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The Successes And Failures Of The Reconstruction Era

1659 Words7 Pages

Reconstruction Era of the ‘United’ States: Successes and Failures What is the Reconstruction Era? Reconstruction meant the country needed to go through some political, social, and economic changes. The era started as early as the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1st, 1863. The proclamation was supposed to help enslaved people in the Confederacy get the power to stand up for themselves, to fight back. Then, with the proclamation being signed, the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth amendments were born during the rebuilding era, after the war. Each of these amendments helped with abolition and the progress toward equality. Right after those amendments were put into place, The Freedman’s Bureau was created. It was supposed to help the …show more content…

In 1915, there was an actual rebirth of the klan with a film being publicly broadcast called The Birth of a Nation. William Joseph Simmons lynched Leo Frank, “...a Jewish businessman accused of sexually assaulting and murdering a young, white female employee…” He made this seem like it was an act of justice while he was murdering him just because he’s Jewish. Since WWI was happening during the time, it gave him lots of opportunities to show up in public and terrorize people. Something like this, “It used the opportunity provided by the World War to make appearances in patriotic parades, to threaten blacks, strikers, and draft dodgers, and to punish immoral behavior.”3 This caused some people to gather up and want to join Simmons, which he made them pay (with money) to be part of the KKK. “The second Klan was significantly different from the first. It had a national headquarters (Atlanta), a formal organizational structure, standardized rituals, and national and regional newspapers. …show more content…

The KKK wasn’t just a white supremacist group, they were terrorists that wanted to kill anyone that was ‘inferior’ to them. The Freedman’s Bureau was originally supposed to be beneficial because they wanted to help the freedman and refugees until racism took over, and the Compromise of 1877 was signed. Racism lasted for decades after the Reconstruction Era because of the Compromise of 1877, the Freedman’s Bureau, and the KKK. The Reconstruction Era could’ve done way more to be helpful, but it turned out to be a major

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