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The period following the Civil War marked both promise and peril for African Americans. In 1881, Booker T. Washington founded the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, emphasizing vocational training, farming trades, and the importance of hard work. Washington believed practical skills would help African Americans gain economic independence and social acceptance.

Booker T. Washington

However, the nation faced dramatic setbacks. Lincoln's assassination by John Wilkes Booth on Good Friday 1865 was a single gunshot that changed the nation's trajectory. Booth had changed his plans from kidnapping to assassination, ultimately altering the entire course of Reconstruction. Without Lincoln's vision for compassionate reconciliation, efforts to maintain white supremacy intensified, sparking intense conflicts that would last for generations.

The end of slavery brought four million people into civilian life, but freedom came with brutal challenges. Sharecropping became the new system of exploitation as plantations were divided into small crops. Freedmen had to buy supplies on credit and most sharecroppers ended each season deeply in debt, trapped in a cycle barely different from slavery itself.

Sharecropping 

Despite these obstacles, Black political participation during Reconstruction (1865-1877) was remarkable. The passage of the 13th Amendment in 1865 abolished slavery, and Black men gained the right to vote. They rushed to register and served as city council members, proving their commitment to democratic participation. However, they faced constant violence and systematic efforts to prevent them from electing officials.

The limitations of Reconstruction eventually pushed African Americans to seek freedom elsewhere. The Great Migration, spanning 1916-1970, saw approximately six million African Americans leave the South to move north and west. They found work in factories and transformed entire American society. Cities like New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, and Detroit saw their African American populations increase dramatically.

The Great Migration

Yet even in the North, migrants faced racial segregation in housing and employment discrimination. The journey proved that African Americans would seek freedom anywhere they could find it, refusing to accept the oppression of Jim Crow. Their determination to build better lives, whether through education at places like Tuskegee or through migration to northern cities, demonstrated an unwavering commitment to claiming the freedom that had been promised but never fully delivered.

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Legal Oppression and Broken Promises

The end of the Civil War in 1865 should have marked the beginning of true freedom for African Americans. Instead, the Reconstruction era became a period of systematic oppression where newly freed people faced laws, violence, and intimidation designed to maintain white supremacy.

Black Codes emerged during Reconstruction as Southern states' primary tool for controlling newly freed African Americans. These laws demonstrated that legal freedom without equality is meaningless. Black Codes banned African Americans from voting, owning firearms, and exercising basic civil rights. 

Legal discrimination extended even into personal relationships through anti-miscegenation laws that banned interracial marriage. These laws violated the 14th Amendment's guarantee of equal protection, yet they remained on the books for decades. They represented another way white supremacy attempted to control Black lives by dictating who people could love and marry.

Violence and Terror as Tools of Control

While Black Codes represented legal oppression, the Ku Klux Klan provided the violent enforcement. Founded in 1865 in Tennessee immediately after the Civil War ended, the KKK targeted African Americans and their white supporters. The organization deliberately chose costumes designed to look like ghosts or spirits, exploiting superstitions to maximize fear. This psychological warfare worked—African Americans became terrified to speak publicly or exercise their rights because of KKK threats and violence.

The KKK's most horrific weapon was lynching. Between the 1880s and 1930s, lynching peaked as a tool to terrorize Black Americans throughout the South. Over 4,000 documented Black victims died from lynching, though the actual number was likely higher. These public murders served as brutal reminders that white supremacists would use extreme violence to maintain racial hierarchy.

The KKK

Not all Reconstruction-era developments were negative. Carpetbaggers, Northern opportunists who moved South after the Civil War, played complex roles. While Southerners viewed them negatively and blamed them for various problems, many carpetbaggers actually contributed positively by working with freedmen and Southern Republicans. They helped establish public school systems throughout the South, creating educational opportunities that hadn't existed before. However, anti-carpetbagger sentiment eventually contributed to Reconstruction's end as white Southerners rejected Northern influence.

The Reconstruction era was also marked by significant national tragedy. President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated on April 14, 1865, at Ford's Theater by John Wilkes Booth. Booth fled and evaded capture for twelve days before being found and killed on April 26, 1865. Lincoln's death was devastating because he had advocated for more compassionate Reconstruction policies. His successor, Andrew Johnson, proved far less sympathetic to African American rights.

The Reconstruction era reveals a painful truth: ending slavery was just the first step in a much longer struggle for true equality. Black Codes, the KKK, lynching, and discriminatory laws all worked together to deny African Americans the freedom they had technically been granted. Legal emancipation proved incomplete without economic opportunity, political power, physical safety, and genuine social equality. The violence and oppression of Reconstruction cast long shadows that America continues confronting today.

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Reconstruction era video

The Reconstruction era represented America's greatest opportunity to truly become a land of freedom and equality. When Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant in 1865, the nation faced fundamental questions: Who is a citizen? What rights would formerly enslaved people have? The answers would shape America for generations.

Over 180,000 Black soldiers had fought for the Union during the Civil War, yet they still had few legal rights after the war ended. The 13th Amendment, which passed Congress in January 1865, abolished slavery, but freedom meant more than just not being enslaved. As Frederick Douglass and others argued, true freedom required land ownership and economic independence. 

 

The plans

President Abraham Lincoln had spoken about reconstruction plans, but his assassination on Good Friday 1865 changed everything. His successor, Andrew Johnson, proved to be no friend to Black Americans. Johnson gave Southern states a free hand in controlling the Black community, leading to the creation of oppressive Black Codes that recognized slavery's end in name only while severely restricting Black people's rights.

