The Successes And Failures Of The Reconstruction Era

The Reconstruction Era lasted from 1865-1877, this was during the time period in which the United States was trying to rebuild after the Civil War and address the issue of slavery. This was supposed to give African Americans citizenship and voting rights but it didn’t go exactly according to plan. W.E.B. DuBois had an interesting perspective on Reconstruction since he lived through that era and witnessed effects of it. Success but also failures came out of this era and it all depends on what stance people have on it. …..….The 13th Amendment, ratified in 1865, abolished slavery in the United States. Some loopholes were that some Blacks faced convinct leasing and sharecropping.The

The reality for many African Americans was that they were being prevented from exercising their right to vote and faced violence in order to prevent them from doing so. Some of the most common tactics used against them were lynching and getting shot. The 15th Amendment gave former slaves the right to vote, but only for the men. Although this amendment was difficult to enforce at the time. As W.E.B. DuBois has stated, “The slave went free; stood for a brief moment in the sun; then moved back again toward slavery.” He spoke truth in this since some former slaves would’ve been able to relate to this since after Emancipation, they where able to take charge to choose what job and what type of labor they wanted to take part in. Although some farmers would take advantage of them and use a practice known as sharecropping, which was in a way similar to slavery, so in a way they weren’t entirely free. For some other former slaves, they took it as an opportunity to look for their missing family members. They would do this by traveling to plantations or farms and place advertisements in newspapers. Colleges were also established to give Blacks more of an opportunity for higher education. Some Black Southerners also joined

This took African Americans rights away and white supremacy became restored.Jim Crow laws were created as a way to legalize racial segregation. They were invented after the Civil War and they were created to marginalize African Americans by getting rid of some of their opportunities, such as getting hired for jobs, preventing them from voting, and receiving an education. Some people would try to speak against Jim Crow laws would get arrested, receive fines, get sentenced to jail, or face violence or death. …...….The Reconstruction Era finished with the Compromise of 1877. The Republican party obtained control and it ended the reconstruction efforts in the South. Then the Democrats one again, gained control of the Southern government and allowed policies that segregated people to continue to be enforced. Mainly against Black people, despite the fact that slavery had been abolished at that point. A lot of violence and intimidation against Black people was present so it made it difficult for them to excercise the 15th Amendment. What historians mean by saying, “The