The Accident of Color

In The Accident of Color, Daniel Brook explores the lives of cosmopolitan, mixed-race residents in 19th-century New Orleans and Charleston, who enjoyed certain rights and privileges before the Civil War. As former slaves began to assert their rights after Emancipation, a coalition emerged among mixed-race elites, the formerly enslaved, and allies to fight for political and social equality during Reconstruction. This movement achieved notable successes, including the peaceful integration of public amenities, but ultimately faced a violent backlash that led to the establishment of Jim Crow laws and the entrenchment of racial segregation.