Michael Hoke Justice (1844-1919), above, often referred to by the initials “M.H.” & sometimes, less respectfully, as “Mikey,” was one of Rutherford County’s most prominent figures of the late 19th & early 20th centuries — and certainly the County’s most visible politician during the “White Supremacy” campaigns of 1898 & 1900. If interested in the latter topic, please see my Forest City Lynching of 1900.
As Clarence Griffin tells us, he was a son of Thomas Butler Justice (1813-1892), a surveyor who for many years served as agent for the Speculation Land Company. During the War, M.H. Justice served in Co. F of the 62nd NC, rising to Lieutenant; Griffin describes his services as “meritorious,” and while this may be so my impression is that this was not a particularly distinguished unit. At any rate, following the War he read law, was admitted to the bar in 1868 & for many years practiced in Rutherfordton. An envelope (dated 1894) bearing Justice’s signature from his lawyering days is pictured here.
His most active years in elective office were as a Democratic State Senator representing Rutherford in the sessions of 1897, 1899 & 1901 — during those years in which the Democratic Party battled back to seize control of the State from Republicans, faltering Populists & their so-called “racial revolution,” which had seen the election & appointment of numerous black office holders.
Justice, in contrast, was a committed White Supremacist. In the Summer of 1900, during the campaign for the amendment which disfranchised most of the black voters in the State, Justice introduced soon-to-be Governor Charles B. Aycock before a speach in Rutherfordton & described the campaign as “a fight between the races.” And when the leader of Wilmington’s Race Riot of 1898, Col. Alfred Moore Waddell, came to speak in Forest City shortly thereafter, Justice said “a negro . . . was never the equal of a white man, and was not as good as any white man, and was not capable of holding any office of any kind at any time. . . . North Carolina’s whites were the people to rule and they would rule.”
And yet a description of Justice’s funeral in 1919 affords this interesting racial contrast: “‘Uncle Simon Wright,’ an aged colored man who has worked around the Justice home for many years was seen standing at the grave after most of the crowd had gone and remarked: ‘The best friend that I have in this world is gone.’”
In 1901, Justice was appointed Superior Court Judge & he served in this capacity the remainder of his life. He was a candidate for Supreme Court Justice in 1904, but was defeated. Below is a 1903 letter from John C. Mills (another leading man in Rutherfordton & a son of George H. Mills, prominent Confederate veteran), recommending Justice for Supreme Court Justice.
Tags: judges, M.H. Justice, Michael Hoke Justice, Rutherford County, Rutherfordton, white supremacy campaigns
January 26, 2009 at 2:03 am |
Michael Hoke Justice is my great-grandfather. My mother is Clara (Viola) Justice MacMillan, her mother Clara Viola (Giles) Justice (Vidi we called her), married to Gaston Baily Justice, whose father was Michael Hoke Justice. I am just learning all of this, and would like to find as much information about him as possible. We have the history of Rutherford and Tryon Counties, and he is documented in a footnote in that book. I think he was involved in some KKK cases in court and would like to find information about that. (My high school classmate, Tim Tyson, wrote Blood Done Sign My Name, and I would like as much source info about MHJ as possible.)
January 27, 2009 at 1:44 pm |
Thanks for your comment. When I did my research on the KKK activity in Rutherford some years ago, I did come across a reference or two to M.H. Justice (I think it’s from materials of this period where I remember a rather disparaging reference to him as “Mikey,” perhaps attributable to the troubled legacy of his regiment during the Civil War, though I can’t be more specific). I believe MHJ helped prosecute the Adairs (the low-lifes who murdered the Weston Family in 1871), and that may have been his most prominent role during Reconstruction. He of course must not be confused with the prominent Rutherford Republican of that time, Jim Justice. But, you’ll probably find a lot more material on him if you study the White Supremacy campaigns of 1898 and 1900. He was Rutherford’s most prominent politician at that time & attracted some statewide notice. Josephus Daniels mentions him in one of his books & I probably have as much on him as anybody in my Forest City Lynching — you’ll find a few primary sources there. Also, Robin Lattimore has a little on Justice in his history of Rutherfordton, just published a couple of years ago — including a photo or two. The photo I used in Forest City Lynching (as well as here on my blog) accompanied his obit in a local paper. Perhaps you already have images, though. But if I come across anything more, I’ll try to remember to post them for you. Thanks again.