African Americans During The Reconstruction Of The South And The Jews

History helps shape the future and what we can learn from it to make sure that we do not repeat the same mistakes. During Reconstruction, the country was trying to make amends after the war was over. The country needed to find a way to mend a broken nation because it was divided. The main issue during reconstruction was the status of African Americans because they wanted their civil rights, but could not get that. The question that needs to be answered is: who did the most to aid the cause of African American during Reconstruction, and why? Many organizations and people helped African Americans, but the Freedman’s Bureau did the most.

The Reconstruction Period I think is a problem for the African Americans back then. They were treated unfairly during this period, when it was to being them a new started and hope of change. Don’t get me wrong there were some people who were for them to e happy, but not many. So, let start at the being; where it all happened. In January of 1865, Union General William T. Sherman issued a special field order Number 15, which temporary granted each freed family 40 acres of land off the region of Georgia in the islands and coastal area. Also the Union Army donated mules to them after the war was over. In the summer of 1865 when President Andrew Johnson was in office, his first act of Reconstruction was to give back all the federal control land back to its previous owner. When the land was giving back to the owners, freed men and women could sign a labor contracts with the planters or they could leave the land they occupied this was called Freedman’s Bureau. Soon after when the land was giving back, the former Confederate state stated “Black Codes”. Black Codes would deny African Americans to legal have equality and political rights. Also it would require then to sign yearly labor contracts with the planters. When this happen, Congress made the Reconstruction Act in the 1867, when the 14th (June 13, 1866) and the 15th (February 26, 1869, ratified on February 3, 1870) Amendments. These two amendments granted African Americans the right to vote, and equality before the law and

The American Civil War was ending and African Americans gained freedom, freedom from slavery and to live life as common folk. However, being set ‘free’ was not enough for African Americans to really experience what freedom was really like. Respect and rights of citizenship are by themselves weak in the ability to survive without also obtaining economic power. This paper will examine the progression of African Americans after the Civil War of 1865.

The Reconstruction Period which may also be known as the Radical Reconstruction took place from 1865 to 1877 (Foner, 439). Throughout this time a coherent definition for Freedom was not yet established leading to many disadvantages mainly to the African American communities. During this time political, social and economic issues affected the South. Therefore, regaining order in the Confederate state became important to the Union. By 1865 Congress established the Freedmen’s Bureau which brought a successful outcome, but was not sufficient to cure all established problems. According to Eric Foner the Freedmen’s Bureau was seen as a government experiment with the idea of establishing a sense of equality between social interactions. Not only

At the end of the Civil War, America faced the difficult task of uniting not only two separated territories of the United States, but also two races long separated by racism and culture. Devastated and embittered by the damage of the war, the South had a long way to go in order to achieve true equality between the former slave owners and former slaves. The majority of the South remained set in racist behavior, finding post-Civil War legal loopholes to diminish African American rights (Tindall & Shi, 2010, pp. 757-758). Southerners continued to marginalize Blacks in their behavior toward ex-slaves and the later African American generation,

America was at a very conflicted time during reconstruction after the civil war. While there was many ways radical republicans enforced their beliefs and helped the former slaves, the former confederates fought back with two times as much force. The country was completely split because of these two polarizing groups. Lives of the former slaves were heavily debated and extremely toyed with. These times have molded modern day society in the United States.

The southerners were too busy fighting for the right to neglect equality to the african americans by creating the Black Codes and riots as well. The Black Codes were laws that were passed by the southern states in 1865 and 1866 after the Civil War. Their reason for the black codes was because the southerners did not want to treat the blacks as their equal. They soon started to rebel and causing riots after the passing of the 14th amendment which states, “all persons born or naturalized in the United States.” This amendment shows that the southerners were going against the Constitution and all because of neglect towards the blacks. The reason for the passing of their codes was to restrict the African-Americans from freedom and to keep making them work harsh labor for very low wages and income. They had always wanted to keep them as their property to benefit them for agricultural needs. This was a big factors that kept the reconstruction after the Civil War to be

