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Essay On Black Experience During Reconstruction

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Black Experience during the Reconstruction Era Throughout American history, black American people were treated unequally and unfairly by the White people. The Reconstruction Era was one of the most significant time period in history for the blacks. During the Reconstruction Era, America went through many political changes and changed the lives of the black American people. The Reconstruction Era was the time period after the American Civil War, during the years 1863 to 1877. This time period is called the Reconstruction because after the Civil War, the government needed to rebuild the South, “putting back the pieces”. During the Reconstruction, three amendments were added to the Constitution to regulate and establish equality for black Americans, …show more content…

After the ratification of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendment, southern states instituted a series of laws known as Black Codes. Many Northerners saw these codes as the beginning to restore slavery. The Black Codes granted certain legal rights to black Americans. It granted black people the right to marry, own property, and testify in court, but it also prohibited black Americans to serve on juries, to own or carry weapons, and to serve in state militias. According to the Black Codes, black former slaves, also known as freedmen, were forced to sign labor contracts with their employers or white landowners. Any freedmen who attempted to violate or refuse these labor contracts could be fined, beaten, arrested, and hired out for work. As a consequence of the Civil War, many former slaves lost their jobs, and planters needed laborers, which later led to the creation of sharecropping. Sharecropping is a system in which the landowner allows a tenant to use the land in exchange for a share of crop, rather than wages. Sharecropping replaced slavery and the plantation system destroyed by the Civil War. After the war, many black Southerners rented land from the white landowners and raised crops such as cotton, tobacco, and rice. Many Northerners headed to the South looking for opportunities to make money and to gain political power during the Reconstruction Era, these people were known as the Carpetbaggers. They were called as Carpetbaggers because they arrived to the South with a carpetbag, which stored all of their possessions inside. There were another group of people who also sought for opportunities for financial gain and personal political power as the Carpetbaggers, which were the Scalawags. The Scalawags were white people born in the South who were considered as traitors to the Southerners, because they cooperate with the Republicans and supported

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When reconstruction ended, we all could say we were united under one nation. This ensured that blacks would always be free from going back to the life of a slave; although, many people were so against reconstruction it caused a lot of hate in the south towards the blacks. The black people were given rights that were much like the rights that white people had. The southern states had new constitutions and recognized the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth amendments’ after reconstruction ended in 1877. Education was provided to the blacks, not just the whites.

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The system of sharecropping was only a modified alternative for slavery considering the workers would always have debt owed to the landowner and they were not treated much better. They would rent a small portion of land and then they would give the landowner the majority of the crops. Document D shows how sharecropping was spread widely throughout the South, replacing slavery. This prevented freedmen from being completely free, even after slavery had been abolished. In addition, many African Americans in the North were limited when it came to getting jobs.

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In the 19th century, slavery and the Reconstruction was a sore subject for the South. Reconstruction forged civil rights for African-Americans, but once the North’s influenced waned in the South, the South terrorized African-Americans and blocked them from accessing their newfound rights. While Reconstruction may have brought civil rights, those rights were quickly squashed by the South’s racism. Even after certain freedoms were securely gained, every new attempt to make African-Americans equal to the white populace was contested. A large group of people were happy to see slavery ended and civil rights rise.

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In the early years of Reconstruction, whites found ways to control black labor using Black codes sanctioned in Mississippi. The Black codes did not give complete freedom to African Americans, instead it made them work extensive hours in labor economy. This document, “Black Codes Enacted in the South”, is written by A.H. Clark in 1865. The author explains the obstacles the African Americans faced to achieve their freedom.

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They started to pass a law, called Black Codes, which striped the rights of freed slaves. A literacy test, one example of Black Codes, was practiced to exclude African-Americans from voting. Further, the freed slaves were forced to sign a contract to work for one employer only with very low wages. If they refused, they could be arrested and work with no wages. Sharecropping was also largely practiced in the south to prevent African-American to gain economic independence.

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The reconstruction was a period during US history, which took place after the Civil War when the South restructured into the Union from 1865 to 1877. The end of reconstruction was a justification that freed all African Americans from slavery. Although they had set this decision and law, African Americans still suffered from social, economic and political barriers, which caused major tension between blacks and whites. The civil rights act of 1875, racial discrimination was banned from public facilities, such as schools or public transportations. The fourteenth amendment protected people against violations of their civil rights b states, not by the actions of the individuals.

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During reconstruction, African Americans wanted to be considered as “real men”, rather than inferior men. Even though African Americans were freedmen now, they were still not treated as equals to white men. African Americans were excluded from railway cars, omnibuses, stagecoaches, and steamboats entirely, or they were assigned to specific sections that they were secluded within. African Americans were permitted to vote, and some even held office. They were determined to exercise their rights as citizens, which they finally were granted, and became as involved as they could.

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After the Civil War ended, Reconstruction was vital to get the United States back on track. This time period proposed its own challenges. “Black codes” were set in place to control the labor and behavior of African American citizens. Then in 1867, Radical Reconstruction began. Blacks were given a voice in government for the first time.

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The reconstruction period was a failure because African Americans, mainly males, were not treated with equality although the constitution said that the they were free and had the right to vote, be educated and had the right to liberty, life and the pursuit to happiness. Organizations, like the KKK, were created to harm freed slaves and their families. Laws were created such as the Black Codes restricting former slaves from their rights. African Americans endured a lot of violence over the years. “In Grayson, Texas, a white man and two friends murdered three former slaves because the wanted to ‘ thin the niggers out and drive them to their hole’”.

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During the beginning of the Civil War, African Americans were banned from enlisting into the federal army due to President Lincoln's decision. The Union stated that the war was “a white man’s war” as Ohio congressman Chilton A. White described the American government was made “for white men to be administered, protected, defended and maintained by white men”. [Book] Some slaves fled the South and were called “contraband”, coined term by General Benjamin F. Butler ; they were put to work for the Union. Despite opposition from the president, African-Americans formed militia in hope to be called for service in many areas in the North. Some blacks felt they owed no allegiance to this county.

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Post Civil War, African Americans started to gain rights to gain rights, and soon gain rights equal to whites. While there were some people/things standing in their way (KKK, Black Codes), in the end they got what they needed; Equality. Many acts and laws were passed to aid the new rights now held by African Americans, as well as the numerous people willing to help. New Amendments were added to give African Americans rights after the war, all giving them some equal rights to whites. The first of the three added was the Thirteenth Amendment, it gave African Americans freedom from slave owners, and stated that no one could be kept as a slave in the U.S..

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Carpetbaggers were basically people in the North that came south to help the Radical Reconstruction that sought financial or political gain. The name originated from them carrying their valuables in small suitcases made from pieces of carpet. They brought the North the Capital. The South had scalawags, which were basically white Southerners who supported the Radical Reconstruction. The South also had Redeemers, which were conservative Southerners.

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In the period of reconstruction, there was a lack of racial equality and racism towards blacks. The 13th amendment abolished slavery, with the exception of allowing it as a punishment for a crime (“Thirteenth Amendment” 19). Although it abolished slavery, there was still a lack of equality towards blacks. The Black Codes were state laws in the south, that were implemented in 1866. These laws limited the rights of African Americans and were

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