African Americans During The Reconstruction Era

The time in America from 1865 to 1877 was known as the Reconstruction period. President Lincoln had been assassinated by John Wilkes Booth, but prior to that, he had given the Emancipation Proclamation. This meant all of the slaves in the South were free American Citizens. However, his successor Andrew Johnson was a Southern Democrat who had sympathy for the South. When he took his role in office, the South was almost completely off the hook. He passed southern state legislators which were called the Black Codes. They dictated the labor and behavior of African Americans. They legalized marriage, ownership of property, and access to the courts. However, they denied African Americans a right to testify against whites, serve on juries, serve in state militias, vote, and even to start a job without the approval of their previous employer. These codes infuriated the North, and were the beginning of the second wave of terror for African Americans in the United States. It was not all ghastly at first because some black people were allowed to be elected into legislatures and even Congress. Unfortunately, this did not last. Troops which
African Americans may have been free, but because of the Jim Crow laws, they were put in a different kind of bondage. Everything black people did was separate from white people. A specific example of the intensity of the segregation is the “Plessy vs. Ferguson Trial.” A man who was 7/8 white and ⅛ black sat in a white only train car. He was arrested because he was considered black. A series of trials followed regarding a violation of the 14th amendment. Supreme court ruled that “separate but equal” was fair. Black people were to be seen as equal, but they had to be seperate from white people. They went to separate schools, theatres, restaurants, and even took different transportation. This affected the country in big ways. The South continued to fall into a deep pit of racism and unequal