Background
Blair was born in Richmond, Virginia on June 21, 1834 to John Geddes Blair and Sara Ann Eyre Heron Blair.
Blair was born in Richmond, Virginia on June 21, 1834 to John Geddes Blair and Sara Ann Eyre Heron Blair.
Blair ran a wholesale auction business after returning from the Civil War and later ran a retail store, as well as a wholesale grocery business. His business ventures were extremely successful and Blair became very wealthy. He would frequently write to newspapers to criticize the concept of the New South, saying that it was something that was made up by people like Henry West. Grady.
He argued that most of the South lived in abject poverty and that it was little better than it was prior in 1860.
In one instance Blair allegedly demonstrated a callous approach in his business affairs He had made a loan to his brother-in-law, Review
John Hartwell Harrison in Amelia County, who gave Blair title to his home to secure the debt. According to Harrison family memoirs, in 1896 the loan went into default in the third year of the depression.
In his 1889 book The Prosperity of the South Dependent upon the Elevation of the Negro Blair called for greater equality, equal rights, voting rights, and better education for African Americans - even endorsing integration.
He argued that trying to repress them would only bring the South down and was a waste of energy. Historian Fred C. Hobson later commented in his research that while Blair"s opinions were similar to those of George Washington Cable, he was able to voice them without receiving as much criticism as Cable. Hobson credits this to Blair living further North than Cable (who lived in New Orleans) and because Blair was wealthy and came from a prominent family.
Later in life Blair rejected his earlier opinions, stating in an unpublished manuscript that he believed African Americans to be inferior to whites, called for the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to be repealed, and also argued for disenfranchisement and segregation.
His change in stance has been compared to Thomas East. Watson.