Abolition, Freedom & Reconstruction Quiz Answer Bank

Vocabulary flashcards covering historical terms, figures, dates, and concepts relating to Abolition, Reconstruction, Black Nationalism, and post-Reconstruction civil rights struggles.

Reconstruction (1865–1877)

The period following the Civil War when the United States attempted to rebuild the South and establish rights for formerly enslaved African Americans across the former Confederate states.

Presidential Reconstruction (1865–1867)

The first phase of Reconstruction, led by President Andrew Johnson, which allowed former Confederate states to reorganize their governments under lenient requirements, enabling the passage of Black Codes.

Congressional/Radical Reconstruction (1867–1877)

The period when Congress took control of Reconstruction policies, passing Reconstruction Acts and requiring Southern states to recognize Black male suffrage and ratify the 14th Amendment.

Property Rights

The ability to own, control, and inherit property, especially land; during Reconstruction, formerly enslaved African Americans sought land ownership for economic independence, but Andrew Johnson returned much confiscated land to former Confederates.

Contrabands

Enslaved African Americans who escaped to Union military lines during the Civil War, beginning in 1861; a term popularized by Union General Benjamin Butler at Fort Monroe, Virginia, when refusing to return escapees to Confederate enslavers.

USCT – United States Colored Troops

African American soldiers who fought for the Union during the Civil War beginning in 1863, totaling approximately 180,000 Black men whose service strengthened demands for citizenship and equal rights.

Freedmen's Bureau (1865)

A federal agency established on March 3, 1865, and led by General Oliver O. Howard to provide food, education, medical assistance, and labor contract help to formerly enslaved people and refugees across the South.

Sherman's Special Field Orders No. 15 (1865)

An order issued by General William T. Sherman in January 1865 reserving coastal land in South Carolina and Georgia for formerly enslaved people, which became associated with the promise of 'forty acres and a mule.'

Sharecropping

An agricultural labor system in the South where formerly enslaved African Americans worked white-owned land in exchange for a portion of crops, often becoming trapped in poverty and debt due to unfair contracts and high interest.

Black Codes (1865–1866)

Laws passed by Southern states during Presidential Reconstruction under Andrew Johnson to restrict the freedom, employment, and movement of formerly enslaved African Americans in order to maintain white supremacy and control Black labor.

Civil Rights Act of 1866

Federal legislation passed by Congress over President Andrew Johnson's veto that established citizenship for individuals born in the United States regardless of race and provided federal protection for civil rights.

13th Amendment (1865)

A constitutional amendment ratified in 1865 that abolished slavery throughout the United States, except as a punishment for a crime.

14th Amendment (1868)

A constitutional amendment ratified in 1868 that granted citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States, including formerly enslaved African Americans, and guaranteed equal protection under the law.

15th Amendment (1870)

A constitutional amendment ratified in 1870 prohibiting federal and state governments from denying a man's right to vote based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

Juneteenth (June 19, 1865)

The date commemorating when Union General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, to announce that enslaved African Americans in Texas were free, more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation.

Black Nationalism

An ideology promoting Black unity, racial pride, self-determination, and economic and political independence, encouraging African Americans to build independent institutions rather than depending on white society.

American Colonization Society (ACS) (1816)

An organization founded in 1816 to promote the migration of free African Americans to Africa, leading to the creation of Liberia, though many abolitionists opposed it because Black Americans deserved equal rights in America.

Liberia (1847)

A West African country established through the American colonization movement with the help of the ACS in 1822, which declared independence in 1847 as a destination for African American emigrants.

AME Church – African Methodist Episcopal Church (1816)

An independent Black religious denomination founded in Philadelphia in 1816 by Richard Allen that became a vital center for education, leadership, and community organizing across the South during Reconstruction.

Richard Allen (1760–1831)

An African American minister and abolitionist who founded the African Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia in 1816 and served as its first bishop after experiencing discrimination in white-controlled churches.

Henry McNeal Turner (1834–1915)

An African American minister, politician, and AME Church leader who established over 100 churches in Georgia during Reconstruction and was elected to the Georgia legislature in 1868 before being expelled.

Martin Delany (1812–1885)

An African American abolitionist, physician, writer, and early Black nationalist leader who advocated for Black self-determination, emigration to Africa, and independent political and economic institutions.

Nat Turner (1831)

An enslaved preacher who led an August 1831 armed rebellion against slavery in Southampton County, Virginia, resulting in approximately 55 white deaths and provoking harsher laws restricting Black people.

David Walker (1829)

An African American abolitionist who published 'Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World' in 1829, demanding freedom and equality while urging resistance against slavery and white racial oppression.

Harriet Tubman (1822–1913)

An African American abolitionist who escaped slavery, served as a conductor on the Underground Railroad, and worked as a scout and spy for the Union Army during the Civil War.

