AP AFAM Unit 2: Freedom, Slavery, and Resistance

Reconstruction

The rebuilding of Southern society after the Civil War, centered around replacing a society built completely on slavery, with the attempt to introduce 4 million Black 'new citizens' into Southern society.

Freedmen's Bureau

A Federal agency established in March 1865 to provide relief, food, shelter, and education to the 4 million 'refugees' of slavery.

13th Amendment

Officially abolished slavery, or involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for a crime.

14th Amendment

Defined the principle of birthright citizenship in the United States and granted equal protection to all people, overturning the Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857) Supreme Court decision and related state-level Black codes.

15th Amendment

Prohibited the federal government and each state from denying or abridging a citizen's right to vote 'on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude,' thereby granting voting rights to Black men.

Impact of the 15th Amendment

Enabled Black men's formal participation in American politics, allowing thousands of African Americans, many formerly enslaved, to serve in public office during Reconstruction.

Hiram Revels

The first Black man to serve in the US Congress and the US Senate, elected Senator from Mississippi in 1870.

Robert Smalls

A Civil War hero who stole a Confederate ship, liberated 15 people, and helped change Lincoln's mind about Black men serving in the armed forces.

African American participation in politics

During Reconstruction, nearly 2,000 African Americans served in public office from the local level through the United States Senate.

Civil War impact on African Americans

Nearly 620,000 were dead, 180,000 Black men served in the U.S. Army, and thousands of Black women served the Union cause as laundry washerwomen or nurses aides.

Freedmen's rights

The federal government sought to establish and protect the rights of free and formerly enslaved African Americans, granting them citizenship, equal rights, and political representation.

Davis Bend

An area in Mississippi where General Grant divided up white land and granted it to freedmen, allowing them to elect their own judges and sheriffs.

Post-war labor contracts

In some areas, the Union Army told freedmen they had to sign contracts with their former 'owners' and return to labor camps, but would now work for a wage.

Significance of the Reconstruction era

The participation of thousands of African Americans in Southern politics was one of the most significant features of the Reconstruction era.

Black Republican legislators

Legislators who successfully passed infrastructure and public education bills during Reconstruction.

Jim Crow era

Period when many rights gained by African Americans during Reconstruction were blocked.

14th Amendment

An amendment that granted citizenship and equal protection under the law to all persons born or naturalized in the United States.

15th Amendment

An amendment that prohibits the federal and state governments from denying a citizen the right to vote based on 'race, color, or previous condition of servitude.'

Union Leagues

Organizations that started to help re-elect Lincoln and became a source of protection for Black communities during Reconstruction.

Community Self-Defense

Armed groups formed by Black voters to protect their voting rights, such as in Lincoln County, Georgia.

Hiram Revels

The first African American to serve in the U.S. Senate.

Robert Smalls

An African American politician and former enslaved person who became a prominent leader during Reconstruction.

Freedmen

Former enslaved individuals who were granted freedom after the Civil War.

Freedmen's Bureau

A federal agency established to aid freed slaves in the South during the Reconstruction era.

2,000 African Americans in Public Office

The number of African Americans who held public office during the Reconstruction era.

Legal Marriage

The formal union of two individuals, which many formerly enslaved African Americans sought to establish after emancipation.

Locating separated kin

The efforts made by African Americans to find family members separated during slavery.

Fictive kin networks

Support systems formed by unrelated individuals who created family-like bonds after being separated from their biological families.

Black codes

Restrictive laws enacted by state governments during Reconstruction that undermined the rights of African Americans.

Special Field Orders No. 15

Orders issued by Union General William T. Sherman to redistribute land to newly freed African American families.

40 Acres and a Mule

The concept of land redistribution aimed at providing newly freed African American families with land and resources.

African American churches

Institutions that played a crucial role in rebuilding family and community bonds after emancipation.

Milestones like weddings and baptisms

Significant events celebrated by African American communities symbolizing autonomy and unity after the Civil War.

Black Codes

Laws that restricted the advancement of African Americans, limiting property ownership and requiring unfair labor contracts.

Labor Contracts

Agreements that provided very little pay to workers, with severe penalties for those who tried to escape.

Vagrancy

The state of being without a job or home, which could lead to fines or imprisonment for those without a labor contract.

Unpaid Apprenticeships

Forced labor arrangements where Black children were taken by the state to work without pay, without parental consent.

Sharecropping

A system where landowners provided land and equipment to farmers in exchange for a large share of the crops, hindering economic advancement.

Crop Lien

A credit system where farmers borrowed money from landowners against their future crops, often leading to a cycle of debt.

Debt Accumulation

The process where farmers, unable to repay loans, end up owing more than they could repay, resulting in loss of land or forced labor.

Economic Inequalities

Disparities in wealth and opportunities, particularly impacting African American farmers due to exploitative practices by white landowners.

Convict Leasing

A system where Southern prisons profited by hiring out African American men imprisoned for minor charges to landowners and corporations.

Debt Bondage

A condition where prisoners are trapped in a cycle of work to pay off debts, often under conditions similar to slavery.

13th Amendment

An amendment that abolished slavery but allowed forced labor as punishment for crimes, which was exploited by the convict leasing system.

Social Consequences of Convict Leasing

Long-term effects including perpetuation of poverty, lack of education, and limited economic opportunities for African Americans.

President Andrew Johnson

The president who revoked Special Field Orders No. 15, returning confiscated plantations to former owners.

Special Field Orders No. 15

An order that aimed to provide land to freed slaves, which was later revoked by President Andrew Johnson.

40 Acres and a Mule

A phrase associated with the promise of land to freed slaves, which was largely unfulfilled after the Civil War.

