Prior to the Civil War, African Americans were treated as second-class citizens, lacking the freedom and equality they sought for and believing the Civil War to be a war of abolition. However, contradictory to what African Americans perceived, reconstruction following the civil war was not successful in changing the lives of their former social statues. Still facing difficulties and having fewer rights than white people, the passing of the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments, focused on giving African Americans equal protection under law. Although the newly freedmen gained various rights and liberties, their naïve delusion of complete equality and freedom crumbled due to the tremendous resistance of white America. Once freed, African Americans …show more content…
Even though they were proclaimed as free, their place is society remained unaffected. Although Congress did not succeed in guaranteeing black suffrage, which was one of its original intentions during Reconstruction, it did begin the process of rebuilding the South. Reconstruction modernized Southern law codes, created more equal Congressional districts, a fairer tax system, and a public school system. What it failed to do was give freedmen social or legal equality, and protect them from white violence and oppression. By refusing to deal with land reform, the plan helped the rise of the share cropping system, and by failing to guarantee state rights, it paved the way for segregation. It was challenging for an African American farmer to be able to own and farm his own land, and eventually the land was given back to former confederates who swore allegiance to the United States, while the unclaimed land was auctioned to the …show more content…
A milestone case that also had an impressionable impact on America was the case of Plessy v. Ferguson, which ruled that segregation was legal and could be enforced. Reconstruction modernized Southern law codes, created more equal congressional districts, a fairer tax system, and a public school system. However, Reconstruction also maintained the status quo in the South, by allowing Black Codes and giving freedmen little protection, Reconstruction provided the South with an ignorant and dependent work force much like slavery. Plessy v. Ferguson reinforced racist Southern opinion by legalizing segregation and allowing for its enforcement, this lead to more racist violence, many times in the form of lynching and riots and the decision forced blacks into the role of inferior laborers once
The Plessy vs. Ferguson (1896) ‘equal but separate’ decision robbed it of its meaning and confirmed this wasn’t the case as the court indicated this ruling did not violate black citizenship and did not imply superior and inferior treatment ,but it indeed did as it openly permitted racial discrimination in a landmark decision of a 8-1 majority ruling, it being said was controversial, as white schools and facilities received near to more than double funding than black facilities negatively contradicted the movement previous efforts on equality and maintaining that oppression on
Groups of people soon received new rights. Congress passed the Civil Rights Act. It gave black Americans full citizenship and guaranteed them equal treatment. Also, it passed the Fourteenth Amendment to make sure that the Supreme Court couldn’t declare the Civil Rights Act unconstitutional. The amendment made blacks citizens of the United States and the states in which they lived. Also, states were forbidden to deprive blacks of life, liberty, or property without due process. Additionally, blacks could not be discriminated by the law. If a state would deprive blacks of their rights as citizens, it’s number of congressional representatives would be reduced. The Civil Rights Act as well as the Fourteenth Amendment affected both the North and the South.
Even when the Amendment abolished slavery in 1865, and the black people embraced education, built their own churches, reunited with their broken families and worked very hard in the sharecropping system, nothing was enough for the Reconstruction to succeed. Whites never gave total freedom to African Americans. Blacks were forced to endure curfews, passes, and living on rented land, which put them in a similar situation as slaves. In
...dom and right to vote established by the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments, blacks were still oppressed by strong black codes and Jim Crow laws. The federal government created strong legislation for blacks to be helped and educated, but it was ineffective due to strong opposition. Although blacks cried out to agencies, such as the Freemen's Bureau, declaring that they were "in a more unpleasant condition than our former" (Document E), their cries were often overshadowed by violence.
After the Civil War, America went through a period of Reconstruction. This was when former Confederate states were readmitted to the Union. Lincoln had a plan that would allow them to come back, but they wouldn’t be able to do it easily. He would make 10% of the population swear an oath of loyalty and establish a government to be recognized. However, he was assassinated in Ford’s Theater and Andrew Johnson became the president; Johnson provided an easy path for Southerners. Congress did their best to ensure equal rights to freedmen, but failed because of groups who were against Reconstruction, white southern Democrats gaining control within the government and the lack of having a plan in place for recently freedmen.
With the end of the Civil war, many blacks felt that they would start reaping the benefits that had been denied from them for years. Being able to vote, own land, have a voice in political affairs were all goals that they felt were reachable. The era of Reconstruction was the “miracle” they had been searching for. But the South wasn’t going down without a fight and blacks would have to wait at least 100 years for Freedom Summer to arrive to receive the “miracle” they wanted. 100 years it took for equality to become more than just a word but a way of life for blacks. But they did enjoy some privileges that weren’t available to them.
We saw the Thirteenth Amendment occur to abolish slavery. We also saw the Civil Rights Acts which gave full citizenship, as well as the prohibiting the denial of due process, etc. Having the civil rights laws enabled African Americans to new freedoms which they did not used to have. There was positive change occurring in the lives of African Americans. However, there was still a fight to suppress African Americans and maintain the racial hierarchy by poll taxes and lengthy and expensive court proceedings. Sadly, this is when Jim Crow laws appeared. During this time African Americans were losing their stride, there was an increase in prison populations and convict labor, and the convicts were
After the Civil War, the 13th Amendment was passed and slavery was abolished (Doc. 8). In addition, 14th and 15th amendments were passed which gave citizenship and the right to vote to African Americans (OI). If the slaves didn’t try fight for their freedom, the US would have the equal rights that they have today. This changed the fabric of the American population forever.