Reconstruction did not help African Americans move closer to the American Dream. Even though there were positives, there were also negatives. Due to Reconstruction, hate groups started, there was not any safety for African Americans, and the Black Codes or Jim Crow laws. One of the most infamous hate groups to rise was the Klu Klux Klan. KKK for short. African Americans were terrorized by this group. They are responsible for many hangings, burnings, and other horrors that were inflicted upon African Americans. Also, there was not any safety from the groups. It was not like being in the center of a city was going to help. There are unfortunately many pictures of African Americans being hanged in very populated areas. Also, there was the rise of Black Codes(Jim Crow laws). It is like how the saying goes, out of the frying pan and into the fire. Some of the codes, but not limited to, was the Grandfather clause, which basically said that if your grandfather could not vote, you cannot vote. There were also many other ways that African Americans were restricted from voting. There was poll tax, and unfair evaluations of voting tests. This also included segregation of schools (separate but equal). There was even a law forbidding a white person from marrying a black person. However, even though all of these horrific things came because the end of slavery,

Freedom can be defined as voting who you want as your leader, doing whatever you please without anyone stopping you, or getting free citizenship for a country. Reconstruction was the rebuilding of the United States and the north allowing the south to reenter US. It occurred because of the civil war. One of the goals of reconstruction was to provide a future of freedom for the blacks. Were Black Americans truly free during Reconstruction?

The common bond of slavery is what draws Black Americans together, but is what drives Black Americans and African immigrants apart. Many African immigrants have only read or heard about racial discrimination, but have never faced it first-hand. They admire what Black Americans have done, but when they come to this country they and maintain a separate identity from native-born blacks. Because of the separation, whites were more willing to serve Africans and Black Americans thought African immigrants were receiving better treatment from society (Reddick, 1998). Being Black in America is already a complicated existence, but being a Black immigrant is a very different existence. Black Americans often do not know the country their ancestors came from and feel more American than African or Caribbean. African immigrants are often in an identity complex because often they are not considered Black enough for the Black community and not being American enough for the white communities. They are often overlooked when discussing immigration policies though they are the fastest growing immigration population. Even though African immigrants are more educated and find success they also struggle to find jobs in their field due to racial discrimination (Omara, 2017)

They were freed when Lincoln said the words of the Emancipation Proclamation. After that they were persecuted and prejudiced by the people of the South who kept a firm grasp on their beliefs. Before that, African Americans born in the antebellum South, and brought there, were slaves to white masters. Some slaves lived a good, enjoyable life, some lived through neverending pain, some were average and spent their days being invisible, but slaves are an important part of the history of the United States, and the lives of those who lived through slavery should not be ignored.

The Reconstruction era was put into effect by Congress in 1866 and lasted until 1877. Reconstruction was aimed at reorganizing the Southern states after the Civil War. The reconstruction plan granted the means for readmitting the southern states into the Union, and tried to come up with the methods by which whites and blacks could live together in a non-slave society. America's position as a country was established on principles of freedom but those beliefs were weakened by slavery. At the end of the Civil War, many blacks felt that they were entitled to start collecting the benefits that had been denied for so many years. Being able to vote, own land and have a voice in political affairs were all goals that they believed were reachable.

Frustrated confederate soldiers made their way back home after losing the war that they had been fighting for four years. These men formed vigilante groups, attacking black people. While soldiers did this, wealthier men who had avoided fighting in the war formed agricultural and police clubs for the same purpose; both groups soon took shape and evolved into one large group, known as the Ku Klux Klan and Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest became the first leader, known as the Grand Wizard. The name Ku Klux Klan is derived from the Greek word, Kyklos, meaning circle. The Ku Klux Klan, often shortened to the KKK, was founded in Tennessee in 1866 and grew to be one of the most feared terrorist groups in the United States, before dying off in 1869, but later being revived in 1915 (History.com Staff). The Ku Klux Klan negatively impacted the Reconstruction period through terror, intimidating Republican voters, and killing Republican officials.

After the Civil War ended laws were passed making owning slaves illegal, but most people were not very happy about them. After these wars were passed many bitter Southern states still treated African Americans very poorly. Many actions were taken by the South to try and make African Americans seem less like human beings, and more like animals from laws to secret societies.

Consider that many of the supporters of the abolition of slavery did not defend equal rights between blacks and whites, but gambled by moving black people to Africa or the colonization of new lands for settlement. This is the case, for example, Abraham Lincoln, who was opposed to slavery, but took precedence over all man=intenance of the Union. In addition, Lincoln was reluctant to grant the same rights to African Americans. After the end of slavery, racial segregation continued to prevail in the country. In fact, we should wait until the sixties of the twentieth century to gain legal recognition of many rights of African Americans. Despite the benefits achieved with the struggles for equal rights today many African Americans