The first African American leaders in the South Came from the ranks of antebellum free blacks who were joint by norther blacks to support Reconstruction. Blanche K Bruce an ex slave established a school for freedmen and in 1874 he became Mississippi’s second black U.S. senator. African American speakers who were financed by the Republican Party, spread out into the plantation districts and recruited former slaves to take part in politics. In South Carolina, African Americans constituted a majority in the lower house of legislature in 1868. Over the reconstruction twenty African Americans served in state administrations as Governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, or lesser offices. More than six hundred serves as state legislators and sixteen as congressmen. Southern Republicans, reconstruction governments eliminated property qualifications for the vote and abolished the Black Codes. Their state constitutions expanded the rights of married women, enabling them to hold property and wages independent of their husbands. The sought to diversify the economy beyond cotton agriculture and the poured money into railroads and other buildings projects to expand the regions busted economy. Southern Republicans brought the …show more content…
Sharecropping emerged because slaves that did not move away from plantations. IT was a product of the struggles of the Reconstruction and was in part was a good fit for cotton agriculture. Cotton unlike sugarcane, could be raised efficiently by small farmers. Sharecroppers’ freedom meant not only their individuals lots and cabins but also the school and churches. They could work on their own terms and establish rights to marry, read and write as they pleased, and travel in search of a better life. It even allowed some black farmers to buy and work their own land. Parents sacrificed to send their children to school and a few proudly watch their sons and daughters graduate from
Although slavery was declared over after the passing of the thirteenth amendment, African Americans were not being treated with the respect or equality they deserved. Socially, politically and economically, African American people were not being given equal opportunities as white people. They had certain laws directed at them, which held them back from being equal to their white peers. They also had certain requirements, making it difficult for many African Americans to participate in the opportunity to vote for government leaders. Although they were freed from slavery, there was still a long way to go for equality through America’s reconstruction plan.
Sharecropping and tenant farming were two types of farming in post Civil War Mississippi. Many acres of fields were destroyed and the Mississippi economy was very damaged after the Civil War, so there was a lot of pressure put on to the farmers to get the post-war Mississippi economy running smoothly again. Many newly freed slaves and other Mississippians resorted to sharecropping and tenant farming, which have many similarities and differences. Sharecropping and tenant farming share many similarities. Firstly, both tenant farmers and sharecroppers worked another man’s land and did not have a farm or land of their own.
During the Reconstruction Era, various African-American/Abolitionist leaders came forward to express their thoughts on the role of freedmen in the post-Civil War society. Specifically, two formative figures who portrayed their advocacy were Blanche Bruce and Frederick Douglass. Blanche Bruce, a former slave, was the first African-American to serve a full term in the United States Senate. While serving the Senate, Bruce advocated for the rights of minorities and illustrated the issues of his black constituents. Frederick Douglass, on the other hand, was a prominent leader in the abolitionist movement after escaping slavery.
Very soon after Lincoln died, and his Vice President Andrew Johnson was placed into presidency. The summer of 1865, Johnson focused on another plan for reconstruction without help and opinions from Congress. When Johnson invited people to read his course of action for reconstruction, he was the laugh of the South, and many state governments began to evade the laws. Thus, created Black Codes, which gave White Southerner 's supremacy to newly freed slaves.
Radical Republicans wanted the society of the South to change imminently, no slow progression, and that included giving rights to former slaves. According to the series, the Republicans created the Freedmen’s Bureau, who is responsible for the general welfare of the freed slaves. They built schools, and also with 800,000 acres of confiscated land, with the intention of giving that land to freed slaves, but this land never makes it to freed slaves. While under President Andrew Johnson he approved of freeing slaves and taking down big plantation elite, he did not believe in making blacks somewhat equal in society. During elections, many former Confederate states have been won by former rebel legislators, and many of those legislators enact the
A prime source of labor during the early post emancipation era was sharecropping. Sharecropping was a system that allowed for
The Bureau could not provide African Americans with land, but it did contribute to education. Formerly enslaved African Americans were educated with the help of Northern charities. This was a positive outcome during
Opportunity to thrive in American was available however. Many blacks sought their refuge in the northern states, which provided economic opportunity in the thriving industrial industry of the time. However, segregation existed there as well, as many blacks were not allowed jobs, given menial roles and minimal payment. Many others found that their only option would be to take to working on the fields as laborers and workers in a system known as sharecropping. This was an economics strategy to keep blacks financially and lawfully dependent on their employers, with binding contracts, exuberant fees and delayed or nonexistent pay.
Southern Republicans synchronized with the blasting economy of the South and the clearing political changes in the district to develop as the prevailing party in the South. The impoverished South of the 1870s had offered route to a prosperous Modern South of metropolitan urban communities, agribusiness, industrial plants, tourism, and service industries. Blacks had picked up the vote and the entrance to open office that they were denied to before, and this time their hold on office appeared to be more secure. Politicians of the Democratic Party in the South were moving far from white
Evaluating Cruelty: Sharecropping and Slavery “After the Civil War, former slaves sought jobs, and planters sought laborers. The absence of cash or an independent credit system led to the creation of sharecropping” (Pollard para. 1). Sharecropping is the action of allowing workers, called sharecroppers, to work on someone else’s farm. This let former slaves find jobs; however, farmers found loopholes to exploit the former slaves. Because of this, the workers were rarely paid the amount they needed for their needs.
This included the post economic gains of World War II, desegregation in the military, and the famous Brown v. Board of case for equal education. These all brought hope to the African American community and brought change to the education
Racism’s Impact on Reconstruction While the issue of slavery evidently contributed to the divide that resulted in the American Civil War, it is debated whether prevailing ideals of racism caused the failure of the era following the war known as Reconstruction. With the abolishment of slavery, many of the southern states had to reassemble the social, economic, and political systems instilled in their societies. The Reconstruction Era was originally led by a radical republican government that pushed to raise taxes, establish coalition governments, and deprive former confederates of superiority they might have once held. However, during this time common views were obtained that the South could recover independently and that African Americans
In turn, this proved that they could have as much money as white people, making them equal. This helped spark social change leading to integration of whites and
This labor system reducued their risk when cotton prices were low and encouraged workers to increase production without costly supervision (Of the people, 467). Which ultimately created another advantage for the workers because they were now being rewarded with a share of the land they worked so hard to harvest within a year 's time. Overall I greatly believe that sharecropping was an acceptable way to help achieve economic freedom, especially for the blacks. They no longer had to do indescribable work that in the end did not benefit them, only the owners of the land that they occupied. They were able to acquire a contract that not only benefited them, with the chance to actually have a sense of "owning" land showing independence, but also benefiting the land-owners with them still earning a profit from the portions of land they rented out to the free