1865-1877 - Reconstruction Era

Question 1

What did the 13th Amendment achieve and when was it

Answer 1

• 1865
• political
• abolished slavery in the US

Question 2

Limitations of the 13th Amendment

Answer 2

• southern states found ways to maintain control over freed slaves
• used things such as the Black codes and sharecropping

Question 3

What was the purpose of the 14th Amendment

Answer 3

• 1868
• Granted citizenship and equal protection under the law to all persons born in the US
• It was response to the Black Codes and was meant to protect AA from discriminatory state laws

Question 4

Limitations of the 14th Amendment

Answer 4

• Plessy v Ferguson 1896
• legalised segregation provided ‘separate but equal’
• made segregation legal in schools, public transport etc

Question 5

How did the 15th Amendment impact AA

Answer 5

• 1870
• granted black MEN the right to vote

Question 6

Limitations of 15th Amendment

Answer 6

• southern states introduced poll tax, literacy tests and the grandfather clause to suppress turnout
• the KKK and other white supremacists groups also used violence to intimidate AA voters

Question 7

What role did the Freedman’s Bureau play?

Answer 7

• Established in 1865
• provided food, housing, education and legal assistance to freed slaves

Question 8

Limitations of Freedmen’s Bureau

Answer 8

• underfunded
• faced resistance from white southerners
• closed in 1872 due to a vote from congress who were pressured by Southern states

Question 9

Who was Booker T Washington and what was his approach?

Answer 9

• believed in vocational education ( training for skills and knowledge for jobs) and economic self-reliance of AA
• founded the Tuskegee institute to provide training

Question 10

Criticisms of Booker T Washington

Answer 10

• ‘Atlanta Compromise’ 1895 speech
• suggested AA should accept segregation in exchange for economic progress
• This was criticised by W.E.B Du Bois

Question 11

What were the two main forms of opposition to AA during this period?

Answer 11

• The Black Codes
• KKK

Question 12

What was the purpose of the Black codes

Answer 12

• social, economic factor
• a number of laws enacted by southern states, forcing them into Labour contracts that resembled slavery

Question 13

What were a few of the Black codes introduced across Southern States?

Answer 13

• Vagrancy laws: if an AA did not have steady work they could be charged with vagrancy. Punishment could include forced labour on a plantation
• Apprentice laws: applied to minors and instead of being placed with fosters or orphanages, young orphans were forced to work for white people as labourers.
• Labour contract laws: required AA present evidence that they had employment for the year, punishment could be arrested and all wages lost

Question 14

How were the Black codes enforced?

Answer 14

• local polices and state militias
• many were former confederate soldiers

Question 15

How did the KKK impact AA during reconstruction?

Answer 15

• social, political impact
• KKK used terror tactics such as lynching, arson and intimidation to prevent rights
• mainly voting rights

Question 16

Examples of the KKK using terror tactics

Answer 16

• Columbia county 1868 election
• April election: Republican Rufus Bollock won the state with 1,144 votes
• November election: Democrat Horatio Seymour won the state as only 116 dared to vote
• Showed fear tactics used by KKK to prevent voting, allowing democrats to regain control of Georgia

Question 17

What was the significance of the compromise of 1877

Answer 17

• Ended reconstruction by withdrawing federal troops from the south, allowing white democrats to regain control
• led to prevention of AA voting and the implementation of the Jim Crow Laws

Question 18

How were the KKK limited?

Answer 18

• 1870 & 1871 Enforcement acts: made it a crime to interfere with registration, voting and more than 5,000 were indicted a little more than 1,000 were convicted
• KKK act 1871: allowed the government to pass acts against terrorist organisations. But were not rigorously enforced

Question 19

Key political figures during the period

Answer 19

• Joseph Rainey: 1st AA elected to congress
• Hiram Revels: Black Mississippi senator elected after the south seceded
• Blanche K Bruce: US politician Mississippi, first AA to serve a full term from 1875-1881
• Jefferson Long: First AA from Georgia to be elected to the HoR

Question 20

What was the Alcorn State Uni

Answer 20

• first black land grant college in US
• Founded in 1871 to provide higher education for freedmen

Question 21

What was the Colfax Massacre

Answer 21

• 1873
• largest racial massacre in US history
• Southern whites murdered 150 AA on Easter Sunday in Louisiana