An episode from The Alabama Experience television series
STUDY GUIDE
Suggested Grade Levels: 7-12
This 28 minute program is appropriate for discussion of Alabama history. In particular, it could serve as a take-off point for discussion centering on the post-Civil War period of Reconstruction in the South.
Pre-Viewing Information
The Wayfaring Stranger uses actors to portray key characters in an incident that received national press and perhaps changed Alabama history. The incident at Cross Plains, Alabama, reflects the upheaval present in the South during Reconstruction. On the night of July 11, 1870, six blacks and one white preacher were lynched. That fact is irrefutable. What is in some contention is what led to the lynchings and who was ultimately responsible. Actors portray four key figures in this dramatic performance:
In 1867, due to the disfranchisement of southern whites for wartime activity and perhaps simply due to a lack of effort by other whites, only 61,000 whites registered to vote in Alabama compared to 104,000 blacks. In 1868, twenty-six blacks were elected to the legislature for the first time. It was a political revolution, but it was short-lived. The years of 1869 and 1870 were tense and unpredictable. By now, the Klan was a powerful political weapon for the Democratic party and sought to place back into power, through intimidation and violence at the polls, their white southern leaders. Klan targets often included black educational and religious institutions -- embodiments of black autonomy. During this time, the Northern-controlled railroad was rebuilding across the South including the line from Selma to Rome, Georgia--a critical link connecting Alabama to rail lines all the way to Washington D.C. It would be the coming together of the black college at Talladega and the railroad interests that would propel a foreigner, William Luke, into a situation he was ill-prepared to face.
Post Viewing Discussion
Followup questions:
Glossary
Carpetbagger - So-called because they were said to be able to pack all their earthly belongings in a carpetbag in order to journey South. A derogatory term for Northerners who settled in the South after the Civil War. Despite their reputation, they tended to be well-educated and middle class people. Most moved South for personal advancement.
Ku Klux Klan - Reconstruction gave birth to the first version of the Ku Klux Klan in Pulaski, Tenn., in 1866. At first, this small group of former Rebel soldiers simply rode through the countryside in elaborate costume for amusement. However, as the Klan became more structured, it became more political using violence to keep blacks and scalawags in line.
Scalawags - Southern-born white Republicans during Reconstruction. To Democrats, a scalawag was the "local leper of the community." A traitor in his homeland. For a time, in coalitions with newly enfranchised black voters, scalawags dominated governments across the South.
The Wayfaring Stranger - The documentary is named for an old Southern melody once sung in many white Methodist churches in the South. The first verse: "I am a poor wayfaring stranger, While traveling thro this world below; There is no sickness, toil, nor danger In that bright world to which I go. I'm going there to meet my father, I'm going there no more to roam; I am just going over Jordan, I am just going over home."
References
Detailed information about this particular event in Alabama history is available by reading Gene Howard's Death at Cross Plains (Univ. of Alabama Press, 1984). A great deal more information about Alabama's Reconstruction is available in Alabama - The History of a Deep South State (Univ. of Alabama Press, 1994). General historical perspective is available through Eric Foner's massive work Reconstruction- Americas Unfinished Revolution (Harper & Row, 1988).
Student Projects
Here are some topics suitable for student reports about Reconstruction:
Your class could also analyze the widely popular propaganda film The Birth of a Nation, which glorified the Reconstruction Klan. The film premiered in President Wilson's White House. There are a number of web sites available to aid student research in these areas.
It was during Reconstruction that Auburn University was established and the city of Birmingham was founded. And public education in Alabama was established. No matter where you live in the South, there are local stories about the impact of the post-Civil War Reconstruction years. Was there a local Klan? What legislators represented your area? What was their background? Who ran local government? Were there Yankee troops present locally during Reconstruction? What was life like for the local farmers and businessmen?
The Dying Letter
William Luke did write to his wife moments before his lynching. The original note was sent to his family in Canada and cannot be located, but it was copied by Rev. Henry Brown prior to mailing. The copied letter (over 125 years old) is what appears in the documentary. The letter and most of the photographs used in this documentary are located at the Savery Library Archive at Talladega College.
Produced by Tom Rieland at The University of Alabama Center for Public Television & Radio, Box 870150, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487, 1-800-463-8825.
For additional information about using these materials in your classroom, contact Alabama Public Television Educational Services, 1-800-239-5233.
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