How Were Blacks Treated During The Reconstruction Era

During the Reconstruction era, black men and women faced abuse and poor treatment done by white men and women. Ida B. Wells, a young journalist, who was a black women, investigated and spread the news about the violence that was done to blacks during the reconstruction era and after. Wells wanted to spread the news because “that was the first step is to tell the world the facts (27).” She told news of such horrors blacks faced to gained freedom for her race and to end the segregation. The statistics she used and the real stories around the country was phenomenal. Johnson created the Black Codes, so that blacks had little freedom such as “legalized marriage, ownership of property and limited access to courts (Foner562)” slowly the black community was gaining justice and freedom but the whites wanted to put an end to any freedom. The fear of lynching was at its highest peak.

The “southern white man owned the Negro body and soul (75).” The Blacks had no rights. White men that owned the blacks, would torcher him but rarely kill only because blacks were valuable to whites. However, when blacks started to gain rights after the reconstruction period, murder became a fear. Although slavery was abolished, the white men were still dominant. With “freedom….the Negro was not only whipped and scourged; he was killed (75),” this was because with the little freedom that blacks had, the white man did not want to take a chance at anything. A black man’s punishment was far more horrible than a white man being punished for the same exact