Nadir means the lowest point.
Persons of color under reconstruction were gaining many rights such as
the right to vote and hold office. It was all taken away because of the close disputed
election of 1877 which pitted Rutherford B. Hayes, the Republican,
(Party of Lincoln or the progressive party) against Samuel Tilden, the
Democrat (the antebellum pro slavery Party.) Republicans struck a deal
with the Democrats. Hayes offered to pull union troops out of the south.
In return the Democrats would give Republicans their electoral votes
installing Hayes president.
This era is called the Great Nadir because
the state of black rights declined to the lowest point level since the
end of slavery. That compromise returned power to whites of the south
who now had full rein to begin again the brutalization, denial of
rights, segregation and murder of the black man. The legacy of that
compromise exists even to this day. The black man has had to fight for
incremental human rights through decades of suffering and
struggle.
Who knows about this period in our nation? Few perhaps only those found in the institutions of higher learning in black history classes or those well versed in American history. There is a reason for the Black Lives Matter movement. Climbing the stairs of American Democracy was for the black man an arduous and torturous journey spanning centuries. From generation to generation persons of color along with their white allies of progressive politics had to fight for every morsel of human rights taken for granted by whites. The road of American history is paved with the blood and bones of those who stood for what is fair, just and right. Each generation's struggle is predicated on those who came before. It has been a difficult road and is still very much a work in progress. NEVER GIVE UP!
From the Atlantic Magazine: "Whatever way you look at it, it is impossible to turn this history and its leading figures into a part of American heritage. Founded in an act of treason against the government its leaders had sworn to protect and serve, the Confederate States of America and its white-supremacist government waged a four-year war against the United States of America and the principles Americans value most highly."
"This is the cause that Confederate statues commemorate. This is why white supremacists arrive armed to prevent their removal, as they did in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017. And it is why they are a target of Black Lives Matter protesters in their campaign for racial justice and a crucial part of the conversation about the legacy of slavery in American life."
From the Atlantic Magazine: "Whatever way you look at it, it is impossible to turn this history and its leading figures into a part of American heritage. Founded in an act of treason against the government its leaders had sworn to protect and serve, the Confederate States of America and its white-supremacist government waged a four-year war against the United States of America and the principles Americans value most highly."
"This is the cause that Confederate statues commemorate. This is why white supremacists arrive armed to prevent their removal, as they did in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017. And it is why they are a target of Black Lives Matter protesters in their campaign for racial justice and a crucial part of the conversation about the legacy of slavery in American life."
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/23/podcasts/1619-slavery-anniversary.html
