Going along with our historical ventures into the first amendment and how it’s affected people throughout history, our class was instructed to watch a video on reconstruction. This extremely well put together documentary offered insight I was not aware of during the post-civil war era. Listed below are a few takeaways that were most interesting to me.
Following the start of the civil war, thousands of slaves ran away and found refuge in safe houses. These slaves, alongside freed black men, would join in the fight for the union. The impact of this was great as there were over 180,000 black men fighting for freedom.
Following the war, Abraham Lincoln said that some black men should have the ability to vote. This was one of the many breaking points for his eventual assassin John Wilkes Booth. Booth would finally go on to kill Lincoln in 1865 after many debunked attempts.
During this time following the Civil War, other interesting things were happening as well. One of the most fascinating for me is the newspaper postings of former slaves attempting to find their families. To know that some closure may have been reached after a life-long journey of wonders is very special. However, it is also extremely sad to hear stories of those who didn’t receive any information on their loved ones after so much effort.
The Southern Democrat Andrew Johnson took over as President following Lincoln’s assassination. Right out the gate, he proved to not withhold the same morals as Lincoln did. Frederick Douglas quickly said that Johnson was “no friend of the black.”
Johnson continuously made promises to the south to keep the “black issue” under control while still accepting their freedom. One of the ways he restored order within the states was by giving pardons to previous confederate leaders. It is astonishing to me that because of these pardons, many men would lawfully return to political leadership within the USA. The result of this would again cause government limitations on blacks.
One of the biggest ways Southern white men kept blacks as an inferior race was through black codes. These laws recognized slavery was abolished but still kept as little change as possible. In fact, the code required black adults to sign a contract requiring a year of work under a white employer. If they didn’t sign, they’d be auctioned off to serve off their fine. Yes, you read that correctly. SERVE! How was this “slavery 2.0” allowed to happen?
Furthermore, many kids were legally taken from their parents without consent. A white person would deem the black parent “unfit for parenting” and would take them in to “teach” skills like farming and nursing. I don’t know about you, but that sounds like free labor to me. Again, how could this happen? How could parents have no say in a matter involving their own kids?
Along with the already racists acts put in place by the government, private racial hate groups began to form as well. The biggest of these groups was the KKK, one we’re very familiar with today.
Eventually, Congress met again and had enough of these discriminatory acts. Against the veto of President Johnson, Congress passed the Civil Rights Bill of 1866. From there, changes began to be made as birth-right citizenship was put into place. While this also caused many riots and further discrimination, it was a major stepping stone for improvement.
The 14th amendment was next to be put into action and would redefine the rights of all free people. Some Southern states refused to ratify the 14th amendment so were shut out from Congress until they did. However, this amendment and the 15th amendment would help make a major shift for blacks in the USA. While hate groups still remained in full force, African American’s finally had rights from the government.
SOURCES: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiXxQpBLMuk&feature=emb_title
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