White Southern resistance was fierce and violent. The Ku Klux Klan formed to terrorize Black communities and strip away their newfound freedoms through nighttime attacks. White Southerners never believed Black people would become their equals and fought bitterly against change. Southern states even refused to ratify the 14th Amendment for a year, forcing Congress to exclude Southern delegates until they complied.

The period saw both incredible achievement and crushing setbacks. Formerly enslaved people placed ads in newspapers searching for family members torn apart by slavery. The 1866 Civil Rights Bill passed, granting citizenship rights. Yet Edward Pollard's "Lost Cause" narrative began rewriting history, claiming the North had violated Southern rights.

               The Lost Cause(1866)

The three years following the Civil War were simultaneously the most hopeful and most violent period of Reconstruction. One hundred years after emancipation, Black Americans were still fighting for the basic rights that should have been guaranteed during this era. Reconstruction left a complicated legacy one of both inspiring progress and devastating violence that reminds us how difficult true social change can be.

Recent events, like the 2015 Charleston massacre committed by a 21 year old white supremacist, show that the racial tensions from Reconstruction still echo today. The unfinished work of Reconstruction continues.

Reconstruction Video

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Plessy v Ferguson Economic Destruction

When we talk about segregation , it's usually about the moral arguments and civil rights. But there's another angle that doesn't get talked about as much  segregation was actually terrible for the economy. Looking at the Plessy v. Ferguson case from 1896, you can see how Louisiana's segregation laws didn't just hurt people  they hurt the state's economy too.

Everything Had to Be Built Twice

Think about how expensive it would be if every business had to build two of everything. That's basically what segregation required. Louisiana needed duplicate rail cars, separate waiting rooms, two different schools, different hospitals literally two of everything. All of this cost a ton of money that could have been spent on actually improving things other than duplicating things.

Separate bathrooms for whites and blacks

The railroad companies were especially upset about this. The Louisville & Nashville Railroad actually refused to follow the law at first because it was so crazy  expensive. They had to buy extra train cars, build new facilities, and hire more workers just to keep people separated. When businesses are actively fighting against a law because it's killing their profits, that's a pretty good sign the policy doesn't make economic sense.

Segregation also messed up Louisiana's job market in a major way. Qualified workers couldn't get hired for positions just because of their race, which meant less productivity overall. Black business owners couldn't open shops in good locations, which meant less competition and innovation. The state was basically shooting itself in the foot by limiting an entire group of people from contributing to the economy.

Meanwhile, Northern states that didn't have these laws were doing way better economically. They were growing their industries faster and getting more investment because investors didn't want to deal with all the legal headaches that came with segregation laws.

Louisiana's Image Problem

Segregation also made Louisiana look bad to the rest of the country and the world. Business investors from the North and Europe saw these laws as backwards and didn't want to invest in a state that seemed stuck in the past they were more focused about the present. Talented people both Black and white started leaving Louisiana for states that had better opportunities and fewer discriminatory laws. All those doctors, lawyers, engineers, and entrepreneurs who left took their skills and money with them.

Even tourism took a hit. Cities like New Orleans lost out on conventions and visitors because people didn't want to deal with complicated segregation rules. Those tourists and business travelers went to cities like Chicago and New York instead, taking their money with them.

On top of all the economic damage, the state had to spend extra money enforcing segregation laws. Police, inspectors, and courts all cost taxpayer money. Louisiana was literally spending resources to prosecute people like Homer Plessy for just sitting in a train car. That money could have been used for actual problems like crime, roads, or education. They were just spending money to spend money.

The whole situation shows that segregation wasn't just morally wrong it was economically stupid. It wasted money, hurt productivity, scared away investors, and made the state look bad. Removing these kinds of barriers would have let the economy work better and let everyone contribute. Louisiana might have lost this argument in court in 1896, but looking back, it's pretty clear they were right about the economic costs and the whole situation.

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Gone With The Wind Reflection

Watching Gone with the Wind at first I thought it was just going to be very boring. It was truly  very eye opening. I did not expect it at all.

The female character that surprised me the most had to be Scarlett O’Hara, played by Vivien Leigh. She was outstanding in how she portrayed her character. She started off spoiled and obsessed with her social status. She definitely was not nice at all. I actually could not stand her at all.  She definitely thought that everything could just be handed to her. But after the war I think she realized that she faced such a big thing and that she was a survivor. I actually did not like her at all in the beginng but I definitely did respect her. She did so much to rebuild her life. But overall there were many people that still judged her for it.

Scarlett O'hare

 
 Another female character that really impressed me was Mammy, played by Hattie McDaniel. She was very smart and spoke really well. She was the servant In the movie but she definitely did feel like the main character. She's not afraid to speak out and boss someone around an example is scarlett. She said “Miss Scarlett’s been through a heap, and I’m mighty proud of her.” She still did care about her even though she didnt agree with some of the things she did. I researched a little more about her character and I found that she was the first African American to win an oscar for this movie. I thought that was really cool.

Mammy

Although these two characters really stood out to me, Rhett Butler was another one. At first I was just amazed at how selfish he was and only cared about himself and money. But after watching the movie a little more I didn't realize how honest he was. He knew that everything was going on and by knowing what was going on he tried to make money off the war. So he definitely was a little sneaky.

  Before the war in the movie it was really cool to see what the south looked like and how calm it was. Showing all the plantations and how the enslaved people were all happy but I was still a little confused about that because usually in reality the enslaved people would have not been happy. I did not like that at all. It turns this part of history that many people suffered into something happy.

After watching some of this movie now, I definitely did see why it was a classic. I was so impressed by the acting. It truly opened my eyes about disaster  and how people can deal with change just like that.