Reconstruction in the South after the Civil War would prove to be a challenging endeavor for the United States having to literally re-create an entire portion of the nation. This couldn’t be any closer to the truth in the case of New Orleans, where political reform and overhaul of its past principles, was a change that would come slowly and with a lot of time. One incident during the Reconstruction period that helps underline how hard these changes would be to achieve was the kidnapping of Mollie Digby, it is from the early “facts” about the case that help ignite turmoil in the city, state, and eventually the entire country. Before, and during, the time of the actual kidnapping of Mollie Digby the social structure and the political system
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As stated earlier, once the war ended many ex-Confederate soldiers and enlisted men migrated to New Orleans, at the same time the newly freed African Americans also found their way to the city, this caused animosity between the inhabitants of the city, especially when African Americans were gaining rights, while ex-Confederates were losing theirs. Although ex-Confederate higher-ups were losing their right to vote and hold public office most still owned newspaper companies and used the power of media to overinflate any crime a person of color committed in the city, this would explode when word got out that an African American kidnapped a white families infant child, “The white-controlled press used Mollie’s disappearance to create a moral panic”(Pg.4) and because all people of color were “free”, the city should expect even more horrific crimes. Throughout the early stages of the case the media held a very close eye on the developments, but this could be caused by the fact of the stipulations surrounding the case, kidnapping of a white baby by a black women during Reconstruction in the still bitter South, in a way the media wanted the baby to be found but at the same time degrade the policy …show more content…
Green was only able to identify while see was wearing the blue veil hat, and this was also the case for Rosa Gorman, the babysitter of the Digby’s, was able to identify Louisa Murray as, “the one with the blue veil” (Pg.147) but stated, “I cannot say it was this one”(Pg.147). The defense was, eventually, able to denounce August Singler’s testimony, a person who claimed to be a bystander during the kidnapping and pointed that he needed no hat to identify Louisa Murray. In the end, it only took the jury eight minutes of deliberation to return a verdict of not guilty freeing the accused of all charges. As Ross believed this decision gave the notion that “Reconstruction remained a moment of possibility”(Pg.233), because looking at the surrounding stipulations of the case and the setting where the case took place, this provided proof of people of color finally being treated equal to white citizens of New Orleans by action of due process, so Ross’ claim does provide some truth that during the moment of the not guilty verdict, there was still hope for
As stated earlier, once the war ended many ex-Confederate soldiers and enlisted men migrated to New Orleans, at the same time the newly freed African Americans also found their way to the city, this caused animosity between the inhabitants of the city, especially when African Americans were gaining rights, while ex-Confederates were losing theirs. Although ex-Confederate higher-ups were losing their right to vote and hold public office most still owned newspaper companies and used the power of media to overinflate any crime a person of color committed in the city, this would explode when word got out that an African American kidnapped a white families infant child, “The white-controlled press used Mollie’s disappearance to create a moral panic”(Pg.4) and because all people of color were “free”, the city should expect even more horrific crimes. Throughout the early stages of the case the media held a very close eye on the developments, but this could be caused by the fact of the stipulations surrounding the case, kidnapping of a white baby by a black women during Reconstruction in the still bitter South, in a way the media wanted the baby to be found but at the same time degrade the policy …show more content…
Green was only able to identify while see was wearing the blue veil hat, and this was also the case for Rosa Gorman, the babysitter of the Digby’s, was able to identify Louisa Murray as, “the one with the blue veil” (Pg.147) but stated, “I cannot say it was this one”(Pg.147). The defense was, eventually, able to denounce August Singler’s testimony, a person who claimed to be a bystander during the kidnapping and pointed that he needed no hat to identify Louisa Murray. In the end, it only took the jury eight minutes of deliberation to return a verdict of not guilty freeing the accused of all charges. As Ross believed this decision gave the notion that “Reconstruction remained a moment of possibility”(Pg.233), because looking at the surrounding stipulations of the case and the setting where the case took place, this provided proof of people of color finally being treated equal to white citizens of New Orleans by action of due process, so Ross’ claim does provide some truth that during the moment of the not guilty verdict, there was still hope for