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ARTIFACT:
This uniquely shaped full Sheriff badge of Vance County, North Carolina, may well be the first badge worn by a Sheriff of that county. The badge’s heavy bi-metal construction, and tube type C catch, looks to probably be the work of the S. A. French Company of New York. The central seal is that of a just-post Civil War uniform button, in bronze, while the rest of the badge is made of heavy nickel.
Vance County was formed by the white Democratic-dominated North Carolina legislature in 1881, following the US Civil War Reconstruction Era, from parts of Franklin, Granville, and Warren counties. The county is named after Zebulon Baird Vance, a Governor of North Carolina twice, from 1862 to 1865, during the Civil War, and from 1877 to 1879, during the Reconstruction period, and a United States Senator for NC from 1879 to 1894.
According to the 1955 book, Zeb's Black Baby, by Samuel Thomas Peace, Sr., this was a political decision to concentrate blacks and Republicans in one county and keep Democratic majorities in the other counties, an example of gerrymandering:
"The formation of Vance County was accomplished largely as a political expediency. It was in 1881 when Blacks in large numbers were voting solidly Republican. Granville and Franklin Counties were nip and tuck, Democratic or Republican. From the Democratic standpoint, Warren County was hopelessly Republican. But by taking from Granville, Franklin and Warren, those sections that were heavily Republican and out of these sections forming the new county of Vance, the Democratic party could lose Vance to the Republicans and save Granville and Franklin for the Democrats. [U.S.] Senator Vance was a Democrat. He took kindly to this move and thanked the [North Carolina] Legislature for honoring him with naming the new county after him. At the same time...Vance showed his humor by always referring to Vance County as 'Zeb's Black Baby.'"
This represented the beginnings of a downward spiral of voting and civil rights in NC, and the south in general: In the 1890 Census, Vance County was more than 63 percent African American. In 1894 a biracial coalition of Populists and Republicans elected African American George Henry White to the US Congress and gained control of the state house. The Democrats were determined to forestall this happening again. White strongly opposed the new constitution, saying "I cannot live in North Carolina and be a man and be treated as a man." He left the state after his second term expired, setting up a business in Washington, DC.
The Democrats in the North Carolina legislature settled the political competition with the Republicans by following other southern states and passing a law in 1896 making voting more difficult, and a new constitution in 1899 that disfranchised most blacks by poll taxes, literacy tests and grandfather clauses. Contemporary accounts estimated that 75,000 black male citizens of the state lost the vote. In 1900 blacks numbered 630,207 citizens, about 33% of the state's total population. This situation held until past the mid-20th century and after passage of the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965.
VINTAGE:
1881.
SIZE:
Approximately: 2" in height x 1-3/4" in width.
MATERIALS / CONSTRUCTION:
heavy Nickel with painted lettering. The Central seal is that of a just-post Civil War uniform button, in bronze and Brass findings.
ATTACHMENT:
Vertical kick pin with Tube type C catch.
MARKINGS:
N/A.
ITEM NOTES:
This is from an old west police and lawman enforcement collection which we will be listing more of over the next few months. MEJJM24 LADGEX04/21/24
CONDITION:
7 (Very Fine): The badge shows minor to moderate wear, and duty worn great patina.
GUARANTEE: As with all my artifacts, this piece is guaranteed to be original, as described.
