In The Union League and Biracial Politics in Reconstruction Texas, Carl H. Moneyhon brings his considerable knowledge of Reconstruction-era Texas to the subject of the Republican Union League of America and its involvement in Texas politics. Often known simply as the Union League, it was a secret organization connected to the Republican Party that played an important role in Reconstruction politics in the American South. The Union League was responsible for registering Black men to vote and getting them involved in Republican Party politics. Texas was no different. The Union League came to Texas in 1867 as a way to educate African Americans about the Republican Party and voting, and to galvanize their support for Republican policies.The common narrative for the Union League in the South was as a short-lived organization that was targeted by groups like the Ku Klux Klan for their efforts at mobilizing African Americans. As Moneyhon notes in his work, the Union League in Texas outlasted chapters in other states. Moneyhon sets out to challenge the notion that the league was ultimately an organization in which white leaders simply manipulated Black members. These ideas about the league stretch back to the earliest historians of Reconstruction whose racist views shaped their analysis of the organization. Moneyhon tests the various generalizations of different generations of Reconstruction-era historians through the study of the Texas Union League. Unlike the other southern states, Black Texans had fewer sources of support. The Union Army and the Freedmen's Bureau were over-extended in Texas, and there were fewer “carpetbaggers” and free African Americans to serve as leaders for the larger Black population. As a result, Moneyhon argues, Black Texans looked to the Union League for support and political leadership.The book begins with a discussion of post–Civil War Texas in which Moneyhon establishes that the state government that came out of Presidential Reconstruction policies was ultimately one that could not be trusted to be loyal and to protect freedpeople's lives and rights. When the national Republican Party tasked the Union League with helping to gain Black voters and supporters, unionist white Texans used the league and the Republican Party to counter and, at least temporarily, defeat conservative control in Texas politics. White leaguers eventually realized that to obtain political control of the state they would need to bring Black Texans into the fold and set about accomplishing this goal. An important aspect of this work is that Moneyhon argues that white Republicans needed Black Texans as much as Black Texans needed the Union League. Black Texan Republicans were able to use the Union League to assert their agency in Texas politics and influence the state's policies as well as aid in the election of the radical Republican governor Edmund J. Davis. Within the league African Americans were able to gain leadership positions. George Ruby, who would eventually serve in Texas State senate, was president of the league until 1870. As in other parts of the South, the Klan physically attacked Union League members and intimidated Black voters while the Democratic party attacked them politically. The Union League's inability to protect Black voters and their inability to gain white voters for the Republican Party, along with this targeting, soon spelled the end of the league when the Democrats regained control of state politics. Thus, the story of the Union League in Texas is ultimately a tragic one, but important for understanding the future of Texas politics.The Union League and Biracial Politics in Reconstruction Texas is an important work for anyone studying the Union League, Reconstruction, and Texas political history. The cooperation and alliance of Black and white league members throughout the troubled years of Reconstruction is testament to its potential to change the state and the nation. The study would have benefited from a fuller inclusion of the Mexican population of Texas in this story. There are tantalizing hints at their involvement in the Union League which made the organization a multi-ethnic and multi-racial one. Still, the book is of great value for presenting a heavily researched and thoughtful picture of the Union League and its influence on Texas politics in the mid-nineteenth century.
Maria Angela Diaz (Thu,) studied this question.