Causes Of The Post-Civil War Era

The Civil War had ended and Abraham Lincoln, the President of The United States at the time had just issued the Emancipation Proclamation. This proclamation was delivered on January 1, 1863 and it declared the freedom of slaves in the United States. The release of this document was just the start of the post-civil war era and led to many factors that contributed to racism in America not only politically but economically and socially as well. The beginning of this post-civil war era marked what is now known as the reconstruction era. The reconstruction era took place between 1865 and 1877. There was a lot of work to be done in the South to repair and restore the damages that had been done during the Civil War. There were many hopefuls …show more content…
These acts of violence came from many white people who were bitter towards black people because of the power they gained politically during reconstruction. These acts of racial violence included race riots, lynching and various murders. There were many large groups and organization that were causing these acts of racial violence in large numbers. Many of these groups were created by people who felt the need to maintain white supremacy in our country. The members of the racist societies saw black people as a threat because of the idea that they held a greater power now than ever before. Race riots took place throughout the nation. One of the deadliest race riots in our nation’s history took place in the summer of 1921 in the city of Tulsa, Oklahoma. It began when a black man accidentally stepped on a white woman’s toes causing her to scream. It caused a scene and the man was accused of attempting to rape the white woman. This led to the formation of angry mobs in the area. This is just an example of the race riots that went on during this time period. Even though this is known as one of the deadliest riots, it wasn’t the only case where a black man was accused of attempting to rape a white woman. It was accusations like these that led to the murder of thousands of black people in America. Lynching became a popular form of racial violence following reconstruction. These groups began lynching black people not only as punishment, but also to cause fear among the black people in hopes they would regain their white power. One of the most common reasons that lead to the punishment of lynching in addition to murder and race riots was rape. If a black man was accused of raping a white woman, then he was lynched immediately. All that had had to happen was someone starting an accusation of a black man attempting to rape a white