This Day in History

Jan. 4, 1874: Adelbert Ames Becomes Governor of Mississippi

Time Periods: Reconstruction Period: 1865 - 1876
Themes: Democracy & Citizenship
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Governor/Gen. Adelbert Ames

Source: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.

On Jan. 4, 1874 Adelbert Ames becomes the elected governor of Mississippi during the Reconstruction era.

Ames’s open support of African American suffrage helped him become a leader of Mississippi’s Republican Party, which appointed him senator in 1870 and nominated him for governor in 1874.

Ames’ advocacy of African American rights and his deployment of the militia to try to stem the Democrats’ campaign of violence drew the ire of the state’s Democratic Party, which attempted to impeach him in 1876.

He resigned that March.

Related Resources
Teaching Activities (Free)

Reconstructing the South: A Role Play

Teaching Activity. By Bill Bigelow. 17 pages.
This role play engages students in thinking about what freedpeople needed in order to achieve—and sustain—real freedom following the Civil War. It’s followed by a chapter from the book Freedom’s Unfinished Revolution on what would happen to the land in the South after slavery ended.

The First Vote
Articles

Freedom’s Unfinished Revolution: Teaching a People’s History of Reconstruction

Background Reading for Teachers. By Bill Bigelow. 4 pages.
A review of Freedom’s Unfinished Revolution, a collection of primary documents for high school on the Civil War and Reconstruction.

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Material

Five Myths About Reconstruction

Article. By James W. Loewen. 2015.
Overview of five common fallacies that Americans still tell themselves about the Reconstruction era.