Essay On Reconstruction Dbq

Freedom is getting a say in your life, our government, and your family. It’s your inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. This freedom was promised to all citizens of America, and it’s what many travel here for; the American Dream. Unfortunately, newly freed African Americans were not included among these citizens, or given the same rights as Caucasian Americans during a period after Reconstruction.

Reconstruction was a time period after the Civil War, where the North would help the South. They sent troops to aid the Southerners, and to support the newly “free” men and women. However, in the election of 1877, a compromise was made that would end Reconstruction abruptly, and erase any good that had happened. The compromise

Yes, slavery was no longer legal, yes, they may have had some rights. Yes, they were permitted to learn to read and write, and ran for Congress -and for a few, elected- but is it freedom to be afraid to leave a town? Is it freedom to be scared to pick up a book? Is it freedom to be considered lower than a dog? One would think not. A morbid example of this would be in Document C, Henry Adams wrote, “One of the white men asked me who I belonged to.. I said no one, and they struck me with a stick, and said that they were going to kill every negro they found leaving their masters…[on our way to Shreveport] I saw over 12 colored men and women beat, shot and hung.”

These African Americans were enslaved to a system, not a person. This system was designed to keep them down, to keep them afraid and ashamed of who they are. They were slaughtered, beat, and denied their basic rights.

In conclusion, African Americans did not get true freedom and liberation until the Civil Rights movement of the ‘60s, in which America was desegregated. Even now, people still can’t make it to freedom. Although, some may argue that they were free. The only free they were was free of support, acceptance, and a good