Chapter VIII: Dawn Without Noon Summary and Analysis

More than a century after the Civil War, the racial issue is one that still evokes emotions and conflict.

1. Equality by Force

During Reconstruction, the identity and the place for the black man in white society was still uncertain. Guns had officially abolished slavery but they did not change hearts and minds. A political cold war existed in which dealing with the black man evoked deep emotions of hate, bitterness and pain. The black man was not treated as an equal in the northern states. Only in the state of New York and some New England states could a black man vote. The Republican Radicals accomplished the enactment and ratification of the 14th and 15th amendments which made black men full citizens and equal under law. But in the south, political leaders saw...