1865-1877

After Slavery Was Abolished

Reconstruction Era

Difficulties at this Time

• Poor white and black families struggled.

• White landowners were left without laborers to work the plantations, after slavery was abolished

• Newly freed slaves did not own land in which to make a living. Some left the plantations for better opportunities up North and out West.

Some former slaves found jobs in factories for freed slaves. Others began new lives out west by working land on their own terms.

Many freed slaves: • Married and established strong communities. • Formed their own churches • Received an education in the freedom schools that

had been established. • Started their own businesses.

• Some former slaves even voted and held office.

• There was little opportunity to work for wages since there was little currency in the South.

• This led them to become sharecroppers by making agreements with white landowners to trade their labor for land.

Freedman’s Bureau The Freedman’s Bureau was established by Congress before the end of the Civil War.

• Its goal was to help all people in the South in need, especially freedmen.

• It provided food, clothing, medical care, education, and some protection from hostile Southerners.

• It also helped find jobs and provide some protection in labor contracts dealing with sharecropping.

This action was influenced by Horace Mann who is known as the “Father of the Common School.” In 1837, the first-ever Massachusetts state board of education was formed and Mann was chosen secretary. This would be the beginning of a progressive movement in public education often referred to as the Common School Movement. The Common School Movement was a time,beginning in the 1830s, where social reformers pushed for a better-developed, tax-funded, secular public school system that allowed students from varying backgrounds to attend. In 1838 he was crucial to the actual establishment of the first Normal Schools in Massachusetts.

One of the Freedmen’s Bureau’s most important contributions was in creating

thousands of schools throughout the South.

RECONSTRUCTION: A Time Of

Incredible changeGreat

Hope

Rebuildin

g efforts After the Civil War

AND

Turned out to be a political, social and economical change that failed to fulfill its promises and left the US with problems of poverty and discrimination that still has

an affect on us today.

.

The Reconstruction:

• The government protected the rights and freedoms of the African Americans for awhile.

• The country had to be rebuilt in all areas as a result of the devastation from the Civil War.

• The Reconstruction Period lasted about 12 years

• Andrew Johnson ---was one of the most unfortunate Presidentsduring this period. Radical Republicans in Congress, very much against him and were ruthless in their tactics. Johnson was no match for them.

• The “Radicals” passed the Civil Rights Act of 1866, which established Negroes as American citizens and forbade discrimination against them.

• A few months later Congress submitted to the states the Fourteenth Amendment, which specified that no state should "deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law."

• Many southern states passed Black Codes as a way to keep freed slaves inferior socially, politically, and economically. These replaced former slave codes as they denied the rights of African Americans. Even though slavery had been outlawed life wasn’t much different for African Americans, even though they were promised many rights and freedoms.

Black Codes

Black codes Prohibited African Americans from:• Traveling freely• Owning personal property• Owning/ carrying guns • Voting.Some of the Radical Republicans were very upset at how a few states were treating the African American population.

The 14th amendment no longer considered former slaves as property.

Johnson was not in favor of this amendment and campaigned against it.

By 1874, white southern Democrats had regained control of their state governments through fraud, intimidation, and violence. Many white Southerners did not believe African Americans should have full and equal rights during Reconstruction.

Separate but Equal In the 1896 Supreme Court case called Plessy vs. Ferguson, “separate but equal” was considered legal by the U.S. Supreme Court. This allowed states to pass newer laws in the 1890s, which made it almost impossible for African Americans to vote. It also had them attending separate schools and churches. These new laws were called Jim Crow Laws.

Jim Crow Laws

– were designed to maintain white supremacy and did so for the next sixty years. They were the beginning of segregation (separation) of the two races.

– segregation reached every part of life in the South. These laws violated the “Equal Protection” clause of the 14th Amendment and continued to be enforced until the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.

– These laws suggested a “Separate but Equal” society. They made separate facilities for African Americans in places such as schools, housing, theaters and on trains mandatory.

“Who” is Jim Crow?• Jim Crow was not a person, yet affected the

lives of millions of people. Named after a popular 19th-century minstrel song that stereotyped African Americans, "Jim Crow" came to personify the system of government-sanctioned racial oppression and segregation in the United States . This occurred roughly between 1865 and 1954.

"Come listen all you galls and boys,

I'm going to sing a little song, My name is Jim Crow.

Weel about and turn about and do jis so, Eb'ry time I weel about I jump Jim Crow.“

These words are from the song, "Jim Crow," as it appeared in sheet music written by Thomas Dartmouth "Daddy" Rice. Rice, a struggling "actor" happened upon a black person singing the above song -- some accounts say it was an old black slave who walked with difficulty, others say it was a ragged black stable boy. In 1828 Rice appeared on stage as "Jim Crow" -- an exaggerated, highly stereotypical black character. Jim Crow Rice, a white man, was one of the first performers to wear blackface makeup -- his skin was darkened with burnt cork. His Jim Crow song-and-dance routine was an astounding success that took him from Louisville to Cincinnati to Pittsburgh to Philadelphia and finally to New York in 1832.

African Americans:• Could reunite with their families and create a network of

churches in which to build their community around• Were considered citizens• Had the right to vote• Attended freedom schools• Could be (and were) elected into government positions• Had hopes for land• Could leave the plantations • Became sharecroppers

• Known as “Scalawags”• Cooperated with the Republican government to gain some kind of power• Had a political voice for the first time since they cooperated with the Radical Republican government in the South• Became sharecroppers also, since they didn’t own land or

have lots of money

Poor Southerners:

13th Amendment

Ended slavery-- everywhere in the US

14th Amendment

• Recognized citizenship of African Americans• Gave rights to all citizens for due process and

equal protection of the law

15th Amendment

• All men have the right to vote no matter their race, creed, or previous condition of servitude.

• While the 15th Amendment gave all men the right to vote, it did NOT include voting rights for women.