- Written by
- Pike, James Shepherd, American, 1811 - 1882
- Date
- 1873
- Medium
- ink on paper
- Dimensions
- H x W x D (closed): 7 1/4 × 5 × 3/4 in. (18.4 × 12.7 × 1.9 cm)
- H x W x D (open): 7 1/4 × 8 1/2 × 4 1/4 in. (18.4 × 21.6 × 10.8 cm)
- Caption
- Written in 1873 by James S. Pike, a white Republican journalist from Maine, this racist portrayal of Black legislators in South Carolina influenced many northern white Republicans to abandon support for Reconstruction.
- Description
- A hardcover book titled The Prostrate State: South Carolina Under Negro Government with worn red cover. The cover has no markings, front, back, or spine. Copyright 1873. The interior cover has a stamp in red ink for the [ROOMS OF THE / Y.M.C.A.] in Richmond, Virginia. The text on the title page reads [THE / PROSTRATE STATE: / SOUTH CAROLINA UNDER NEGRO GOVERNMENT. / BY / JAMES S. PIKE, / LATE MINISTER OF THE UNITED STATES AT THE HAGUE. / NEW YORK: / D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, / 549 & 551 BROADWAY, / 1874.]. The volume opens with a preface dated [New York, Oct., 1873], that begins, "The following pages were written in Soth Carolina, during the session of the Legislature, in the months of February and March, 1873. They take their coloring from the scenes by which the writer was surrounded." and continues to posit the purpose of the book is to prevent "the Africanization" of South Carolina. The preface is followed by a table of contents. 279 pages total.
- Statement
- Objects depicting racist and/or stereotypical imagery or language may be offensive and disturbing, but the NMAAHC aims to include them in the Collection to present and preserve the historical context in which they were created and used. Objects of this type provide an important historical record from which to study and evaluate racism.
- Place depicted
- United States, North and Central America
- Collection title
- Stanley Turkel's Collection of Reconstruction Era Materials
- Classification
- Library Collections
- Racist and Stereotypical Objects
- Type
- hardcover books
- Topic
- American South
- Government
- Politics
- Reconstruction, U.S. History, 1865-1877
- Slavery
- White supremacy movements
- Credit Line
- Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Stanley Turkel's Collection of Reconstruction Era Materials
- Object number
- 2012.160.176
- Restrictions & Rights
- No Known Copyright Restrictions
- Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.