Presidential Reconstruction

The period of rebuilding the South after the Civil War, characterized by lenient policies towards the South.

Circular No. 8

A document from the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, issued in 1866.

Reconstruction-era Reforms

Changes aimed at integrating freed slaves into society, which were dismantled during the late 19th century.

White Southern Society

A group that continued to refuse Black citizenship post-Civil War, unless compelled by military force.

Black voting suppressed

The systematic denial of voting rights to Black Americans through various legal and extralegal means.

Compromise of 1877

An agreement that allowed Republicans to keep the White House in exchange for the removal of US troops from the South.

Ku Klux Klan

A political terrorist group that embraced white supremacist doctrine and engaged in acts of racial violence.

de jure segregation

Laws that enforce the separation of white and Black citizens in public spaces such as schools and theaters.

Plessy v. Ferguson, 1896

A Supreme Court case that upheld segregation laws, ruling that segregation was legal as long as facilities were 'separate but equal.'

Separate and unequal

The reality that segregated facilities for Black Americans were often inferior to those for white Americans.

Poll tax

A required payment for voting that disproportionately affected poor Black voters and was used to suppress their voting rights.

Literacy test

A test administered at the discretion of poll clerks that often required Black voters to pass in order to register, while white voters were exempt.

Grandfather clauses

Laws that allowed individuals to bypass poll taxes if their grandfathers had been eligible to vote before the Civil War, effectively disenfranchising Black voters.

Jim Crow

A derogatory term originating in the 1830s that came to represent the laws enforcing racial segregation in the South.

Thomas Dartmouth (T.D.) Rice

A white stage performer who popularized the term 'Jim Crow' through his blackface performance, which caricatured African Americans.

Lynching

A form of racial violence where individuals, often Black Americans, were executed by mobs without legal trial.

Freedmen's Bureau

A federal agency established to aid freed slaves during the Reconstruction era, which reported numerous cases of violence against freedmen.

Elections of 1876

A highly contested election that resulted in a compromise leading to the end of Reconstruction and increased disenfranchisement of Black voters.

Racial violence

Acts of violence motivated by racial hatred, often targeting African Americans during the post-Reconstruction era.

Assassination of Republican leaders

Targeted killings of political figures who supported Reconstruction and civil rights for African Americans.

Segregated train cars

Train cars that were designated for either white or Black passengers, enforced by laws such as Louisiana's 1890 Separate Car Act.

Voting rights

Legal rights that allow individuals to participate in elections, which were systematically denied to Black Americans through various laws.

Southern Democrats

Political leaders in the South who sought to maintain white supremacy and disenfranchise Black voters after the Civil War.

Radical Republicans

A faction of the Republican Party that advocated for civil rights and the protection of Black citizenship during Reconstruction.

Military enforcement

The use of federal troops to ensure compliance with laws protecting Black citizens' rights during Reconstruction.

Disenfranchisement

The systematic removal of the right to vote from particular groups, particularly Black Americans in the post-Reconstruction South.

State constitutions

Legal documents that outline the structure and function of government at the state level, which were rewritten to enforce segregation.

Jim Crow laws

Laws that limited African American men's right to vote and enforced racial segregation of hospitals, transportation, schools, and cemeteries for Black and white citizens.

Nadir

The period between the end of Reconstruction and the beginning of the Second World War, referred to as the lowest point of American race relations, marked by public acts of racism including lynching and mob violence.

Rayford W. Logan

The Pan-Africanist historian who coined the term 'nadir' to describe the lowest point of American race relations.

Ida B. Wells

An African American journalist and activist born into slavery in 1862, known for her anti-lynching campaign and co-founding the NAACP.

Southern Horrors

A publication by Ida B. Wells that exposed lynching as a tool of white supremacy.

The Red Record

A work by Ida B. Wells that documented the history of lynching in the United States.

National Association of Colored Women

An organization co-founded by Ida B. Wells in 1896 to champion Black women's political rights.

NAACP

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, co-founded by Ida B. Wells in 1909.

Alpha Suffrage Club

A club founded by Ida B. Wells in 1913 in Chicago to advocate for Black women's political rights.

Trolley boycotts

Resistance strategies employed by African American activists to protest against racial discrimination in public transportation.

The Chicago Defender

A Black newspaper that played a key role in publicizing the mistreatment and murder of African Americans.

The Crisis

The NAACP's publication that highlighted injustices faced by African Americans.

New Orleans, LA (1900)

The location where African American activists boycotted segregated streetcars for several months, ultimately failing due to economic necessity.

Chattanooga, TN (1905)

The location where African Americans organized a boycott against segregated streetcars, which failed due to economic dependence and lack of political power.

Lynching

A public act of violence against Black people, often justified by Southern lynch laws.

Civil Rights Movement

The movement in the 1950s and 1960s aimed at ending racial discrimination and securing legal rights for African Americans.

Black middle class

A socio-economic group that emerged in Memphis, attracting Ida B. Wells to move there for opportunities.

Freedman's Aid scholarship

A scholarship that allowed Ida B. Wells to attend Rust College, one of the first Historically Black Colleges (HBCU).

Mob violence

A form of public violence that characterized the nadir period and included lynching.

Anti-lynching laws

Legislation that Congress refused to pass, which aimed to prevent the terrorism of lynching.

Self-defense

The act of defending oneself, which Ida B. Wells advocated for, famously stating that a Winchester rifle should have a place of honor in every Black home.

Jim Crow Laws

State and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern United States.

Nadir of race relations

The lowest point in the history of race relations in the United States, particularly for African Americans.

Lynch laws

Laws and practices that allowed for extrajudicial killings, particularly of African Americans, often by lynching.

Red Summer

The summer of 1919 marked by a series of violent racial riots and lynchings across the United States.