The Reconstruction of America

Imagine being born in the 1840s while slavery was happening around America. While we are imagining this also imagine that you are the black child born into this slavery and having to go through the beating and mistreatment while growing up. Later in life as an African American you must go through segregation, Jim crow laws, fugitive slave act, the civil war, the 14th and 15th amendment and lastly the black codes. Now no one wants to ever go through this as child or as an adult, but there was a…

of Claude McKay once described African Americans as “despised, oppressed, enslaved and lynched, denied a human place in the great life line of the Christian West” (McKay). While McKay was correct in saying that African Americans during the post-Reconstruction era of the 1880s to the 1930s experienced discrimination, their social standing still increased significantly. After the abolishment of slavery, African Americans anticipated social growth and a chance at The American Dream, the promise of…

The newly born country of America had many personal obstacles to face and overcome in its early years of existence. Building the foundation of the land would face friction from its natives and its very own people. Some may think that the government they established had even infringed on their personal rights to property, but in reality the government only demanded proper civility among the people it served. When properly examined we will be able to understand the true reality; of how both white…

Reconstruction was one of the biggest failures in United States History. It was supposed to be one of the most important things to happen to the country after the Civil War, but due to the lack of good leadership, and difficulty of a good compromise between the Democrats and the Republicans, it became a lost cause. The failure of Reconstruction definitely did affect the recently freed African Americans and Republicans. The Civil War was one of the most important events in United States History…

Building Freedom: The Freedmen and Their Quest for Egalitarianism The foundation of the United States of America was constructed upon the corpses of Native Americans. Cemented by institutionalized white superiority and racism, African American slaves were the bricks by which were used to erect this great nation. Even upon their laggard release from slavery in 1865, freedmen were far from equality, justice, and most importantly, freedom. Not only is the meaning of freedom extrapolated by Eric…

Both the civil rights movements share similarities in regard to their purpose. One reason why the civil rights movement began during the Reconstruction Era and during the 1960s was to gain rights for African Americans. Before the Reconstruction Era civil rights movement, most African Americans were slaves. Slaves were not seen as people in the southern states, instead they were seen as property of the slave master. The fact that the black man was previously seen as property and not a person…

Labor was a central theme in American History, beginning with the colonial era all the way through Reconstruction. It was during colonial times that slavery was introduced, and this form of labor continued all the way through Reconstruction. This was not “free” labor, meaning the people performing the work did not have an option. This was more than the role that a servant would perform; it was forced labor. There were numerous political, economic and social ramifications from the use of…

Reconstruction, an era meant to provide African Americans with equal rights, has completed its course. To this day, blacks, whites, and others that are citizens in the US are considered to be equal but, some people oppose. However, Reconstruction is a failure, for it left many problems unsolved, including as segregation and the infringement on voting for blacks. These problems were eventually solved through the Civil Rights Movement, which contained many African Americans leading it. Even with…

punishment. He wanted to follow through with the Emancipation of black slaves, and to ensure their bright future in the United States of America. The process of reconstructing the Union began in 1863, which was two years before the Confederacy formally surrendered. After the Unions major victories, Abraham Lincoln issued the Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction in which he defined his ten-percent plan. This plan stated that those states that “succeeded” had to redraft its constitution and…

This one key player can be compared to the government during the Reconstruction period. This time period dates back to just after the Civil War and is often known as one of the worst times for the country. While the U.S. was once again united, there was still a divide between the whites and the blacks. During Reconstruction, equal rights were ignored by the government and blacks continued to hate life in America. Reconstruction was like a dinner party because topics of conversation were…