Mr. Bone, a scalawag or a carpetbagger?

During and immediately after the Civil War, many northerners headed to the southern states in hopes of finding economic prosperity and a desire to work alongside or on behalf of the newly emancipated slaves to facilitate the reform of Southern society. These men were deemed “carpetbaggers” and became, in time, an element of deep scorn among the Southerners who took them as corrupt profiteers eager to take advantage of the political and financial instability left by the war. However, in the Southern society during Reconstruction, the most derogatory──even lower than rednecks and carpetbaggers──were the scalawags, who were viewed as traitors to the South. Scalawags came from diverse backgrounds, nonetheless, they were all white southern Republicans that believed in the recognition of blacks’ civil rights while still supporting white supremacy and control over the economic and political life. Many of them, like Mr. Bone, were small-time farmers, had served the Union army, or were middle-class professionals that had remained loyal to the Union throughout the events of the Civil War. More importantly, as Jane will later evidence describing Mr. Bone’s affiliation with Union soldiers and the Republican Party, scalawags were an important piece in the electoral field, representing 20% of the white electoral vote in the South.

Jane embarked her journey only to end in a new plantation, which makes the reader dubious on whether she improved her condition or not, and potentially symbolizing or foreshadowing the restoration of repressive labor and unjust, racists practices. Don't forget to check out the short clip titled, The Failure of Reconstruction. 

Although little is said about Mr. Bone in this chapter that alludes he is a scalawag, the reader can detect he is a man who keeps his promises, given that as soon as Jane proved her worth in the field, he raised her salary. Mr. Bone has no intention in mistreating his employees {“Bone came out there and told me he was paying me ten dollars a month like he was paying the rest of the women because he didn’t want me killing myself” (64)}, he even invests in their education and provides them of a home in the quarters, but as a true scalawag he also secures his dominance as master of the plantation. 

Works Cited 

"Carpetbaggers & Scalawags - American Civil War - HISTORY.Com". HISTORY.Com, 2015, http://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/carpetbaggers-and-scalawags.

Gaines, Ernest J. The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman. Bantam Books, June 1972. 

Nast, Thomas. "The Man With The (Carpet) Bags". Library Of Congress Prints And Photographs Division, Washington, DC, 1872,.

"What’S The Difference Between A Carpetbagger And A Scalawag?". HISTORY.Com, 2015, http://www.history.com/news/ask-history/whats-the-difference-between-a-carpetbagger-and-a-scalawag.

Youtube. "The Failure Of Reconstruction". 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxCYrJiKMco.