Reconstruction Dbq Essay

In the American South during the Post Reconstruction era, many laws and codes were put into place in order to limit and keep African Americans from progressing in society. Legislation such as The Black Codes, Jim Crow laws and US Supreme Court cases such as Plessy v Ferguson sought to limit the newly freed African Americans in order to maintain control of the South. To this day there is still institutional racism and injustice in the case of black people and there is still room for improvement in the position of black people in society.

The era of Reconstruction was an important time for the United States. It had begun towards the end of the Civil War of the United vs the Confederate states, and it addressed the issue of bringing the Union back together after years of severe, bloody war. It lasted through the 1860s and 70s, and there were many different ideas, or “plans,” regarding how the Confederate states should be treated, and what to do with the controversial idea of slavery. There was also a lot of disagreement regarding blacks, specifically, their treatment, citizenship, and rights. There was a full spectrum of opinions, from the idea of white supremacy to the notion of complete equality. As with many events or times in history, there are clear signs that show whether

For hundreds of years African Americans have faced racial discrimination in the United States. Over and over again contracts were made that gave them hope of equality such as the Emancipation Proclamation, the 14th and 15th amendment, and the end of the separate but equal law. However, they were continuously refused the basic rights that they were promised and were still forcefully separated from whites. Racist police and white supremacists evoked fear in African American men and women who attempted to participate in the rights they were entitled to. Then, in the 1950s and 60s there was a spark of interminable protesting of the clear racial injustices that the African American people faced, this time was known as the Civil Rights Movement.

On, April 9, 1865, United States’ deadliest war had ended. The Civil War was a war to make all blacks equal citizens of U.S.A. To meet this goal after north won the war the U. S Congress passed 3 amendment to try to make black people equal. The first amendment they passed was Amendment 13 which would be abolished slavery (American journey 1). The second amendment passed was Amendment 14 which extended citizenship privileged for American-born blacks. The third amendment passed was Amendment 15 which stopped the government from denying a citizen a right to vote no matter his race, or color. All of these Amendments were supposed to make black people “separate but equal”; (American journey 3). However, even after all these Amendments, equality was weak. Neighboring white town would move the voting box really far from black districts, so they couldn’t vote. This way blacks could not choose their representative. This went on until 1865 when blacks could no longer bear arms, voting and hold public assembling and eventually, blacks couldn’t use the same public facilities (buildings, property, and roads) like the bathroom, schools, house and etc (American journey 2). The commitment to equality became weaker and weaker. When minor efforts were made to tried to reach equality, the southern state legislature made a system to separate the races. This was called Jim Crow Laws. The Jim Crow Law was a law in the south that enforced segregation. Black people no longer could sit in the front of a train, they could not use the same public facilities and whites were superior to blacks in every way;for example, a white man could take any spot on a bus but the blacks had to sit at the back. If these laws were broken, whites would often lynch or beat the person that broke the law. Although the Jim crow law was not legal Until

The years after the Civil War, the extent of the freedom of former slaves and their descendants were extremely limited. The Reconstruction era came after the Civil War, and it had admirable goals of change through out the country. The triumphs during this era were: more women entered the work force, blacks got into politics, and blacks were able to vote. Unfortunately, the admirable goals and triumphs of the Reconstruction era failed. It failed because the era restricted the lives of blacks by inflicting black codes and convicting leasing. In addition, it failed because whites refused to accept the change of freed blacks and they failed to treat them as equals. Freed slaves and their descendants were forced to live a limited life full of rules

Their rights were often compared to the rights of white people. Mississippi Black Codes states in section 2 that “all freedmen, free Negroes, and mulattoes may intermarry with each other, in the same manner and under the same regulations that are provided by law for white persons” (Mississippi Black Codes). They separated society based off of a person’s skin color and ethnicity. People of different races were treated differently which made society a them versus us environment. Laws from Virginia required a slave to gain permission before they were able to leave the plantation. Similarly, even after the Civil War, Black Codes required slaves to do similar things. In A People & A Nation published by Cengage, written by American Historian Mary Norton and Professor of History at Harvard University Jane Kamensky, it states that slaves had to “carry passes, observe a curfew, and live in housing provided by a landowner” (Norton). They were treated as property and did not receive any respect. Documents such as the Mississippi Black Codes even led to segregation laws being made later in history. The segregation laws emphasized the them versus us way of life. With different buses, water fountains, bathrooms, and public seating came an even larger separation between the two races in America. Throughout history, people of different races were treated almost as if they were another species. It was as if, if you were in this world and you were not white then that meant that you were put on this world for a different reason. The norm was to be white and those who weren’t were thrown into completely different lives because of it. When anyone tried to disturb this way of life, whites refused and rioted. The Black Codes allowed for the southern states to be content by still having more rights than African Americans. With slavery ending, they needed to find a way

The Reconstruction Era (1865-1876) was a time of great healing for the United States after the American Civil War (1861-1865). The newly emancipated African-Americans in the former Confederate States of America were given new freedoms that included the right not to be enslaved (13th Amendment, citizenship under the 14th Amendment and the right to vote (15th Amendment). Even though these rights were guaranteed by Constitutional law, the South continued to oppress the African-Americans by implementing Jim Crow Laws in an attempt to intimidate and prevent them from exercising these new privileges.

