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Reconstruction

5-1.3 Explain the effects of Reconstruction onAfrican Americans, including their new rights

and restrictions, their motivations to relocateto the North and the West, and the actions of

the Freedmens Bureau. (P, G, E, H)

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Were Free!

The initial reaction of freedmen toemancipation ranged from exhilaration tohesitancy to fear.

Most celebrated the day of Jubilee.

The aim of African Americans duringReconstruction was to reunite with their

families and enjoy the freedom that hadbeen denied to them for so long underslavery.

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What Do We Do Now?

Many former slaves left their plantations,but most soon returned to the land thatthey knew.

Freedmen did not immediately migrate tothe North and the West.

African Americans did not migrate in largenumbers from the South until the late 19th

and early 20th centuries. Instead, theymarried and established strongcommunities in the South.

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Enjoying New Freedom

African Americans formed their own

churches where they could worship freely.

Many African Americans sought aneducation in the freedom schools they or

others had established.

Some established businesses.

They voted and held elective office during

Reconstruction.

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What About Land?

African Americans also tried to acquire land,however, for the most part, this was denied tothem.

General Sherman had advocated distribution offorty acres and a mule to African-American warrefugees and some land was distributed duringand shortly after the Civil War.

The federal government returned most lands to

white landowners that had been confiscatedfrom Confederates and given to freedmanbecause the government respected the rights ofwhites to their landed property.

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From Plantations to Sharecropping

Most freedmen had no money to purchase landand little opportunity to work for wages sincethere was little currency available in the South.

Consequently, freedmen entered intoagreements with the white landowners to tradetheir labor for land in an arrangement known assharecropping.

In exchange for the right to work the land thatbelonged to whites, African Americans and poorlandless whites would be given a share of thecrop that they grew.

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The Freedmans Bureau

The Freedmans Bureau, was established byCongresspriorto the end of the Civil War.

Although the Bureau was never effectivelystaffed or funded, it was the first line ofassistance to allpeople in the South in need,especially the destitute freedmen.

The Freedmans Bureau provided food, clothing,medical care, education and some protection

from the hostile white environment in the South. The Bureau helped many freedmen find jobs

and provide some protection of their laborcontracts.

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Why Didnt It Work?

African Americans were not able to

achieve economic independence because

the great majority of African Americans did

notreceive their own land to farm.

Instead the Freedmans Bureau helped

African Americans to establish the

sharecropping relationship with theworker-less plantation owner.

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In the End

The most important contribution of the

Freedmans Bureau, however, was the

facilitation of the establishment of over 1,000

schools throughout the South.

Although African Americans had constitutional

rights as a result of the 13th, 14th and 15th

amendments often these were violated by

terrorist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan which

included working class whites as well as judges,

lawyers, businessmen and politicians.