African American Reconstruction

Prior to the Civil War, African Americans were treated as second class individuals. They lacked the freedom and equality they sought for. To the African Americans, the Civil War was a war of liberation. Contrary to what African Americans perceived, Southerners viewed the war as an episode of their journey to salvation. Southern lands may have been destroyed and depleted, but the South was persistent that their racial order would not be disrupted. To most, the goals of the Reconstruction era were to fully restore the Union, and to some, grant emancipation and liberty to former slaves. Although the newly freedmen gained various rights and liberties, their naпve dreams of complete equality and liberation collapsed due to the immense resistance of the South.

Once freed, African Americans believed that the rights of a citizen were granted to them. They truthfully believed this because after a brutally fought war, basic rights such as education, land, and employment were so modest, they were undeniable. Even though they were proclaimed as free, their place is society remained unaffected. The Freedmen's Bureau became one of the earlier agencies to provide support for newly freedmen. The agency offered education, advice and protection to its members. The most significant asset of the bureau was education. The literacy rate of African Americans rose about twenty percent due to the organization. Some freedmen even attended colleges to earn degrees. Many white Southerners viewed the African American attempt at education as a waste of time. They condemned the efforts of their social improvement. With much criticism by racist whites and inadequate funds, the Freedmen's Bureau concluded by 1872 injuring African American hopes of social equality.

Another goal of African Americans was the ownership of land. To the freedmen, land ownership was equivalent to economic independency. However, they were mistaken. Economic independency was an unrealistic goal in the southern environment. As former slaves, African Americans were very familiar to the agricultural life style. As a result of Sherman's raids across the south, large plots of land were left uninhabited. Vast amounts of freedmen took the opportunity to occupy these lands. In 1866, Congress also passed the Southern Homestead Act giving African Americans access to public lands in five southern states. Contrary to what the freedmen believed, land ownership did not ensure financial success. Most land owned by African Americans was small and had an inferior value compared to white farms. White neighbors held a tight hostility towards the freedmen. They refused to lend tools or offer advice disintegrating African American hopes of equality even further. Many freedmen may have become land owners, but the vast majority never satisfied their goals of land ownership. Many officials advised the freedmen to become sharecroppers and tenant farmers to work as laborers under a mutual relationship with white land owners to help revive the southern economy. This "mutual" relationship eventually became similar to slave and master relationship.

While some freedmen stayed to work on farmland, others migrated to cities and towns. Their objective was to search for an occupation and their lost family members. Whites generally detested this movement because it reduced the labor force on farms. In the cities, African Americans also competed with whites for jobs and established organizations in hope of social and racial equality. African Americans typically inhabited the cheapest areas of the city. Most freedmen entered the cities untrained in any skill. Thus, they became a workforce of unskilled workers. The wages of the laboring class were sometimes below the subsistence level. Struggling with rent payments and putting food on the table, many viewed the laboring class of African Americans even worse than slavery itself.

As a result of special congressional elections, many chief confederate leaders returned to office. These newly elected southern legislatures formed a series of laws known as the Black Codes. These laws barred African Americans from certain jobs, attending a jury, and the possession of fire arms. Idleness among freedmen was also punished. The laws also gave the right to deprive African American parents of their children is they were deemed unable to support them. The Black Codes mock the newly won freedom of the freedmen. It acted as a heavy blow toward African American aspirations and ambition towards equality.

Fearing that the south would gain vast political power, the northern Republicans countered with a series of Bills that favored Black male suffrage and those that concluded the Black Codes. However, President Johnson vetoed these bills. As Congress became overrun with Republicans, they were able to override Johnson's veto with a 2/3 majority vote. Consequently, in 1866, the 14th Amendment was passed granting all African Americans citizenship. The 14th Amendment also prevented the states from violating the citizen's rights. The Amendment diminished the enforcement of Black Codes, but the violence towards blacks increased.

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