orgy of agrarian agitation, talented and unscrupulous political leaders came forth to do battle for them and discovered that Negro baiting was highly popular with those whose only distinction was a white skin. Southerners of all classes made solidarity an article of faith. Crossroads rang with declarations that White Womanhood was threatened. Negro baiting became more violent. Victims were roasted over slow fires and their bodies were mutilated. Men and women were charged not only with rape but testifying against whites in court, seeking another job, using offensive language , failing to say 'mister' to the white man. To escape in the Exodus of 1879 some 49,000 African Americans left for the Midwest. Random movements continued through the period. Some went to Canada. Some to Africa.

From Lerone Bennett, Before the Mayflower: A History of Black America, Penguin 1969, p236.