Unit 10
Reconstruction
SS8H6c: Analyze the impact of Reconstruction on Georgia & other Southern states, emphasizing Freedman's Bureau, sharecropping & tenant farming; Reconstruction plans; 13th, 14th & 15th amendments to the constitution; Henry McNeal Turner & black legislators; & the Ku Klux Klan
African-Americans & Republicans gained power in Georgia for a period of time. Slavery was abolished and more freedoms were allowed due to organizations like the Freedman's Bureau. However, once Reconstruction was over, southern Democrats gained authority. White supremacy & Jim Crow laws became the law in the South for over 90 years.
3 phases of Reconstruction
Presidential Reconstruction (1865 - 1866)
Congressional Reconstruction (1866 - 1867)
Military Reconstruction
The Freedmen's Bureau
Sharecropping & Tenant Farming
Similarities: laborers were usually poor & illiterate whites & blacks, agreement to exchange labor & a portion of crops to the land owner in return for land to work, certain necessities had to be purchased from the landowner's store causing many to become deeply indebted to the landowner & decreasing their chances of getting out
Difference: Tenant farmers usually owned their own tools, animals & other equipment. Sharecroppers had nothing
Sharecropping & tenant farming made up the agricultural system in Georgia until the mid-twentieth century. It began to decline with the Great Migration of African-Americans and rural whites moving to the North and cities in the South during and after WWI, the devastation of the boll weevil in the 1910s & 20s, and technological advances in farming equipment.
Henry McNeal Turner & Black Legislators
Henry McNeal Turner was born in 1834 in South Carolina. His family had been free for 2 generations. When he was 15, he worked for a law firm where he was provided an education due to his intelligence. In 1853, at the age of 19, he received his preaching license. He began traveling throughout the South, including Georgia, where he preached & held revivals, In 1858, he moved to St. Louis, Missouri to become minister of the African Methodist Episcopal Church.
During the Civil War, Turner organized a unit of African-American troops & served as chaplain of the regiment. After the war, he traveled throughout Georgia, converting former slaves to the AME Church. In 1867, he helped organize the Republican party in the state, contributing to his election to the Constitutional Convention of 1867 & the GA House of Representatives.
Turner's life held much controversy & disappointment. He was threatened by the KKK, expelled from his seat in the House of Representatives in 1868 & framed for unethical practices in 1869. He was able to retain his senate seat with the help of Congress in 1870, but soon lost it in a fraudulent election. He then became bishop of the AME church, established his own newspaper& was an advocate of African-American migration to African.
Like Turner, other black legislators suffered hardships during their time in office. They were constantly harassed and many were expelled by both the Democrats and Republicans in the General Assembly in 1868. Many were threatened by the KKK with over 1/4 of them being beaten, killed or jailed during their term. By 1908, black legislators were legally disenfranchised (deprived of power). It wasn't until 1962, with the election of Leroy Johnson, that African-Americans held a seat in Georgia's General Assembly again.
The Ku Klux Klan
The KKK was successful in their political goals as Democrats gained control of Georgia politics in 1871. It would be over 100 years before Republicans gained control in the state again. They were a major force in the state during Reconstruction. White supremacy & racial segregation became the norm in Georgia, & the rest of the South, for several decades.
Some groups disbanded around 1871 when Congress passed the Force Act of 1870 & Civil Rights Act of 1871 (aka Ku Klux Klan Act). Both acts gave permission to federal authorities to fight & arrest members of the Klan. They resurfaced again around 1915.