From Vice to Virtue

Racial Boundaries and Redemption Narratives in Late 19th-Century Appalachian Feuds

Dados Bibliográficos

ID2415403
AutoresChristi M Smith
Ano2016
Volume6
Fascículo2
Páginas146-169
Data de publicação2016-04-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoRace and Justice (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 2153-3687 • E-ISSN: 2153-3687
EditoraSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/2153368715590912
OpenAlexW2405436673
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas1
Referências citadas48

While historians have documented the criminalization process of Blacks during the Jim Crow and Progressive Eras, few scholars include in their analyses the contemporaneous change in attitudes toward poor Whites. This study examines boundary processes and organizational activism in decriminalizing a particularly virulent and hypervisible series of violent events, the Appalachian feuds of the late 19th century. How are criminal acts committed by Whites rendered less criminal? Not only are Whites less likely to be brought before legal adjudication for criminal behavior, even when there is detailed evidence of their crimes, criminal acts can be made legitimate using redemption narratives that depict White violence as justifiable and even, as in the case here, indicative of a deeper moral worth. The decriminalization of Whites hinges on organized efforts by empowered actors to maintain and police racial boundaries. This article draws on independently collected archival materials including organizational records and financial reports, Board of Trustee records, interorganizational and private correspondence, and 727 newspaper articles

Adjudication · Criminalization · Criminology · Narrative · Political science · Sociology · White (mutation · American Constitutional Law and Politics · American History and Culture · Law · Race, History, and American Society