1865: Reconstruction
Big Idea
For a period of time, African Americans flourished under Reconstruction, when the country abolished slavery and guaranteed African American full citizenship and rights under the law.
Constitutional Amendments
Immediately after the Civil War, the Reconstruction Congress passed Amendments to the Constitution.
The 13th Amendment abolished slavery and indentured servitude.
The 14th Amendment granted African Americans full citizenship and equal rights under the law.
The 15th Amendment provided voting protection rights regardless of race, color, or previous status as an enslaved man.
“Emancipation of the Negro - The Past and the Future”
Harper’s Weekly
Image Source: Wikipedia
Black Advances in the Early Days of Reconstruction
Freed Black Men, Women, and Children
Image Source: Library of Congress
Early Reconstruction efforts empowered Black people to own land, build communities, form churches, vote for government officials, and develop schools for their children to attend (Thompson Fullilove, 2016, p. 22).
As historian Eric Foner (2014) noted, “blacks were active agents in the making of Reconstruction” (p. xxii). He goes further to say that the extent to which free Blacks engaged in rebuilding their communities “was the most radical development of the Reconstruction years, a massive experience in interracial democracy without precedent in the history of this or any other country that abolished slavery in the nineteenth century” (p. xxiii).
“[During the] Reconstruction years, [Blacks led] a massive experience in interracial democracy without precedent in the history of this or any other country that abolished slavery in the nineteenth century.”
Listen
Listen to this podcast from Seizing Freedom where historian Tera Hunter describe how African Americans created their working lives after the Civil War and found agency and joy in the process. And then listen to this episode which challenges the traditional narrative that describes Reconstruction as a failure.
Students
Want to learn more? Did you know that over 600 Black men were elected to federal, state, and local offices during the early parts of the Reconstruction? Watch the video below to learn more about the Black political leaders of Reconstruction.
Time video on the Black Politicians of Reconstruction
Backlash
The deep rooted attitudes toward Black people could not be overcome and the radical freedoms and advances experienced in the early years of Reconstruction did not last. When the Congress withdrew military forces from the South, the backlash was strong. Becoming known as “Jim Crow,” White leaders in the South instated horrific practices aimed at protecting White supremacy and working to keep Black people second-class citizens who could not easily advance politically, economically, or socially.
Community Members
James Milton Turner
Image Source: Wikipedia
Did you know? James Milton Turner of Kirkwood, Missouri became the assistant superintendent of schools to the Governor of Missouri in 1865.
He worked to establish schools around the state that would serve Black students. And he helped establish a teachers school to train more teachers. He set up 32 schools across the state and worked with returning Black veterans to establish Lincoln Institute in Jefferson City (now Lincoln University).
As a boy, he had been sold into slavery for $50 on the stairs of the St. Louis US Courthouse. His father later purchased his freedom and the freedom of his family.
Your Turn
What would like today be like if Reconstruction had continued to be as successful as it was at the beginning? How does its failure continue to impact the U.S. today?
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Explore a variety of Reconstruction materials from the Library of Congress.
Explore primary sources from Facing History & Ourselves here.
Watch the PBS documentary series, Reconstruction: America after the Civil War from Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
Listen to the Slate podcast with Jamelle Bouie and Rebecca Onion on the reconstruction era.
Listen to Seizing Freedom, a podcast docudrama, hosted by historian Kidada E. Williams.
Read more about reconstruction from the Equal Justice Initiative.
Explore the Freedman and Southern Society Project website.
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3-Week Lesson Plan on the Reconstruction Era from Facing History & Ourselves (grades 9-12).
iCivics Education LessonPlan on Reconstruction (grades 6-8).
Learning for Justice lesson plans on the Reconstruction Era (middle and high school).
NEH EDSITEmentmaterials on the Reconstruction Era.
Zinn Education Project lessons on reconstruction (middle and high school)
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Read about reconstruction in Missouri from the National Park Service.
Read this article about seven segregation cases involving Black women and transportation in St. Louis.
Research primary source materials at the State Historical Society.
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Du Bois, W.E.B. (1935). Black Reconstruction in America: AN Essay Toward a History of the Part Which Black Folk Played in the Attempt to Reconstruct Democracy in America, 1860-1880. New York.
Emberton, C. (2016). Unwriting the Freedom Narrative: A Review Essay. Journal of Southern History 82: 377–94.
Hunter, T. (1997). To ’Joy My Freedom: Southern Black Women’s Lives and Labors after the Civil War. Harvard University Press.
Jeffries, H. (2009). “Conditions Unfavorable to the Rise of the Negro: The Pursuit of Freedom Rights before the Civil Rights Era,” in Bloody Lowndes: Civil Rights and Black Power in Alabama’s Black Belt. New York University Press. pp. 7–38.
Kelley, R.D.G. (2002). Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination. Beacon.
Williams, K. E. (2012). They Left Great Marks on Me: African American Testimonies of Racial Violence from Emancipation to World War I. New York University Press.
Willis, D. and Krauthamer, B. (2012). Envisioning Emancipation: Black Americans and the End of Slavery. Temple University Press.