1865-77 'Standing in the Sun'

African Americans in 1865
1. Slavery formed a united identity for Africans to hold onto and keep their culture.
2. Possesed full civil rights and the male right to vote, but these rights were often theoretical. Still a lot of hostility toward African American equality.
3. The Republican party had formed opposing slavery and the civil war was underpinned with this idea.
4. In 1865 all slaves were formally freed by the ending of the Civil War. Turning Point for their progress in securing rights and freedom.
  1. They could have plantation marriages, worship freely, own property, become educated and travel freely.
5. The south was devestated from war and had lost their major economic income.
  1. In the Conventions up until 1868, many black men helped elect those who would rewrite the constitution of states before they could re-admit to the union.
    1. These systems were unpopular in the south, those southerners who aided the northerners in doing so were called 'Scalawags' and the said northerners were called 'Carpetbaggers'.
6. Blacks migration north/south
  1. Most black had remained in the South, although a few migrated North.
  2. Their right to vote and equality was still theoretical but their presensce suggested inspiration toward to constructing rights.
  3. Northern blacks took political opportunities to move to the South and pursue their political careers.
    1. Blanche K. Bruce served a the whole 6 years on the Senate (75-81). Although the first black leader, he lacked support from the others and therefore did little for civil rights. Others like Frederick Douglass also have political careers, but also did little.
7. Black prospects in the 1860s-70s
  1. There was fear that violence would ensue, that would prevent AAs from attempting to change their lives.
  2. 'South Carolina's Freedmen's Convention in 1865' summaries all that AAs knew that they needed. They needed to recongised as men, education, freedom to own land and they were to be treated with justice.
    1. Blacks were always faced by southern white resentment of their freedom, exploitation, racism and violence from whites
Political Change after 1865
1. Reconstruction 1865-1877: Reconstructing the infrastructure of Southern states, the Northern states attempt to impose the new status of African Americans. Yet the southerners resisted and by 1877 they had achieved the rights to run their own states.
  1. The South had been divided into military districts where Generals decided on the who could vote, and set up the state governments. They could nly have their own state governments once they accepted these changes.
2. President Johnson's opposition of african American civil rights: He struggled between Congress and Congress won and established more rights. (1865-1869)
  1. He believed that the South needed to be re-admited back to pre-war relations, just minus slavery.
  2. He pardoned thousands of Southern rebels who owned plantations, so that they could reassert their authority.
3. The 14th Amendment 1868: theoretically gave all freed blacks citizenship and protection under the law. It was created to prevent from other states claiming it unconstitutional.
4. The 15th Amendment 1870: Forbade the denial of the vote to any man, even on the basis of race.
5. The Civil Rights Act of 1866, apart from NAs, all other races were full citizens.
6. Radical Republicans, like Thaddeus Stevens, to a stern line to try and intergrate blacks into American society. They also believed that Reconstruction had to be controlled by the North.
  1. They were supported by the American Dream, as this entails the freedoms to prosper to all Americans, even the blacks.
  2. Not all politicians, even in Republicans, were as ambitious for bringing about rights for African Americans, they just liked the votes.
    1. But they still were successful in their aims, as although Johnson vetoed civil rights leglislations, this was defeated by 2/3 majority from Congress.
    2. Congress planned to impeach him, but this failed, although it did weaken him so that he stopped contesting Reconstruction.
The Freedman's Bureau 1865
1. Set up to support freed slaves in the short-term that would lead to long term security (e.g. finding them homes as they were poor and homeless)
2. Supported 'black self-help groups' whop provided education for blacks of all ages, from financial support coming from the North.
  1. Comprised of freedmen who compile their meagre earnings to buy land to provide schools, as Souther state governments weren't providing education for black children.
3. They trained black lawyers, scientists and teachers, indirectly educating future black leaders. But this education was for a minority of AAs, by 1890, 65% of southern blacks couldn't write.
4. Congress didn't renew this and it ended in 1872, showing a decline in Northern interest in the South.
  1. This ended federal government's support of black education.
5. Led by General Oliver Howard, who was genuinly interesded in the welfare of the African Americans. He was a great supporter of African American Education. He was also a war hero from the Civil War.
Sharecropping and Land Ownership
1. Most freedmen were wage-earning labourers, in the south they lacked the skills to anything other than sharecropping.
2. Sharecropping was where the white plantation owners couldn't afford the wages for workers, so they divided their lands up and freedmen could rent the land and give half of their crop to the owner for payment.
  1. The white land owners still oppressed them and gave strict supervision, as they claimed that the blacks were lazy workers. Hence blacks remained the bottom of the economic pile.
3. The 'Forty Acres and a mule' idea was that all freedmen should have such, but this was ineffective as Johnson practially allowed the land to return to the white landowners, whom it was confiscated from.
4. The 'crop-lien' system encouraged the production of cotton as the profits that were payed back for loans on tools and supplies were requested to be from cotton, as this was more reliable.
White Reaction to Black Freedom
1. The turning point of the post-civil war had been completely reversed by the southern's right to control their states by the end of Reconstruction in 1877, as they immediately began to reverse any progress made.
  1. In the 1870s they had developed their 'Redemption Governments' who were Democrat controlled began to work against the development of the AA rights.
    1. As it was clear that slavery wasn't returning, they northerners become less interested. Especially since their had been cases of corruption amongst carpetbaggers. The idea that states should be able to control their land with minimal federal influence.
      1. Congress passed a Civil Rights Act in 1875, extending rights into public places, it wasn't enforced .
      2. Cases such as 'US v. Cruikshank (1876)' were where the Supreme Court ruled that the Enforcement Act allowed federal officers to act only against states and not individuals.
  2. The Presidential Election of 1976 led to a Compromise. As the majority vote couldn't be found, the Republican Hayes agreed that if he removed troops from the South, they should accept him as their President.
2. The Slaughterhouse Case (1873) was where the Supreme Court decided that the rights of citizens were under control of the State, not Federal.
  1. The 14th Amendment was a protection of an individuals rights, not their state rights.
3. The Black Codes (1865/66) was where southern states were determined to keep blacks as inferior.
  1. The military commanders did remove these, but most northerners were shocked by these Southern attitudes.
  2. The codes varied between states, but they all defined the 'negro' as someone with at least 1/8 black blood. Inter-racial marriages were outlawed. Blacks couldn't give evidence against a white man in court. They weren't allowed to vote and they only had education in segragated schools.
  3. Developed the attitudes to return in 1877.
4. Formal segragation were obvious from as early as 1865 (de facto).
  1. It was suggested that in mixed-schools blacks would corrupt the other children. Hence blacks couldn't access higher education.
  2. Some didn't mind sharing homes and churches with blacks, as under slavery, but as long as they knew their level.
  3. There was a freedom of religion. Christianity gave them hope, encouragement and guidance. It became a great base for Organisations for self-help.
  4. The KKK formed in 1865, sought to enstill terror to enforce seperation as they often created acts of violence.
    1. This extended to not only blacks but those who supported them. They created an atmosphere of terror, majorly impeding support for African American civil rights.
  5. The Democrat controlled South
    1. As it was believed that blacks would vote Republican, the southerners even more viciously prevented blacks from voting, and until at least the 1960s they were a mostly Democratic dominated land.

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1865-77 'Standing in the Sun'

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