Zealous Toward Social Harmony

Race Relations during Reconstruction

June 24, 2010 at 11:25 pm Leave a comment

Race relations of the post-bellum South throughout the 1890s were described as a “New Stillbirth of Freedom” by historian Mark Wahlgren Summers.  He believed that the promise of freedom had remained undelivered for blacks after they earned it by sacrificing their lives for America in the Civil War.  It was because of white racism that blacks were left behind as second class citizens in a nation built on a democratic foundation.  Therefore, due to the whites’ ownership of wealth and resources; laws and rights were withheld from African Americans even as Reconstruction from 1865 to 1877 attempted to balance the disparity between races.

Freedom was “promised” to Black Americans following the Civil War with early legislature by Abraham Lincoln, who was the first president to attempt Reconstruction.  Lincoln’s Thirteenth Amendment in 1865, not only abolished slavery everywhere in the United States, but it also declared that Congress shall have the power to enforce abolition by “appropriate legislation.”  The latter ensured that blacks received freedom on a federal level. 

In 1865, the Freedman’s Bureau, an unprecedented federal social program, was also established to protect the new freedoms of former slaves.  The federal bureau appeared as if it would help resolve refugee issues for blacks who were displaced after the war, while also allowing southern blacks and poor whites to get an education, receive property or land, and gain civil rights.  Controversy further arose as whites began to disprove the bureau, since it stood as an opportunity and compensation effort

Education began to be widely sought by blacks, no matter the age.  The Freedman’s Bureau helped blacks and poor white southerners obtain an education through founding over 4,000 schools as well as several universities.  The impact of education for free blacks helped them live closer to the ideal of American freedom and become less dependent on white land and plantation owners over time.  African American leaders of the Reconstruction Era were also highly educated people who wanted to extend the same education to more blacks.

An additional promise that was undelivered to free blacks was that they could receive 40 acres and a mule as ex-slaves under an agreement made by Union General William Sherman.  However, this land ownership was taken away by Lincoln’s successor, President Andrew Johnson, who in turn gave the land back to the original white plantation owners.  This aspect of Reconstruction failed because it forced free blacks to return to the farms of their masters.  Blacks also were limited to the type of labor they could perform because plantations were one of few employment opportunities available for their skills.  In 1880, 90 percent of all southern blacks depended on farming or personal and domestic service to make their livings (Norton p. 572).

It was apparent that the free blacks would be treated as second class citizens as long as white racism continued in the county.  Oppressive legislature and racism increased throughout the nation, disfranchising blacks and making any assimilation efforts for blacks nearly impossible.  In 1900, about nine-tenths of African Americans lived in the South where Jim Crow laws suppressed the race during the late 19^th century (Norton p. 604). The Jim Crow laws made segregation legal and separated public facilities between whites and blacks.  As long as separate areas for the races were equal, according to Plessy v. Ferguson, then the discrimination was permissible to exist at the state level.  Black codes were implemented within society so that the whites could limit the amount of freedom and rights former slaves could receive.  The codes set mandates for former slaves to carry passes and live within a certain household and curfew according to a white landowner.

Moreover African Americans constantly lived in fear in the South due to white supremacist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan, who terrorized blacks due to tense race relations.  The KKK didn’t want whites to lose their power over the minority, so it took violent actions.  There were more than 1,700 blacks lynched between 1889 and 1909 in the South.  It is known that a majority of the victims were accused of assault against white women, of which evidence was rarely found (Norton p. 572).  

Another promise of freedom was proposed when a new Republican plan during 1868 proposed the Fourteenth Amendment, which would bring about citizen rights for “all persons born or naturalized in the U.S.” while also prohibiting states from limiting “a person’s life, liberty, or property” (Norton p. 447).  Thus the Equal Protection Clause hypothetically extended rights to blacks that were only offered to whites in the past, such as voting. 

However, blacks were not granted the right to vote socially because there were voting tests that blacks had to pass in order to participate in elections.  Many blacks couldn’t pass these tests because they lacked adequate education, which was the intention of the whites.  The eligibility tests were a way for whites to keep the “inferior-minded” blacks from having a voice in politics.  Legislation didn’t grant blacks the right to vote until the Fifteenth Amendment was passed in 1869 by the support of Radicals.

Part of the reason for the unanswered social justice for African Americans in the nation was due to race relations and the history of thought among whites, in particular eugenics.  Scientists of the time period claimed that blacks were inferior by nature and according to Social Darwinism.  The “scientific findings,” which have today proven false, influenced a wide number of whites to believe that the reason why whites were dominate was on account of their natural superior intelligence.

Ultimately blacks were held inferior and oppressed by the time’s cycle of white racism.  Blacks did not have the same opportunities or resources that the whites in the country had at the time.  For instance, the whites manipulated the sharecropping industry.  In the mid to late 19^th century this agricultural business was exploited by whites to attempt to produce a profit.  The free blacks would rent land and other resources from white plantation owners to have a chance to grow cotton on their own.  However, economic issues with the decline in price of cotton and demand caused for little marginal profit for either blacks or whites.  

The blacks of the post-bellum times found numerous ways to cope with the failure of the Reconstruction.  One way the blacks tried to live better lives was by in-migrating to the North.  Those free blacks were in search of better economic and social lifestyles than what they experienced in the South.  Working conditions in agricultural sectors for blacks during the 1890s were similar to times of slavery.  Blacks were not hired by many factories at the time, so they had to resort to service jobs and worked grueling hours.  Wages for blacks were significantly less than white males as well.  Children and young adults who had to work either wanted to have fair wages or a chance to gain an education.  Some blacks who still worked in agriculture enjoyed some freedom in regards to choosing their own work hours, but otherwise they were not living a free life.

Other ways former slaves found a way to cope was by establishing their own culture and individual freedoms through social institutions and movements led by African American leaders. 

The black churches, of Methodist and Baptist denominations, developed into large social organizations that consisted of over 40,000 members.  The rapid growth of churches gave blacks a therapeutic refuge from racism in society, along with a place to become emotionally and spiritually stronger.  The churches also provided blacks with additional teachers that the black schools lacked, according to W. E. B. Du Bois in his essay entitled, “The Talented Tenth.”

Other formal organizations helped blacks create political reform and momentum within the country’s political spectrum.  The Radical Republicans led by Thaddeus Stevens, Charles Sumner, and George Julian were responsible for advocating many reform measures and public education for blacks.  Blacks had begun meeting as early as 1831 to discuss race relations and issues (W. E. B. Du Bois p. 844).  Leaders such as Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. Du Bois were catalysts in creating the National Afro-American Council in 1903.  The group was formed to protest lynches and other acts of racism that have been building up throughout the decades.  In 1910, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was organized during the Progressive Period for further reform for blacks.

In all, Reconstruction failed to yield freedom to all free blacks of the post-bellum era on account of widespread white racism and internalization.  It was embedded in the minds of the whites in society that blacks were inferior either through a eugenics school of thought or by the animosity created between the races due to the nation’s slavery or Civil War past.  The promise of slavery was also not fulfilled in all areas because some whites neglected to inform their slaves that they were free and kept them enslaved.  So the free blacks struggled to obtain their complete rights including education, land, and citizen duties, and thus freedom was a struggle.

Entry filed under: Civil Rights, Racism. Tags: abolition, abraham lincoln, Civil war, freedman's bureau, race relations, reconstruction, south, thirteenth amendment.