AAs: Reconstruction (1865-1877)

1. Emancipation Proclaimation (1863) = Declared all slaves free in states still in rebellion (where Union had no power)

2. 13th Amendment (1865) = Ratified which abolished slavery in the US 

3. Despite President Andrew Johnson's Leniency states refused to ratify 13th Amendment = Led to many southern legislatures passed the Black Codes (1865-6) varying from place to place >>> banned many AAs from serving on juries or voting, marrying white people or testifying against white people in court or carrying a gun

4. Civil Rights Act (1866) = Declared that all persons born in the US (except NAs) were citizens disregarding race, colour or previous condition

5. 14th Amendment (1867) = Defined citizenship and ensured citizenship was extended to freed slaves , also guaranteed if any state denied suffrage to an male citizens representation in Congress would be reduced 

6. 15th Amendment (1869) = Declared all citizens right to vote shall not be denied/abridges by US by any state on account of race,colour or previous servitude

7. 2nd Civil Rights Act (1875) =Stated all persons were entitled to full and equal accomodation in 'inns, public conveyance on land or water, theatres >>>> DECLARED UNCONSTITUTIONAL IN 1883

8. Black Churches were established 

8. Secret Societies such as Knights of the White Camelia, most notorious was Ku Klux Klan (KKK) first established in Tennessee in 1866  >>> tortured and killed black people and their robes prevented indentification by federal troops 

Successful black businessmen were attacked black TUs dealt with

9. Congress passed Ku Klux Klan Act (1871) = Made it a crime for '2 or more persons to conspire and go in disguise upon public highway or upon premises of another' = but when Klan's objective of White Supremacy and Democrat dominance in south was achieved organisation disappeared (until 1915)

1. Black Codes (1865-66)

2. Reconstruction Acts (1867) = Put in place when all former confederate states rejected the 14th Amendment >>> Congress suspended all S.governments and divided south into 5 military districts and controlled by a Major General each who were in charge overseeing elections to allow freed males to vote = BY JUNE 1868, 7 ex-Confederate states had ratified the 14th Amendment and were re-admitted

3. Enforcement Acts (1870,1871) = provided protection of black voters and Federal supervision of Southern elections

4. Black men could vote, stand for election, serve on juries and become judges, 700,000 blackmen were enrolled to vote, there were 22 black Congressmen between 1870 and 1901 = 20 were representatives and 2 senators

1. Freedmen's Bureau established in 1865 = Meant for 1 year but a second act extended it's existence = army officers and civilian agents were given responisibility of aiding freed blacks to find work 

2. Share-cropping replaced slavery = meant freed slaves worked the land for a share of the crop >>> although often kept blacks in poverty and debts as whites paid low prices for crops or deliberately cheated them 

1. Freedmen's Bureau (1865) = Also set up schools and colleges and also colleges of higher education e.g. Fisk and Howard 

2. However, only a minority of educational oppurtunities made available by Freedmen's Bureau

3. By 1890, 65% of Black American school-children in the south were still unable to write, compared with 15% of white children