Were African Americans Actually Free During Reconstruction? (2019)

Essay

Were African Americans Actually Free During Reconstruction?

           In the legal sense, yes, african americans were free. The 13th amendment clearly stated that for us. But by golly goop, were these white southerners extremely upset! They just couldn't accept that maybe, just maybe, black people could ever be equal to white people. This period after the Civil War is known as Reconstruction. Although legally african-americans were free, there were many loopholes that stopped them from being completely chain-less. African-americans were not free during Reconstruction because of the political ideals, white ignorance, black codes, voting laws, and the KKK.

        Reconstruction was supposed to help unify the United States by merging the Confederacy and Union, as well as help newly freed black people find their place in the United States. The president at the beginning of Reconstruction was Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln was very adamant about how black people are just as much of a person as a white person is. He really wanted Reconstruction to work. But when he was assassinated, Andrew Johnson took over as president. He was not very fond of the idea that black people were equal to white people, as he was a former slave owner. With him as the president and more former Confederates sneaking back into Congress, there was a little bit of of leniency with the extent of the 13, 14, and 15th amendments. There was also still the division of the north and south amount United States citizens. Radical Republicans even wanted to just reform the south entirely instead of letting them adjust to the new way of living. This was a big mistake, as it just angered southerners and made them want to resist Reconstruction even more. This provides the evidence that because the north and south were for the most part, unwilling to budge, as well as a divided government, Reconstruction was doomed to fail, with little progress happening.

       A case of white ignorance is in the case of Henry Adams. Henry Adams, a former slave, was traveling to Shreveport when a group of white men refused to let him past. They kept repeating that they needed to know who he belonged to and who his master was. These white people even came to the conclusion that it was perfectly fine to hit Adams with a stick and to tell him that "they were going to kill [him] and every other Negro." When Adams returned back to his place of work, he had asked where his boss was. The wife of the boss had then told him that he shouldn't ever refer to any white person by anything than "master" and "missus". Her reasoning was that because he wasn't entirely free, she could just demean him and make him feel lesser. From other documents, it can be assumed that these white people were not punished or help accountable for their actions. This helps to support the thesis because even though there were laws in place that were supposed to protect free african americans, these laws did not seem to be enforced, and there were many loopholes for white people to not be caught.

       Black codes are a list of state laws that restricted black people from doing certain things. This included but is not limited to interracial marriage or adoption, owning or renting housing, public meetings, carrying any weapon (firearm, knife, etc.), and not allowing a black person to be an employer. Some towns even forbade that any black person be allowed inside the city limits without permission from their employer. With public gatherings, this falls into churches. Because african american people could not gather, this means that they could not gather as a group for church. This is a violation of the first amendment. These black codes are basically legal loopholes for slavery. For example, when slavery was still in place, in some places, a group of 5 or more black people were not allowed to gather unless there was a white person.

       In all these codes, if you replace employer with master, there would be no change in the meaning. This supported the claim because even though legally, slaves were not allowed, white people down south acted like they just hadn't seen the 13th amendment and carried on with their legal slavery.

       The 15th amendment said that all black men could vote, but white people can always find a way to be super racist. One tactic to stop many black men from voting were literacy tests. Literacy tests were when a very biased white person would pick a part of the constitution for voters to read. They would have to read the passage then explain it back. More often than not, the literacy supervisor would pick simple sentences for white men and complicated passages for black men. Many black men would have difficulty reading these passages because they were recently allowed to become literate. There was also the poll tax, were a man would have to pay for two years following up to the election so that he could vote. With black people just being freed, most didn't have any money to spare for this tax, so they just couldn't vote. Another tactic was the "grandfather clause" which said that if your grandfather could vote, then so could you. But if he couldn't have, then you couldn't. This would stop 2 generations of black men from voting. This supports the thesis because white people still found ways around the constitution. The literacy test, when you think about it, is kind of like communism, a great idea in theory, but terrible in practice. People should know what voting and the constitution means, but the law was only put into place because racist white people didn't want black people to vote.

        Oh boy, now it's time for the KKK or Klu Klux Klan to rear its ugly head. Some background, the KKk was founded in 1866 by a white supremacist named General Nathan Bedford Forrest. Some of the KKK's favorite activities includes commiting terribly violent acts against anyone who even remotely supported the idea that black people and white people are equal. Their main target was black people, but had no problem murdering white Republicans. This intern caused many Republicans to step down in running for office in fear of being murdered, so the democratic candidate would win with no competitors. If the shear violence and power the KKK had didn't scare away black voters, the prospect of losing their jobs would. The KKK didn't even like people who bought products from mainly black companies. Clearly, the KKK is disgusting. I've never had to read about what the KKK have done before, and it's gruesome and horrifying. Again, this further proves the point. These people rose because of Reconstruction, and don't want black people to be seen as people, but as animals or any other lesser being. I'm honestly revolted.

        The thesis has been proved. It has been proved by how the purpose of Reconstruction was enforces and the political parties. It has been supported by a primary source of Henry Adams's discrimination. It has been supported by slave-like restrictions and voting regulation. And finally, it has been supported by how absolutely appalling the actions of the KKK have been.

Bibliography

Cassel, Seth. "Flamingnet Author Services - Book Reviews, Videos, and Social Blasts." Flamingnet Book Reviews and Author Media Services, Jan. 2008, flamingnet.com/reconstruction.php.

Costly, Andrew. "Race and Voting in the Segregated South." Constitutional Rights Foundation, 2019, .

Khan Academy. "The First KKK." Khan Academy, Khan Academy, 2016, .

Doc C: Henry Adams Statement (Modified)

Doc B: Black Codes (Modified)