Reconstruction: Was It a New Birth of Freedom?
Reconstruction: Was It a New Birth of Freedom?
Post Civil War times were supposed to be a time for rebuilding the country on a strong, and equal base but that wasn't necessarily the case. The “Reconstruction” didn't really live up to its name because things didn't change for the better per say, but they actually got worse. This is because blacks were still kept from being independent, the KKK caused fear in the black communities, and people still looked down on the former slaves because of how they acted.
Post Civil War times were supposed to be a time for rebuilding the country on a strong, and equal base but that wasn't necessarily the case. Blacks were still not fully independent because of how society worked at the time. When the newly freed slaves went to get jobs, they were denied because they weren't educated. This then gave the former slave owners a chance to rebuild their own property and wealth with the same workers as before, but they weren't called slaves. This was called sharecropping (Doc B). This new system gave the former slaves back to their owners but they were given a very small portion of the land that they worked. This technically was not slavery because the blacks were in some way, being payed. Also slaves could not be independent because of something called “Black Codes”. These were written laws that stated what blacks could and couldn't do (Doc A). These codes mostly said that blacks had to work for a white man, blacks couldn't own or rent a house, blacks couldn't go into town without being escorted by their white employer or had to have special permission from their employers. These laws continued on and they all seemed to have the part that says negroes can't do something without permission from their white employer. These codes and sharecropping meant the freedmen still weren't fully free.
Next, the KKK kept blacks from leading a new life by striking fear into the newly freedmen's communities. The KKK would strike fear by hanging blacks, and people that supported the blacks that held congress positions