The making of a Super power - African Americans in Reconstruction and the Gilded Age

Overview statement for reconstruction period

The era of Reconstruction resulted in discrimination against African-Americans as Southern segregationists attempted to regain their old dominance. Many black people were disfranchised and many people faced restrictions on their legal rights.

Politically, they found barriers placed in the way of their right to vote or to gain equality under the law. Lynchings were a common occurrence, along with widespread incidents of low-level intimidation.

Positive Political participation during the reconstruction period

The 15th Amendment guaranteed the ex slaves the vote

during reconstruction - more than 600 AA served in state legislature and 16 of the new US congressmen were African Americans as well

Negative Political participation during the reconstruction period

Black codes - prevented AA from registering to vote, intimidation from supremacy groups also prevented AA from engaging with politics.

Bitter over the confederacy loss - many southern white democrats tried their best to continue disenfranchising and restricting the rights of former slaves

after 1877 no further AA senators or representatives served for 40 years

Advancements in the reconstruction period

Many AA demonstrated their new independence by moving away from their previous home districts

They chose new surnames and insisted on being called “mister” or “miss”

they exercised their right to marry, to set up new churches, and to open small businesses serving the needs of AA customers.

There was a strong commitment to block education, encourage by the Freedmen’s Bureau and by some state governments

Freedman’s Bureau - Positives

Created in 1865 by Lincoln, this federal agency oversaw the difficult transition of African Americans from slavery to freedom.

The bureau was given power to dispense relief to both white and black refugees in the south - provided medical care and education and redistributed “abandoned” lands to former slaves

fed millions of people, built hospitals and provided medical aid, negotiated labour contracts for ex-slaves and settled labour disputes

it also helped former slaves legalise marriages and locate lost relatives and assisted black veterans

built thousands of school for AA and helped to found colleges for AA

Freedman’s Bureau - negatives

lacked the necessary funds and personnel to carry out its programmes and the lenient policies of President Johnson’s administration encouraged resistance

most of the land confiscated from confederates was eventually restored to original owners - little opportunity for black land ownership

In the summer of 1872, congress responded to pressure form white southerners and dismantled the Bureau

Education during the reconstruction period - positives

Wealthy Northern Philanthropists also set up charities and donated money to schools and universities.

Between 1886 and 1868 three universities were opened specifically for AA…

Fisk and Howard universities and The Hampton Institute

Education during the reconstruction period - negatives

But education was patchy…

Racially-mixed schools were discouraged and it is estimated that more than half of AA in the south were illiterate in 1890.

Sharecropping

Having been denied education and wages under slavery, ex-slaves were often forced by the necessity of their economic circumstances to rent land from former white slave owners.

These sharecroppers paid rent on the land by giving a portion of their crop to the landowner.

Although Sharecropping did give African Americans some autonomy in their daily work and social lives and freed them from the gang-labour system, it often resulted in sharecroppers owing more to the landowner (for the use of tools and other supplies, (for example) than they were able to repay.

• Some African Americans forced to sign unfair and exploitative sharecropping or labour contracts that left them little hope of improving their situation.

Why were the Black codes introduced?

In 1865, Southern governments created Black Codes to control ex-slaves.

Black Codes were introduced to:

· Restrict freed blacks’ activity

· Ensure their availability as a labor force

· Arrest and charge African Americans with vagrancy if unemployed

What did the Black codes inforce?

The Black Codes meant that:

· African Americans were prevented from raising their own crops.

• They were often prohibited from entering towns without permission.

• It was illegal for an African American to carry a knife or Firearm.

• Anyone that sold an African American alcohol could be jailed for 30 days.

• In South Carolina, people that worked on the land were to be called servants and the owners master.

• Their workday start ended the sun went up and ended when it went down

The Colfax Massacre, 1873

The Colfax Massacre occurred on April 13, 1873 and was one of the worst incidents of racial violence after the Civil War.

• The battle-turned-massacre took place in the small town of Colfax, Louisiana as a clash between blacks and whites.

• The massacre took place against the backdrop of racial tensions following the contested Louisiana governor's race of 1872.

• On April 13, more than 300 armed white men, including members of white supremacist organisations such as the the Ku Klux Klan, attacked the Courthouse building. When the militia maneuvered a cannon to fire on the Courthouse, some of the sixty black defenders fled while others surrendered.

• When the leader of the attackers was accidentally shot by one of his own men, the white militia responded by shooting the black prisoners.

• Those who were wounded in the earlier battle, particularly black militia members, were singled out for execution.

• The killing spread to African Americans who had not been at the courthouse and continued into the night.

• approximately 150 African Americans were killed, including 48 who were murdered after the battle. Only 3 whites were killed, and few were injured in the largely one-sided battle of Colfax

The KKK

Goals:

• Remove Republicans from power

• Drive out carpetbaggers

• Regain control of the South for the Democratic Party

• Restore white control of the South using terror

Tactics:

• Broke up Republican meetings

• Kept them from voting to increase Democrats’ power

• Harassed Freedmen’s Bureau workers

• Burned homes, churches, schools

• Lynching blacks for “crimes” committed against whites

Targets:

• African Americans (especially those that held public office, black schools and churches)

• Victims had little protection! Military authorities hired by Johnson were against Reconstruction and ignored violence

• White Republicans: Mainly Carpetbaggers and Scalawags

Ku Klux Klan Act, 1871

• Passed by Congress in 1871

• Outlawed activities of the Klan

• Federal arrests

• KKK outlawed in 1871, but it was not the only group trying to keep African Americans powerless

• Alabama's White League, formed in 1874, strove to oust Republicans from office by intimidating black voters.

Gilded Age