Black Legislators in Louisiana during Reconstruction

V. Economic and Social Reforms, 1868-1870

CHAPTER V Economic and Social Reforms, 1868-1870 Although most blacks ofthe Reconstruction era were concerned with obtaining civil rights, those living in cities or towns were more determined to push the issue. Most blacks, however, lived in rural areas, where their daily lives were bound to the land. Their primary demand was for an equitable reward for their labors; beyond this, they wanted to become owners of land. Their aspirations were known to black legislators, many of whom came from country parishes and were eager to join economic reform to civil rights. The 1868 House session was barely underway when George Washington, of Assumption, gave notice that he would introduce an "Act extending protection to the laborers upon plantations ." Washington's bill was revised somewhat by the Judiciary Committee and emerged as a measure prohibiting planters, managers, or overseers from discharging laborers because of political beliefs. The penalties for such discharge were to be a fine of not less than $500 and not more than $1,000, one half of which was to be paid to the informer of the violation and the remainder to the school treasurer, or imprisonment for not more than two years. The bill passed the House by a fifty to twentyone vote; no black legislators voted against it.1 1. House Jouma/, June 29,1868, pp. 45, 51,120; New Orleans Crescent, August 14, 1868 (the writer is using the r868 Senate proceedings and general debate as published in the New Orleans Crescent and New Orleans Daily Picayune). Economic and Social Reforms, 1868-1870 99 The bill struggled through the Senate with the Democrats fighting it at every stage. Democratic Senator E. L. Jewell, of New Orleans, called it "new injurisprudence and unparalleled in the history of this Legislature" and threatened to "take the stump and call upon the people to resist them [the laborers] at the point of the bayonet." In rebuttal, Senator Curtis Pollard proclaimed that the laborers needed the protection provided by law. He asserted that if a laborer contracted to work for a year and attempted to leave the plantation on election day to vote "against the will of the planter, he would be discharged and receive nothing for his labor." Such action toward workers was not justice, Pollard declared. Seeking to make the bill look ridiculous, one Democratic senator urged an amendment to allow "any officer in this state having power to remove another office-holder because of his political opinion." He maintained that whites needed protection as well as blacks. Jasper W. Blackman, Democratic Senator from Claiborne, offered a similar amendment. He proposed making the penalty apply to "any man promising a mule to colored men or land, or intimidating them by asserting that if they voted the Democratic ticket they would be forced into Slavery." These and other amendments failed, and the bill passed seventeen to seven in August.2 Governor Warmoth approved the bill on September 4, 1868. This law, as finally passed, became Act No. 54 entitled Extending Protection to Laborers in the Exercise of Their Privileges of Free Suffrage. It prohibited "any planter, managers, overseer, or other employer oflaborers" in Louisianafrom discharging or attempting to control the votes ofemployees undertheir control "previous to the expiration ofthe term of service of any laborer in their employ. " The penalty for a violation ofthe Act was to be a fine ofnot less than one hundred dollars or more than five hundred dollars to be recovered in court of competent jurisdiction. The district attor2 . New Orleans Daily Picayune, August 14, 20, 25, 26, 1868. 100 Black Legislators in Louisiana ney for thejudicial district orthe district attorneypro tel'npore of the particular parish in which the violation was committed was to receive 25 percent of the fine, and the remainder was to be paid into the common school fund of the parish. 3 Several other measures to aid laborers were also offered in the 1868 session. Charles Gray of St. James secured passage ofa bill repealing the law authorizing planters to sell goods to their hands without alicense. Another black legislator, A. C. Hill, of Ascension proposed a bill limiting a legal working day to eight hours. It was referred to the Judiciary Committee and apparently buried there.4 In the 1869 session blacks returned to their effort to remove discriminations against plantation laborers. They were disturbed to learn that certain pre-I 868 labor laws, presumably...