African Americans

Question 1

Improvements in economic and employment right

Answer 1

• 13th amendment (1865) —> abolished slavery - but no civil rights
• some black Americans get jobs outside farming - however majority end up continuing to work on plantations + remain in the south
• white southerners still want to continue the slavery systems - don’t want blacks to break out of poverty cycle
• money was a barrier for blacks - can’t learn new skills + can’t afford time of share cropping

Question 2

Obstacles for black Americans acquiring economic equality

Answer 2

• Freedmen’s Bureau vetoed by Johnson (in April 1866) as he only cared about southern poor whites
• share cropping —> don’t get much land —> don’t make much profit due to crop lien system of giving crops to land owners to sell
• Johnson pardons 13000 southerners
• segregated society - parallel businesses catering for blacks - grocery shops, barbers etc.

Question 3

Early signs that blacks would acquire representation in the south

Answer 3

• Hiram Revels - first black senator
• 22 blacks were elected in congress in 1970s
• Blachte K Bruce served a full six year term - first African American to hold real political power, however generally lacked support from other politicians + unable to increase civil rights
• scalawags - white Americans that cooperated with Africans Americans
• state conventions - draw African Americans to vote - 700,000 after the 15th amendment - shows they were willing to be politically involved, contrasting racist ideology that black Americans enjoyed working on their land + not voting

Question 4

Limitations politically

Answer 4

• southern states introduced policies for voting
• literacy test - freedmen would not be literate
• grandfather clause - allowed anyone who was allowed to voted before 1870 to vote - therefore not excluding illiterate whites

Question 5

What did southern states do to limit blacks’ social mobility?

Answer 5

• blacks weren’t protected by the police as they were controlled by the state
• southern states corrupted by racism - blacks need federal support but they don’t receive this due to failed reconstruction
• blacks couldn’t stand up in court against whites

Question 6

Contribution/significance of black Americans in civil rights (1865-77)

Answer 6

• over 700,000 black men enrolled to vote
• 20 blacks were elected to the House of Representatives during the reconstruction era
• 2 blacks were elected to the senate (Hiram Revels and Blanche K.Brice)

Question 7

Limitations of black Americans’ role in civil rights?

Answer 7

• success is only in the short term + aren’t elected in proportion to their numbers
• Revels only sat for one year, but Bruce sat for the full 6 year term
• while Bruce was the first black leader to have an important political careeer after the civil war, he lacked support from others and was unable to advance civil rights for blacks in general
• Bruce, Revels and Douglas were unable to extend and increase freedoms - they were anomalies not the norm

Question 8

Freedmen’s Bureau

Answer 8

• it was the responsibility of the Freedmen’s Bureau to foster black freedom in the former confederacy states
• created by an act of Congress on March 3, 1865
• the bureau could issue provisions, clothing, fuel, temporary shelter to help white refugees and freedmen
  assigned up to forty acres of land to every male citizen
• revoked the same year by Johnson

Question 9

Why did reconstruction end?

Answer 9

• due to the result of the 1876 presidential election between Republican Rutherford B.Hayes and Democrat Samuel Tilden
• due to accusations of corrupt ballots in three southern states 19 electoral college votes were disputed - without these electrolysis votes Hayes was in favour
• Tilden accepted defeat for a republican pledge that troops would be removed from the southern states
• this amendments were no longer enforced