When the United States erupted into civil war in 1861, the status of African Americans in this country was that of both a free and enslaved people. African Americans were left uncertain about their future, their freedom and their status in American society once the war came to an end in 1865. The Northern states fought to preserve the union, but the Southern states, furious about that 1860 election of President Lincoln, succeeded from the Union with the intent to preserve the institution of slavery (Jeffery 1).

Slavery) became an increasingly important political commitment The American Civil War and the Era of Reconstruction that followed right after the war is seen by almost everyone as a major watershed, perhaps the major watershed in American history.Finally we know that from the African perspective, reconstruction was a missed opportunity. A missed opportunity to hold America up to its ideals of equality and justice, an opportunity it failed to take advantage of. So now we have more honesty connected with the Civil War and reconstruction and hopefully public policy and individual relationship sAfter the Congressional Reconstruction Act of 1867, whenconventions were called in the southern states to create new constitutions, and

The American Civil War ended in 1865, with defeat of the Southern States. Slavery as the root of the conflict between the North and the South was abolished in 1865 with passage of the Thirteenth Amendment. (Ransom, 1989) Despite the presidential efforts to deliver justice to blacks by passing the Fourteenth and the Fifteenth Amendments, racial discrimination in the U.S. continued for several decades. Blacks struggled during Reconstruction period that brings different form of servitude known as the Sharecropping. Blacks also faced additional obstacles such as The Voting Rights Act and later the Jim Crow Segregation Laws, certain forms of these laws still exist today. (Woodward,

Following the Reconstruction era, there was a huge gap between the freedoms of black and white people. Many black were barred from voting because of poll taxes, literacy tests, and the grandfather clause. Schools were segregated and unequal. Blacks could not fully partake in the American Dream. Racism was a powder keg ready to explode. There was a lot of violence against black during this time. Both blacks and some whites demanded change for equality among blacks. Change happened slowly through civil disobedience and federal laws. The African American Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s was effective at addressing the failures of Reconstruction Era largely through the civil disobedience methods of martin Luther King Jr. rather than

Prior to The Civil War, African Americans did not have any rights what so ever but after the war, they gained “citizenship, the right to vote, and other rights”(146). The Separate but Equal doctrine was found unconstitutional during the Civil Rights Act of 1960. This idea of society violates the 14th amendment because the 14th amendment was set in place for equal protection. Many of the key provisions that the government made during the Civil Rights Movement of 1964 helped all of the minorities become equal. The provisions included forbidding the discrimination in the workplace public domains, and gave the government authorization to investigate and bring lawsuits to schools that did not desegregate, The Civil Rights that the Americans are blessed to have are protected by the court system being that everyone has the right to a due process. The Movement also dissipated the invisible requirements that kept African Americans from voting. Once the voting booths had to be open, there was a noticeable difference in the diversity of the people in office. Many African Americans had been elected to hold spots in the government; something that has never been done before.

The rights and freedoms of Americans have been evolving since the decision was made to break free from England. Even though African Americans were granted freedom at the end of the Civil War they were not granted equality and they were denied many of the basic rights of enjoyed by white Americans. Things reached a boiling point during the 1950’s and 1960’s when powerful activists challenged the United States federal government to uphold their rights as American citizens. As a result, the federal government was forced to intercede with state governments on their behalf in order to restore their rights as guaranteed by the 14th and 15th amendments.

Throughout the entire time period, whites continued to be opposed to Reconstruction for their own personal reasonings, and they kept resisting any attempt by the federal government to give equality to all African Americans. Once Reconstruction came to an end, there was then a time period of segregation towards blacks, leading to Jim Crow laws and a loss of focus toward African American civil rights. Since there were two world wars in a 50 year time period, the focus towards these civil rights was majorly sidetracked. In today’s society there is still believed to be problems with white supremacy and prejudice towards blacks. There will always be people who won’t ever believe in equality, but the rights that are reserved today are a major step

Former slaves in the south were given the chance to a new life. Some African Americans decided to stay with their former owners, while other African Americans took advantage of this opportunity in search of owning land, which was not an easy task due to white supremacists and restrictions such as the “black codes”. This code was established by President Johnson’s reconstruction plan and passed by Southern states in 1865- 1866, which required African Americans to have a curfew and compelled them to work in a labor economy based on the debt or very low wages. The “black codes” challenged African American’s freedom when they were recently granted it.3 Not so long after, around 1877, another set of laws known as the “Jim Crow” laws directly undermined the African Americans status by restricting them from voting to segregating them from whites in school and water fountains.4 These laws were a continuation of oppression on African Americans. It also led the migration of blacks to go up North. This was due to the economic situations of the time. Industrialization was expanding quickly and African Americans were being urbanized and obtaining jobs. This also led to issues of race in that they were “taking” jobs from whites and living in areas where they were unwanted. This is one example of what enabled the movement to take place and this is something we constantly hear about in present day, in regards to