| Carnival of Fury: Robert Charles and the New Orleans Race Riot of 1900 (Updated) Updated Edition Contributor(s): Hair, William Ivy (Author), Brundage, W. Fitzhugh (Foreword by) |
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ISBN: 0807133345 ISBN-13: 9780807133347 Publisher: LSU Press OUR PRICE: $18.00 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: February 2008 Annotation: One July week in 1900, an obscure black laborer named Robert Charles drew national headlines when he shot twenty-seven whites in a series of encounters with the New Orleans police. Charles believed it foolish to rely on southern whites to uphold the law, let alone to acknowledge even minimal human rights for blacks, and therefore systematically armed himself, manufacturing round after round of his own ammunition before undertaking his intentionally symbolic act of violent resistance. After the shootings, Charles became an instant hero among some blacks, but to most people he remained a mysterious and sinister figure who had promoted a "back-to-Africa" movement. CARNIVAL OF FURY follows Charles from childhood in a Mississippi sharecropper's cabin to his violent death on New Orleans's Saratoga Street, piecing together the story of a man who tried to achieve dignity and self-respect in a time when people of his race could not exhibit such characteristics without fear of reprisal. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Biography & Autobiography - History | United States - State & Local - South (al,ar,fl,ga,ky,la,ms,nc,sc,tn,va,wv) |
| Dewey: B |
| Physical Information: 0.51" H x 5.8" W x 8.52" (0.67 lbs) 256 pages |
| Themes: - Locality - New Orleans, Louisiana - Geographic Orientation - Louisiana - Cultural Region - Deep South - Cultural Region - Mid-South - Cultural Region - Southeast U.S. |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: One July week in 1900 an obscure black laborer named Robert Charles drew national headlines when he shot twenty-seven whites--including seven policemen--in a series of encounters with the New Orleans police. An avid supporter of black emigration, Charles believed it foolish to rely on southern whites to uphold the law or to acknowledge even minimal human rights for blacks. He therefore systematically armed himself, manufacturing round after round of his own ammunition before undertaking his intentionally symbolic act of violent resistance. After the shootings, Charles became an instant hero among some blacks, but to most people he remained a mysterious and sinister figure who had promoted a "back-to-Africa" movement. Few knew anything about his early life. This biography of Charles follows him from childhood in a Mississippi sharecropper's cabin to his violent death on New Orleans's Saratoga Street. With the few clues available, William Ivy Hair has pieced together the story of a man whose life spanned the thirty-four years from emancipation to 1900--a man who tried to achieve dignity and self-respect in a time when people of his race could not exhibit such characteristics without fear of reprisal. Hair skillfully penetrates the world of Robert Charles, the communities in which he lived, and the daily lives of dozens of people, white and black, who were involved in his experience. A new foreword by W. Fitzhugh Brundage sets this unique and innovative biography in the context of its time and demonstrates its relevance today. |