Did you ever learn about the "Original 33"? When history courses cover Reconstruction, they focus on the chaos of the South and the eventual rise of Jim Crow. They ignore the time 33 Black men legally took over the Georgia legislature, and the ruthless, unconstitutional move the Democratic establishment used to purge them.
This morning we look at the legislative coup against the "Original 33."
In 1868, right after the Civil War, Black men in Georgia didn't just vote, they dominated the ballot box. Using the protections of the Reconstruction Acts, they elected 33 Black Republicans to the Georgia State Assembly. Men like Henry McNeal Turner, a brilliant minister and Union Army veteran, didn't just want civil rights, they wanted hard legislative power. They helped write the state’s new constitution, guaranteeing free public education and voting rights for all.
The white Democratic establishment in Georgia was terrified. They realized they couldn't beat this new Black political machine in a fair election. So, just two months after the legislature convened, the Democratic majority executed a legislative coup.
In September 1868, the white Democrats voted to illegally expel all 33 Black lawmakers in a single day.
Their justification? They claimed that while the new state constitution gave Black men the right to vote, it didn't specifically give them the right to hold office. They weaponized legal loopholes and parliamentary procedure to strip the legitimately elected Black representatives of their seats. Even worse, they instantly replaced them with the white Democratic runner-ups, many of whom were literal ex-Confederates who were legally barred from holding office in the first place.
Pop Quiz : When was the last time Atlanta had an Republican Mayor? Put your answer in the comment section.
When Henry McNeal Turner stood on the floor of the legislature to defend his seat, he didn't beg. He delivered one of the most powerful speeches in American history, declaring, "I am here to demand my rights, and to hurl thunderbolts at the men who would dare to cross the threshold of my manhood."
But the establishment didn't care about constitutional rights, they cared about preserving their monopoly. After purging the Black lawmakers from the capitol building, the Ku Klux Klan, acting as the domestic terrorist wing of the Southern Democratic party, launched a wave of violence and assassinations across the state to ensure Black voters wouldn't try to elect them again. It worked didn't it?
History proves that Black Americans didn't just survive Reconstruction, we built massive political leverage. And the establishment didn't defeat us with better policies, they defeated us by legally cheating, rewriting the rules, and violently purging us from the very government we helped build.
Look at what they are actually doing now by aligning with the Marxist wing of Socialism and the Sharia faction of the Islamist Muslims to force the issue of plwer once again!.
Pay attention to who actually weaponized the law against us.
Did they teach you about the Original 33 Black legislators in school? Let me know in the comments.
Replies
The Democrat Party built the KKK.