Frederick Douglass (1818–1895)

A formerly enslaved African American abolitionist, orator, and writer who published influential autobiographies and newspapers, advocating for emancipation, Black military service, citizenship, and voting rights.

Ida B. Wells (1862–1931)

An African American journalist, educator, anti-lynching activist, and NAACP co-founder who used her newspaper, the Memphis Free Speech, to investigate and expose racial violence after three friends were lynched in 1892.

Lynching

The extrajudicial murder of individuals by mobs without trial, prevalent in the post-Reconstruction South to terrorize Black communities, enforce racial control, and maintain white supremacy.

Anti-Lynching Movement

A reform campaign led by figures like Ida B. Wells in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that used investigative journalism to refute false accusations and demand federal intervention against mob violence.

Memphis Free Speech (1892)

An African American newspaper in Memphis, Tennessee, through which Ida B. Wells published articles in 1892 exposing the true motives behind lynching and challenging false accusations against Black men.

NAACP – National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (1909)

A civil rights organization founded in New York City in 1909 by activists including W.E.B. Du Bois, Mary White Ovington, and Ida B. Wells to challenge segregation, racial violence, and discrimination.

Jim Crow

A system of laws and customs implemented across the South following Reconstruction that enforced racial segregation and disenfranchisement, denying African Americans equal access to public accommodations and opportunities.

Disfranchisement

The systematic denial or restriction of voting rights, enacted by post-Reconstruction Southern states through poll taxes, literacy tests, and intimidation to evade the 15th Amendment.

Poll Taxes

Fees required as a prerequisite for voting, utilized in Southern states after Reconstruction to disproportionately disfranchise poor African Americans.

Felony Disenfranchisement

The revocation of voting rights from individuals convicted of criminal offenses, used through targeted criminal laws and discriminatory enforcement to suppress Black political participation in the post-Reconstruction South.

Marcus Garvey (1887–1940)

A Jamaican-born Black nationalist leader based in Harlem who founded the UNIA, the Negro World newspaper, and the Black Star Line, promoting Black pride, economic self-sufficiency, and African liberation.

UNIA – Universal Negro Improvement Association (1914)

An organization founded by Marcus Garvey in Jamaica in 1914 (headquartered in Harlem from 1916) that grew into a mass international movement championing Black unity, pride, and economic independence.

Negro World Newspaper (1918–1927)

The official weekly publication of Marcus Garvey's UNIA, established in Harlem in 1918 to circulate ideas of Pan-African independence, self-reliance, and racial pride globally.

Black Star Line (1919)

A steamship corporation formed in 1919 by Marcus Garvey and the UNIA to facilitate international commerce, travel, and economic independence between African diaspora communities and Africa.

Garveyism

A 20th-century Black nationalist philosophy centered on Marcus Garvey's teachings that emphasized racial solidarity, global African liberation, economic self-reliance, and pride in African heritage.

Pan-Africanism

An ideology advocating solidarity, cooperation, and collective liberation among all people of African descent worldwide to oppose slavery, colonialism, and white supremacy.

Great Migration (1914–1920 and beyond)

The large-scale movement of African Americans from the rural South to Northern industrial centers such as Chicago, Detroit, and New York during and after WWI to escape Jim Crow violence and seek industrial jobs.

Harlem

A neighborhood in New York City that developed into a vibrant epicenter of African American political, intellectual, and cultural life, serving as headquarters for the UNIA and home to the New Negro Movement.

New Negro Movement (1919–1930s)

An era of heightened cultural, intellectual, and political assertiveness following WWI and the Great Migration, in which African Americans rejected racial subservience and celebrated Black identity.

Emancipation Proclamation (1863)

A war measure issued by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, freeing enslaved persons in Confederate-held territories and authorizing the enlistment of African American men in the Union armed forces.

Andrew Johnson (1865–1869)

The 17th President of the United States who presided over Presidential Reconstruction, offering lenient terms to former Confederates while vetoing civil rights legislation and allowing Southern states to enact Black Codes.

Civil Rights

Legal protections guaranteeing all individuals equal status, opportunities, and protection under the law, championed during Reconstruction via the 14th Amendment and the Civil Rights Act of 1866.

Immediate vs. Gradual Emancipation

A central tactical disagreement among abolitionists concerning whether chattel slavery should be ended unconditionally at once or phased out systematically over time.

Calvinism / Abolitionism

A theological framework emphasizing God's supreme authority that inspired religious abolitionists to denounce chattel slavery as a moral sin violating human dignity.

American Colonization and Black Nationalism

Two distinct movements addressing Black liberation; colonization sought to resettle free Black Americans in Africa (such as Liberia), whereas Black Nationalism sought self-determination and independent institutions.

Historical Backlash

Sustained political, legal, and violent opposition mounted by white Southerners against social and political advancements achieved by African Americans during emancipation and Reconstruction.