African American History Mohonk Conference on the Negro Question 1890 Report Documenting Post Reconstruction Policy Debates

First Mohonk Conference on the Negro Question

Pamphlets

Barrows, Isabel C. (ed.). First Mohonk Conference on the Negro Question Held at Lake Mohonk, Ulster County, New York, June 4, 5, 6, 1890, 1890, records one of the earliest organized national discussions among white reformers, politicians, and intellectuals addressing the status of African Americans in the decades following Reconstruction. Convened at a moment when Black political rights were being systematically dismantled across the South through disenfranchisement and violence, the conference brought together predominantly white Northern and Southern participants to debate labor, education, and civil status. The proceedings include the intervention of Reconstruction advocate Albion W. Tourgée, whose address, “The Negro’s View of the Race Problem,” directly challenged the exclusion of Black voices and concluded with a proposed resolution that failed to gain support. Statements within the conference reflect prevailing racial barriers, including the observation that in Philadelphia “a colored man may carry mortar up a ladder, but he is not allowed to lay the bricks,” underscoring systemic exclusion from skilled labor and economic advancement.

Barrows, Isabel C. (ed.). First Mohonk Conference on the Negro Question Held at Lake Mohonk, Ulster County, New York, June 4, 5, 6, 1890. Boston: Geo. H. Ellis, 1890. Softcover pamphlet format, 142 pages, measuring approximately 24 cm. Original front cover preserved and laid in, with a color facsimile wrapper supplied for protection. Text printed as conference proceedings, compiling speeches, discussions, and resolutions delivered across the three-day meeting.

Produced during the consolidation of Jim Crow policies and the retreat from Reconstruction-era protections, this document provides direct evidence of how white-led reform movements framed and debated Black citizenship at the national level. The absence of substantive Black participation, alongside Tourgée’s protest, highlights tensions between advocacy and paternalism within late nineteenth-century reform discourse. As a printed record of policy-oriented discussion, the volume supports research into labor exclusion, education policy, and the ideological foundations of segregation-era governance. Minor staining to lower margins; otherwise very good condition.

Item #19672

Price: $885.00