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Reconstruction Of African American History Essay

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The end of the Civil War was one of the greatest turning points in the United States history that changed the way the nation ran politically, socially and economically. The Union defeating the Southern Confederacy put forth an interracial democracy, united all states into a single nation and most importantly - abolished slavery. This gave birth to Reconstruction, a period that followed the Civil War focusing on the integration of African Americans into a society that was previously dominated by white people. Reconstructionopened a pathway to educational and economical opportunities, citizenship and freedom, and the establishment of beneficial laws and amendments for equal rights. However, the unsettling years that followed turned out to be …show more content…

In addition to fresh opportunities, African Americans also gained freedom from being considered property and had the benefit of becoming citizens. This provided them with what was seemingly equal access in all different areas such as public transportation and facilities. To reassure they receive these accesses, the Civil Rights Act of 1875, hinging upon the 13th Amendment and 14th Amendment, guaranteed “to protect all citizens in their civil and legal rights” and “recognize the equality of all men before law” (Sumner). Accompanied with the act, the Freedmen’s Bureau in 1865 helped provide commodities such as food, housing, medical aid and legal assistance for freed blacks(Lincoln). This created stability and security that they lacked prior to Reconstruction, improving their living standards. As well as that, the Emancipation Proclamation, declared on January 1st 1863, provided that all slaves “shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free” (Lincoln). Although the proclamation was declared unconstitutional later on, it was a huge turning point for African Americans because it provided them with hope, was a backbone for the abolishment of slavery, and was a catalyst for

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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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The Civil Rights act of 1866 was also supposed to give newly freed African Americans most equal rights as whites. The other Civil Rights act (Civil Rights act of 1875) attempted to give African Americans equal accommodation rights, as well as trying to make racial profiling illegal and an arrestable crime. The Civil Rights acts made an attempt to give African Americans a lot of rights on par with whites. Lastly, the Bureau of Refugees was also created in order to aid the rights the African Americans now held. It was created in 1865 to aid slave and freeman migration from the South to the North.

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Reconstruction caused prejudice and inequality. To elaborate, the creation of the Ku Klux Klan and the Black Codes were both in the time period of reconstruction, which caused chaos and violence throughout the Union. One of the goals of reconstruction was to repair the economy in the South, because it depended on slavery, which was now illegal, due to the thirteenth amendment. The South’s economic system now depended on Sharecropping, which caused former slaves to be in constant debt and was unjust to the black society. The reconstruction time period, was a time of dispute between the Union.

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