Although many laws were passed that recognized African Americans as equals, the liberties they had been promised were not being upheld. Hoffman, Blum, and Gjerde state that “Union League members in a North Carolina county, upon learning of three or four black men who ‘didn’t mean to vote,’ threatened to ‘whip them’ and ‘made them go.’ In another country, ‘some few colored men who declined voting’ were, in the words of a white conservative, ‘bitterly persecute[ed]” (22). Black codes were also made to control African Americans. Norton et al. states that “the new black codes compelled former slaves to carry passes, observe a curfew, live in housing provided by a landowner, and give up hope of entering many desirable occupations” (476). The discrimination and violence towards African Americans during this era and the laws passed that were not being enforced were very disgraceful. However, Reconstruction was a huge stepping stone for the way our nation is shaped today. It wasn’t pretty but it was the step our nation needed to take. We now live in a country where no matter the race, everyone is considered equal. Reconstruction was a success. Without it, who knows where our nation would be today. African American may have never gained the freedoms they have today without the
Reconstruction was intended to give African-Americans the chance for a new and better life. Many of them stayed with their old masters after being freed, while others left in search of opportunity through education as well as land ownership. However this was not exactly an easy task. There were many things standing in their way, chiefly white supremacists and the laws and restrictions they placed upon African-Americans. Beginning with the 'black codes' established by President Johnson's reconstruction plan, blacks were required to have a curfew as well as carry identification. Labor contracts established under Johnson's Reconstruction even bound the 'freedmen' to their respective plantations. A few years later, another set of laws known as the 'Jim Crow' laws directly undermined the status of blacks by placing unfair restrictions on everything from voting rights all the way to the segregation of water fountains. Besides these restrictions, the blacks had to deal with the Democratic Party whose northern wing even denounced racial equality. As a result of democratic hostility and the Republican Party's support of Black suffrage, freedmen greatly supported the Republican Party.
Prior to the Civil War, African Americans were treated as second class individuals. They lacked the freedom and equality they sought for. To the African Americans, the Civil War was a war of liberation. Contrary to what African Americans perceived, Southerners viewed the war as an episode of their journey to salvation. Southern lands may have been destroyed and depleted, but the South was persistent that their racial order would not be disrupted. To most, the goals of the Reconstruction era were to fully restore the Union, and to some, grant emancipation and liberty to former slaves. Although the newly freedmen gained various rights and liberties, their naïve dreams of complete equality and liberation collapsed due to the immense resistance of the South.
And were unable to own their own farms, which might have made them more independent, equal to other white farm owners and successful in selling and growing their own crops. The Black Codes and other laws restricting former slaves, though clearly unconstitutional, were not challenged in court or struck down by local military authorities. Instead Johnson vetoed a couple of laws that would of ensured free slaves of rights. but instead African Americans were left unprotected economically and socially. Left with no options they once again had to work for whites in bad conditions coming back into the slave life they thought they left. Eventually the effort of Reconstruction was abandoned by the government after only 12 years, leaving the economy of the South still in ruins and its population largely in
In 1896, Justice Henry Billings Brown made it clear in the majority opinion he wrote for Plessy v. Ferguson, that segregation of all facilities was constitutional under the doctrine “separate but equal”. Though this opinion was supported by most Americans at the time, John Marshall Harlan wrote a dissent expressing how segregation was promoting the concept of ‘white supremacy’ and creating hate between white and colored people. Considered a landmark of constitutional law, the Plessy v. Ferguson case reveals a lot about the stigma around its time. Colored people lost their right to equality, liberty, and consent at this time, due to the decision made on this case. It is what led to mass segregation and racism in the United States. Plessy v.
Throughout history, minorities have always been oppressed by the Caucasian people. Many were killed, raped, had their land and traditions stolen from them. They were whitewashed, losing their culture. Unfortunately, many of them were kidnapped from their homes to work as slaves. Treated as animals, many of those slaves dreamed of one day being free in a country where had sparked based on the idea of freedom. After the Civil War in the United States (U.S.), many African Americans (A. Americans) gained freedom when President Abraham Lincoln passed the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments which abolished slavery granted equal protection and prohibited the denial of the right to vote based on race and color. After gaining their freedom, African-Americans
It wasn’t easy being an African American, back then they had to fight in order to achieve where they are today, from slavery and discrimination, there was a very slim chance of hope for freedom or even citizenship. This longing for hope began to shift around the 1950’s. During the Civil Rights Movement, where discrimination still took place, it was the time when African Americans started to defend their rights and honor to become freemen like every other citizen of the United States. African Americans were beginning to gain recognition after the 14th Amendment was ratified in 1868, which declared all people born natural in the United States and included the slaves that were previously declared free. However, this didn’t prevent the people from disputing against the constitutional law, especially the people in the South who continued to retaliate against African Americans and the idea of integration in white schools....