Freedom’s Dominion

1. "Freedom's Dominion": A Contested American Ideal

In the United States, freedom and oppression are mutually constructed, interdependent, and difficult to separate.

Wallace's vision. George Wallace's infamous 1963 inaugural address, proclaiming "Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, and segregation forever!", also invoked "freedom" twenty-five times. For Wallace and many white Alabamians, freedom meant white resistance to federal power, a deeply ingrained ideology rooted in Barbour County's history. This "freedom" was often synonymous with the right to maintain a specific social order, even if it meant dominating others.

Patterson's framework. Sociologist Orlando Patterson identifies three notes of Western freedom: absence of constraint, civic participation, and the power to enslave or dominate. The third, most ominous note—the power to restrict others' freedom—became a core dimension of American freedom, intertwining with racial bigotry, economic power, and violence. This perspective reveals that oppression and freedom are not opposites but often co-constructed.

Founding paradox. The United States was uniquely founded on both settler colonialism and chattel slavery, creating a profound paradox. The nation celebrated independence from British tyranny while simultaneously using its newfound "freedom" to seize Indigenous lands and enslave Africans. This foundational irony meant that cries for American liberty often provided license to practice tyranny in the name of freedom, a pattern that would define Barbour County's history.

2. Land, Liberty, and the Federal Antagonist

Preventing the theft of Native lands seemed to contradict much of the essence of Jacksonian-era politics—even if those protections were designed to rein in and control white freedom in the strategic interest of promoting a long-term strategy of land dispossession.

Marshal Crawford's impossible task. In the 1830s, US Marshal Robert L. Crawford was dispatched to Barbour County to protect Creek Indian lands from white intruders, even burning white settlements like Eufaula. This federal intervention directly opposed the "Alabama Fever"—the frenzied land grab driven by white settlers' belief in their "freedom" to access land, a core Jeffersonian ideal. The state of Alabama actively sided with the intruders against federal authority.

Jackson's contradictory stance. President Andrew Jackson, while championing Indian Removal, also sought to maintain order and uphold treaties, leading to a paradox. The killing of Hardeman Owens, a white intruder shot by federal troops, transformed him into a martyr for states' rights, fueling white outrage against federal "tyranny." This incident highlighted the deep conflict between local white claims to land and federal attempts to enforce treaty obligations.

Key's compromise and Creek abandonment. Francis Scott Key, author of "The Star-Spangled Banner," brokered a compromise that effectively abandoned the Creeks. Despite federal promises of protection, the "Key Compromise" allowed white intruders to remain on Creek lands, accelerating dispossession. This federal retreat left the Creeks vulnerable to rampant fraud and violence, culminating in the brutal Second Creek War and their forced removal, cementing federal power as an unreliable ally for non-white populations.

3. The Violent "Redemption" of White Freedom

The local struggle against the illegitimacy of federal power then took the form of a dynamic racialized anti-statism: an ever-evolving catalyst in the political chemistry of American freedom.

Freedmen seek federal protection. After the Civil War, newly emancipated African Americans in Barbour County sought federal protection for their rights, viewing the Freedmen's Bureau and military presence as essential for their freedom. They organized through Union Leagues, demanding political participation and access to education, seeing federal authority as their only leverage against white control.

White resistance to "tyranny." White Alabamians, however, perceived federal intervention during Reconstruction as an oppressive "tyranny" that threatened their "freedom" and social order. They vehemently opposed the Reconstruction Amendments (13th, 14th, 15th) and the enfranchisement of Black men, framing these as assaults on their "personal liberty and free government." This racialized anti-statism became a defining feature of their political identity.

The Eufaula massacre and "redemption." The 1874 Eufaula election massacre, orchestrated by paramilitary groups like the "White Line," violently suppressed Black voting, killing and injuring scores of African Americans. This act, which white Southerners called "redemption," effectively ended Reconstruction in Alabama, restoring white political and economic power. The federal government's limited response to this violence signaled a retreat, leaving Black citizens vulnerable to renewed white domination.

4. Convict Leasing: Slavery by Another Name

The convict lease system is starkly emblematic of the terror that filled the void left by the retreat of federal authority.

Post-Reconstruction terror. Following the collapse of Reconstruction and the retreat of federal power, convict leasing rapidly emerged as a brutal system of labor and social control. Black men, often convicted of petty or trumped-up crimes, were leased to private companies, primarily coal mines, under conditions often worse than slavery. This system re-established racial hierarchy and provided cheap, disposable labor.

