1. After the Civil War, slaves struggled to define their newfound freedom and what they would do with it. Even though they were technically “free,” the Andrew Johnson administration allowed white Southerners to take away the former slaves new found freedom, creating problems for the former slaves. At first, freedmen were going to be assigned some vacant land in hopes they would be able to start a new life of farming on their own lands. This was quickly taken away from them, forcing them to fall back in to old habits of working for white Southerners again. Soon they found themselves working under forced labor contracts along with states having the authority to govern their day-to-day activities by enforcing “black codes” that took away their civil rights. Although many attempts were made by the North and the government, including the Reconstruction Acts and The Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments, African American’s weren’t given equal status in the North or the South and they wouldn’t see it any time soon.
2. When the former slaves found out that they were free, they all reacted and took their next steps differently. Some freedmen stuck close to their former owners by choice and if they were lucky, they might be given a small plot of …show more content…
After being owned for the longest time, slaves were able to dream about the different lives they would lead if they were free. Some imagined that they would be more rich than their owners since they had the knowledge and work ethic to run their own plantation. Other slaves said they were going to rename themselves so they didn’t carry around their names that they had when they were owned by white people. They dreamed of names like Abraham and Lincoln, extravagant names that weren’t associated with their past but reflected their fresh start. At the time, freedom was a distant concept that they could only dream about, and so they had these built up dreams and expectations of what freedom from their owners would be
2. When the former slaves found out that they were free, they all reacted and took their next steps differently. Some freedmen stuck close to their former owners by choice and if they were lucky, they might be given a small plot of …show more content…
After being owned for the longest time, slaves were able to dream about the different lives they would lead if they were free. Some imagined that they would be more rich than their owners since they had the knowledge and work ethic to run their own plantation. Other slaves said they were going to rename themselves so they didn’t carry around their names that they had when they were owned by white people. They dreamed of names like Abraham and Lincoln, extravagant names that weren’t associated with their past but reflected their fresh start. At the time, freedom was a distant concept that they could only dream about, and so they had these built up dreams and expectations of what freedom from their owners would be