African American Education Dbq Essay

The Reconstruction period was an important first step in the effort to secure civil rights and economic power for the former slaves. During the period of 1865 to 1905, the lives of African Americans in the South changed vastly. Civil rights for the African American community were ensured by the Reconstruction Amendments which outlawed slavery, granted citizenship to everyone born within the United States, and guaranteed the right to vote. For many African Americans, freedom meant independence from white control. In the wake of advancing Union armies, millions of black southerners sought to secure that freedom with economic opportunity, which for many meant land ownership. In fact, for a short while during the war, Union generals and federal

Regardless of the southern whites who feared that education would give blacks “false notions of equality,” Reconstruction governments began to build a comprehensive public school system. Several black “academies” offered more advanced education and grew into an important network of black colleges and universities. Booker T. Washington was the chief spokesman for the importance of education, having worked his way out of poverty after acquiring an education. He strongly believed in expanding the network of black colleges and institutes since education was vital to the future of their people (Doc 7). Washington urged African Americans to adopt the standards of the white middle class to win the respect of the white population. In the Atlanta Compromise, Washington did not challenge the emerging system of segregation, instead encouraging blacks to forgo agitation for political rights and concentrate on self-improvement and preparation for

Though the fourteenth amendment prohibited state governments from discriminating against people because of race, it did not restrict private organizations or individuals from doing so. White southerners determined to strip African Americans of the right to vote established the poll tax and the literacy test. In some cases whites such as the Klu Klux Klan and the Knights of the White Camellia used outright intimidation and violence to undermine the Reconstruction regimes. The Republican Congress responded with the Enforcement Acts of 1870 and 1871 which prohibited states from discriminating against voters on the basis of race and gave the national government the authority to prosecute crimes by individuals under federal law and use federal troops to protect civil rights. Unfortunately, after the adoption of the 15th Amd. (1870), some reformers convinced themselves that their long campaign on behalf of black people was now over, since blacks should be able to take care of themselves with the right to