J.W. Comer's brutality. Barbour County planter J.W. Comer, a key figure in the 1874 Eufaula massacre, became a notorious kingpin in the convict lease system. He leased hundreds of Black prisoners, subjecting them to horrific conditions, including:

• Forced labor in dangerous mines.
• Brutal whippings and torture.
• Inadequate food, clothing, and sanitation.
• Disappearance of prisoners with no trace.
  Comer's actions exemplified the "freedom to brutalize, to plunder and lay waste and call it peace."

Federal inaction and systemic entrenchment. The Thirteenth Amendment's "exception clause" (allowing slavery as punishment for crime) provided a legal loophole for convict leasing. Despite efforts by federal judges like Thomas Goode Jones to prosecute peonage, these challenges were largely ineffective. The system became deeply entrenched, funding state coffers and suppressing labor unions, demonstrating how federal power's repose allowed new forms of racialized economic exploitation to flourish.

5. Lynching: A Prerogative of White Freedom

A person did not have to see a dead and mutilated body to know that white people relished a uniquely sinister form of liberty: the freedom to take a life with impunity.

Terror as social control. Lynching, a widespread practice in Barbour County and across the South, served as a visceral tool of racial terror and social control. Stories like the castration and murder of Iver Peterson in 1911, often for alleged transgressions against white women, instilled deep fear in the Black community, shaping their behavior and limiting their freedom.

"Freedom to maim, torture, and kill." This vigilante violence was rooted in a twisted interpretation of white freedom—the "right to maim, torture, and kill with impunity," inherited from the slave system. It functioned as "popular constitutionalism," where local white will superseded formal law, defining not just Black inferiority but white superiority and the "freedom to dominate."

Federal government's failure. Despite hundreds of anti-lynching bills introduced in Congress throughout the 20th century (e.g., Dyer, Costigan-Wagner bills), none ever passed due to Southern filibusters. This federal inaction, coupled with occasional state efforts to prevent lynchings (like Governor Bibb Graves protecting Laurence Davis), highlighted the government's inability to curb this extreme expression of white freedom, leaving Black citizens vulnerable to unchecked racial terror.

6. The New Deal's Paradox: Aid Without Integration

If federal power was allowed to do anything by way of intruding in state and local ways, many feared, it would also be capable of intruding in these two pillars of Southern life.

Mill paternalism and white labor. The Great Depression drove many poor whites, like Nancy Nolan, from tenant farming into textile mills in places like Eufaula. Donald Comer's Cowikee Mill exemplified "industrial paternalism," offering steady wages and community benefits but demanding absolute loyalty and prohibiting unions. This system provided stability for white workers but limited their autonomy and reinforced racial segregation, as Black workers were excluded.

Southern elites embrace selective federal aid. While Southern elites, including Governor Chauncey Sparks, eagerly accepted New Deal economic programs (AAA, REA, FERA) to alleviate poverty and boost industry, they fiercely resisted any federal interventions that threatened the region's low-wage labor model or racial hierarchy. They feared that federal power, once unleashed, could challenge the "two pillars" of Southern life: cheap labor and segregation.

Sparks's anti-federal stance. Governor Sparks, the "Barbour Bourbon," consistently fought federal efforts like the Fair Employment Practices Committee (FEPC) and the Supreme Court's ruling against the all-white primary (Smith v. Allwright). He framed these as "denials of freedom" and intrusions into state sovereignty, arguing that "radical localism of white supremacy" was essential for Alabama's peace and prosperity, even as he promoted a paternalistic vision of "separate but equal."

7. George Wallace: The Architect of Racialized Anti-Statism

His real political magic was to blur the lines between those two antipathies with his shrewd capacity to redirect overt racism toward safer terrain: hostility toward the federal government that threatened white freedom.

Wallace's political apprenticeship. George Wallace, born in Barbour County's hardscrabble Clio, developed an early, relentless political drive. His youth was shaped by the Depression and tales of Reconstruction's "tyranny." After serving in WWII and a stint in the state legislature, he became a circuit court judge, initially showing moderation on race and even cultivating Black voters.

Embracing militant segregation. The mid-1950s civil rights surge (Brown v. Board, Montgomery Bus Boycott) forced Wallace to abandon moderation. After losing the 1958 gubernatorial race to a more overtly racist opponent, he vowed, "I will never be outniggered again." He then perfected a political formula:

• Identify federal intervention on race.
• Exaggerate its threat to white freedom.
• Frame it as an assault on "big government."
• Translate policy losses into political wins.

