History of Baton Rouge - Reconstruction To Twentieth Century (1863-1900)

Reconstruction To Twentieth Century (1863-1900)

The migration of many freedmen into towns and cities in the South changed the population of Baton Rouge. They moved out of rural areas to escape white control and to seek jobs and education more available in towns. In 1860, blacks made up just under one-third of the town's population. By the 1880 U.S. census, however, Baton Rouge was 60 percent black. Not until the 1920 census would the white population of Baton Rouge again exceed 50 percent. After the end of Reconstruction, the white population regained control of the state's and the city's political institutions, in part due to black voter intimidation by paramilitary groups such as the White League. At the end of the century, white Democrats imposed legal racial segregation and "Jim Crow" laws against African Americans, after effectively disfranchising them by changes to voter registration laws and the state constitution.

By 1880, Baton Rouge was recovering economically, though the population that year still was only 7,197 and its boundaries had remained the same. The biracial coalition of the Reconstruction years was replaced at the state level by white Democrats who loathed the Republicans, eulogized the Confederacy, and preached white supremacy. This "Bourbon" era was short-lived in Baton Rouge, however. In the 1890s, it was replaced by a more management-oriented local style of conservatism that continued into the early 20th century.. Increased civic-mindedness and the arrival of the Louisville, New Orleans and Texas Railway stimulated the economy, brought new businesses, and led to the development of more forward-looking leadership.