Reconstruction Era

Reconstruction

the effort to restore southern states to the Union and to redefine African Americans place in American society

Ku Klux Klan

organized in 1866, after civil war, White terrorist group with goal to terrorize African Americans and minority groups/allies, and rights to vote and resist reconstruction- era policies 

Rutherford B. Hayes

19th President of the United States, served from 1877 to 1881. His presidency marked the end of Reconstruction, and he was part of the “Tilden or Blood” compromise

Literacy Test

a method used to disenfranchise voters, primarily targeting African Americans, by requiring them to demonstrate reading and writing skills before being allowed to vote.

Abraham Lincoln 

16th President of the United States, planned the reunification of the US, his assassination signaled future southern resistance to reconstruction.

Radical Republicans

White democrats that granted African Americans legal freedom but little more, pushed nation the realize “All Men Are Created Equal”

Black Codes

when slavery was abolished these laws were created in Southern States, attempted to economically disable freed slaves, forcing African Americans to continue to work on plantations and remain subject to racial hierarchy

15th Amendment

government could NOT deny a citizens right to vote based on their race, color, or previous condition of servitude

Scalawags

derisive term used to describe white republicans in the South 

Jim Crow Laws

State and local laws in the Southern U.S. that enforced racial segregation and discrimination against African Americans from the late 19th century through the mid-20th century.

Carpetbaggers

a term for the Northerners who traveled to the south during reconstruction

Grandfather Clause

a provision which some Southern States allowed White people to vote even if they didn’t meet literacy or property requirements, unlike black voters  

John Wilkes Booth

was the actor who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln in 1865

Andrew Johnson

the 17th president, the assassination of Abraham propelled him into president from vice president, served from 1865 to 1869

Freedman’s Bureau

a U.S. federal government agency used to aid freed slaves in the South during reconstruction, provided food, housing, education, healthcare, and legal assistance.

Dred Scott vs. Sandford

a Supreme Court case in 1857 that denied citizenship to enslaved people and declared the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional

Sharecropping

a system where tenant farmers gave a share of their crops to landowners as rent (mostly blacks)

Segregation

separation of people based on race, enforced through Black Codes and Jim Crow Laws, limiting the rights of African Americans.

Poll tax

a fee required to vote, used in Southern U.S to disenfranchise African Americans during the Jim Crow era

Plessy vs Ferguson (1896)

A Supreme Court Case that upheld the constitutionality of Racial segregation under the “Separate but Equal” doctrine

Moderate Republicans

Republicans who sought to balance protecting Black rights with accommodating Southern Whites

13th Amendment

Abolished slavery and involuntary servitude except as punishment for a crime

14th Amendment

granted citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States, including formerly enslaved people, guaranteed all citizens equal protection of the laws.