African Americans During Reconstruction

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At the beginning of the Reconstruction period, Southern blacks, who had been freed from the shackles of slavery, were optimistic that their future would be brighter relationally, civilly, and economically. Now free to move around, the blacks were keenly interested in locating and reuniting with family members who had been sold away in slave trades. (Schaller, p. 507). Schaller adds that even the desire for a steady wage was not enough to keep for Black Southerners from searching out and reuniting with their displaced family members. (507) Blacks were also very clear that they wanted education and they wanted land. (“Emancipation and Reunification”) Education was key because it would open opportunities; owning land would give them more control …show more content…
The actions of Presidents and the Congress as well as state governments affected the lives of blacks. When President Andrew Johnson granted amnesty and restored property rights of many former Confederate military and civilian, it meant that blacks were forced to give up that property had been given to them by the U.S. Army during the Civil War. (Schaller, p. 512) (“System of Sharecropping”) His actions were interpreted as favoring white supremacy. (Schaller, p. 512) The Federal government established Freedman’s Bureaus to aid newly-free blacks to work out fair and enforceable work contracts, to grant to black plots of abandoned land, and to building public schools. (Schaller, p. 509, 523) When a bill renewing the Freedman’s Bureau was passed, Johnson vetoed it; he was overridden and there was a one-year extension. When Congress passed the 1866 Civil Rights Act, that would “establish a common national citizenship for all people born in the United States” and ensure the protection of the people and their property, Johnson vetoed the bill and again was overridden. In 1867, the Congress passed the Reconstruction Acts, which divided up the South into five military districts; each district was commanded by a former Union commander and the presence of the military was meant to bring order to the chaos there. (Schaller, p. 521) …show more content…
Those who chose to move to the North or the West encountered the same prejudice they had endured in the South. (Reconstruction: The Civil War in Broader Perspective”) What land was given to Southern blacks by the Army during the war or was granted to them by the Freedman’s Bureaus was given back to the former white landowners. (Schaller, p. 512) (“System of Sharecropping) Since the financial system in the South was ruined by the war, there was no money with which to pay workers. Initially the arrangement called “sharecropping” was seen as a shared interest, but it quickly became almost a master/slave relationship. (“System of Sharecropping”) In sharecropping, the white landowner would allow the laborers access to land and a few essential tools; in exchange the laborers owed the landowner a percentage of the crop. Since the laborer had no mules, no plows, no equipment, and no food, they became dependent on the landowner. (“System of Sharecropping”) Because the landowner charge such a high amount for these necessities, the laborer could never settle the debt owed to the landowner, so he was permanently tied to the landowner. In Mississippi, sharecroppers who protested what they saw as unfair treatment risked injury or death; those who refused to work could be arrested. (“The Case for Reparations”) When decent paying jobs were available when
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