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Reconstruction And Social Equality Essay

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Willis Rodeshia Willis HIST1302.DCBG.16SP March 14, 2016 Essay 1 1 What accounts for the failure or success of Reconstruction to bring about social equality to the freedman? There are many things that account for the failure of Reconstruction to bring about social equality to the freedman. Examples are the Freedmen’s Bureau, the Civil Rights Act, and Voting Rights Act. 2 In 1865, President Abraham Lincoln signed a bill creating the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands. This agency is better known as the Freedmen’s Bureau. Its purpose was to oversee the hard transition of African Americans from slavery to freedom. 3 The Freedmen’s Bureau was headed by Union General Oliver O. Howard for the whole seven years of it existed. Many things hurt the bureau’s work. 2 White Southerners were very hostile to the Northern bureau members, and even more so to the freed slaves. Terror organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan or KKK targeted both blacks and whites and intimidated those trying to help them. The bureau lacked the necessary funds and personnel to carry out its programs, and the lenient policies of President …show more content…

The Act granted citizenship and the same rights enjoyed by white citizens to all males in the United States "without distinction of race or color, or previous condition of slavery or involuntary servitude." 6 The activities of groups such as the Ku Klux Klan or KKK undermined the act. It failed to immediately secure the civil rights of African Americans. Since 1866 it has been illegal in the U.S. to discriminate in jobs and housing because of race. However, federal penalties were not provided for, so that remedies were left to the individuals involved. Because those being discriminated against had limited access to legal help, this left many victims of discrimination without hope. This act prohibited employment discrimination based on race and color. Sadly that didn’t stop people from

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