The History of Democracy in Putnam County: 1865-1900

Did you know that Jim Crow was not a real person? It was a fictional, racist character created by white actor Thomas Rice in the 1820s.Rice put on blackface and performed a demeaning song and dance that portrayed Blacks as clumsy and stupid. It became a metaphor for decades of cruel treatment that defied “all men are created equal.”The end of the Civil War in 1865 brought a pr...