Reconstruction
The freedom of African Americans
What is Reconstruction?
Reconstruction is the time period after the war(1865-1877). In this time period, many things happened but we are just going to focus on the freedom of the African Americans.
What happened in this time period?
What Reconstruction was suppose to do was give the African Americans the freedom the the whites had. But in reality, the blacks were treated close to how they were treated before the war.
Work Conditions
Even thought the blacks technically had the same rights as whites, the work conditions were still extremely poor. "For most most black workers , low wages, poor work condition, and discrimination remained rule" (Campbell).
How does this relate to the claim?
This shows that even though they were free, they were still going through the same conditions as they were before. The whites still could not accept them as a part of society so they still treated them poorly. Unfortunately, this kind of discrimination will be happening for years down the road.
The Black Codes
The black codes were made to give blacks unfair rules they had to follow, and most of the consequences were slave-like jobs. " The Black Codes were highly restrictive laws that the southern states adopted after the civil war to regulate freedom movement of former slaves" (Campbell).
How does this relate to the claim?
The blacks codes show that the white people just did not want to excpet the blacks into society. In order to keep them from doing this, they made unfair laws that makes it just like slavery without the title. The blacks were still not free.
Slavery, Without Slavery
Even though slavery was over, the blacks continued to do slave-like jobs. For example, the black women continued to be agricultural laborers, exactly what they did during slavery. "During reconstruction, African Americans continued to perform jobs they had been doing during slavery"(Campbell).
How does this relate to the claim?
This is an obvious reason why whites accepting blacks into society. The whites told the blacks to do these jobs but with very little pay this time, also relating to the poor work conditions.
Wrap-up
All in all blacks were still not a part of the society even though they were intended to be. It will be nearly 100 years later until they become completely free.
Works Cited
Magee, J.L. “Forcing slavery down the throat of a freesoiler.” Broadside. Philadelphia, PA, 1856. Library of Congress. Web. 24 Jun. 2014.
"Black Codes of Mississippi (1865)." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2014. Web. 6 Oct. 2014
Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 09 Oct. 2014.
"14th Amendment to the Constitution Was Ratified." 14th Amendment to the Constitution Was Ratified. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Oct. 2014.