{"id":19732,"date":"2012-01-11T02:36:29","date_gmt":"2012-01-11T02:36:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mixedracestudies.org\/wordpress\/?p=19732"},"modified":"2012-03-24T18:49:07","modified_gmt":"2012-03-24T18:49:07","slug":"oscar-james-dunn-a-case-study-in-race-politics-in-reconstruction-louisiana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/?p=19732","title":{"rendered":"Oscar James Dunn: A Case Study in Race & Politics in Reconstruction Louisiana"},"content":{"rendered":"

Oscar James Dunn: A Case Study in Race & Politics in Reconstruction Louisiana<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

University of New Orleans
\nDecember 2011
\n296 pages<\/p>\n

Brian Mitchell<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the University of New Orleans in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Urban Studies<\/em><\/p>\n

The study of African American Reconstruction<\/a> leadership has presented a variety of unique challenges for modern historians who struggle to piece together the lives of men, who prior to the Civil War<\/a>, had little political identity. The scant amounts of primary source data in regard to these leaders\u2019 lives before the war, the destruction of many documents in regard to their leadership following the Reconstruction Era, and the treatment of these figures by historians prior to the Revisionist movement have left this body of extremely important political figures largely unexplored. This dissertation will examine the life of one of Louisiana\u2019s<\/a> foremost leaders, Lt. Governor Oscar James Dunn<\/a>, the United States\u2019 first African American executive officeholder.
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\nUsing previously overlooked papers, Masonic records, Senate journals, newspaper articles and government documents, the dissertation explores Dunn\u2019s role in Louisiana politics and chronicles the factionalization of the Republican Party in Reconstruction New Orleans. Born a slave and released from bondage at an early age, Oscar J. Dunn was able to transcend the stigma which was often attached to those who had been held in slavery. A native of New Orleans, born to Anglo-African parents, he was also able to transcend the language barrier that often excluded Anglo-Africans from social acceptability in Afro-Creole society. Although illiterate, Dunn\u2019s parents made critical strides in securing his social mobility by providing him with both a formal education and a trade apprenticeship. Those skills propelled Dunn forward within his Anglo-African community wherein he became a key figure in the community\u2019s two most important institutions, the York Rite Masonic Lodge<\/a> and the African Methodist Episcopal church<\/a>.
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\nThis dissertation argues that Dunn\u2019s political ascent was linked to the political enfranchisement of antebellum Anglo-Africans in Louisiana, Dunn\u2019s involvement in Anglo-African institutions (particularly the York Rite Masonic Lodge and the African Methodist Episcopal church) and Dunn\u2019s ability to find middle ground in the racially charged arguments that engulfed Reconstruction New Orleans\u2019s political arena.<\/p>\n

TABLE OF CONTENTS<\/strong><\/p>\n