Nationalizing anti-federal rhetoric. Wallace's 1963 "Segregation Forever" inaugural speech, delivered from the spot where Jefferson Davis took his oath, was a clarion call for white freedom against federal "tyranny." His "stand in the schoolhouse door" at the University of Alabama, though a policy defeat, became an iconic image that launched his national political career, projecting his racialized anti-statism far beyond Alabama's borders.

8. Local Resistance to School Integration: The Albert Street Club

The city would pay the Albert Street homeowners for their property, they promised, then 'redevelop' the neighborhood and sell the revitalized properties—to white residents only, the Albert Street group was dead certain.

Eufaula's segregationist plot. Following the Brown v. Board decision, Eufaula devised a plan to maintain school segregation by creating residential segregation. The city used federal Housing Act funds to condemn and acquire homes in the predominantly Black Albert Street neighborhood, intending to redevelop the land for white residents and a white school, thereby circumventing integration mandates.

The Albert Street Club fights back. The Black residents of Albert Street organized the "Albert Street Club" to resist this "Negro Removal." They sought legal help from Fred Gray, the attorney for Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott, arguing that the city's actions were racially motivated and violated their Fourteenth Amendment rights.

Federal court's limited intervention. The case, Tate v. City of Eufaula, landed before federal Judge Frank M. Johnson Jr. While Johnson dismissed the case due to lack of immediate proof of discrimination, he issued a strong warning to the city about future violations. Fred Gray, however, secured significantly higher compensation for his clients in condemnation proceedings before Judge George Wallace, a rare instance of cooperation, though the overall goal of residential segregation was achieved.

9. The Voting Rights Act: A New Dawn, Old Obstacles

Without viable federal supervision, explains an Alabama historian, 'fair adjudication at the polls regardless of the nature of the political challenge was a structural impossibility.'

SCOPE's voter registration drive. In the summer of 1965, SCLC's SCOPE project, including volunteers like Larry Butler, deployed to Barbour County to register Black voters. Despite threats and intimidation, they registered hundreds before the Voting Rights Act (VRA) passed, even catching the attention of Governor George Wallace.

Local obstruction persists. The VRA's passage brought hope, but local authorities continued to obstruct Black voter registration. SCLC's analysis revealed that counties with federal registrars saw significantly higher Black voter registration rates (84%) compared to those without (41%), highlighting the critical need for federal oversight in places like Barbour County.

Electoral manipulation and defeat. In the 1966 primaries, despite a surge in Black voter registration, no African American candidates won in Alabama. In Barbour County, the Democratic Executive Committee changed beat-level elections to at-large to dilute the Black vote, a tactic Fred Gray challenged in federal court (Smith v. Paris). Though Judge Frank Johnson ruled the change unconstitutional, the election results stood, demonstrating that even with federal laws, local white power found new ways to suppress Black political representation.

10. The Nationalization of White Freedom: Wallace's Enduring Legacy

The more robustly Black people voted, and the more the Democratic Party accommodated them, the more whites felt their privileged sense of freedom slipping away at the hands of federal authorities.

Wallace's Northern Strategy. In 1968, George Wallace launched a national presidential campaign as an independent, taking his racialized anti-statist message beyond the South. He skillfully deflected accusations of racism by framing his fight as one against "big government," "pointy-head" intellectuals, and federal intrusion into local liberties, resonating with working-class whites in the North.

The "Wallace Factor" and political realignment. Wallace's unexpected success in Northern primaries (e.g., Wisconsin, Indiana, Maryland) revealed a national "backlash" against civil rights and federal power. This "Wallace factor" became crucial for understanding the emerging Republican majority, as disaffected white Democrats, feeling their "freedom" threatened, began to shift their allegiance to the anti-statist Republican Party.

Enduring legacy of "conqueror's freedom." Wallace's campaigns, despite his personal political defeats, profoundly influenced American politics. His rhetoric, which conflated federal intervention with tyranny and racial progress with a loss of white freedom, laid groundwork for future conservative movements. From Nixon's "Southern Strategy" to modern anti-statism and events like the Capitol riot, the "conqueror's freedom"—a freedom to dominate, without consequence or criticism—persists as a virulent, deeply flawed, but enduring part of the American creed.