1. Chapter 18.2 – 18.3: End of Reconstruction
EQ:
How does Reconstruction help the South?
(give examples…Compromise?)

2. First Taste of Freedom Now free, African Americans -
Travel to find families, look for work
Freedmen’s Schools to become educated
full citizenship (14th Amendment)
Could legally marry
Males had the right to vote (Reconstruction Act 1867)

3. Finding Work Many returned to plantations as paid workers
Often thought pay was “extra” and housing and food should still be provided
Often still treated poorly by plantation owners, who would cheat them out of wages or other benefits

4. Sharecropping
Sharecropping = worker rents plot of land to farm, landowner providing tools, – at harvest time sharecropper gives landowner a share of the crop
Farmers wanted to grow food for family,landowners wanted cash crops like cotton
often caught in cycle of debt due to needing to buy food and other goods
Whites also became sharecroppers (lost land in war or to taxes)

5. Sharecropping

7. Ku Klux Klan African Americans still faced violent racism
Planters and former Confederates didn’t want blacks to have more rights
Formed secret group called Ku Klux Klan (KKK) in 1866
Goals included restoring Democratic control of South and keeping former slaves powerless
Attacked, beat, and burned down homes of blacks – sometimes even lynching them, often without consequences

9. 15th Amendment
Ulysses S. Grant wins presidential election of 1868 with help of Republicans
500,000 African Americans vote in election despite KKK attacking them
Radical Republicans worried Southern states might try to keep blacks from voting in future elections, so purpose 15th Amendment guaranteeing African Americans right to vote
15th Amendment = Citizens could not be stopped from voting on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude

10. Ways around the law….
To make it harder for African Americans to vote, states introduced poll taxes and literacy tests

11. FOR YOUR INFORMATION: Literacy Tests
Sometimes including reciting the entire US Constitution or Declaration of Independence from memory
Were often written exams which were worded poorly and confusing to the test taker
Literacy tests used through the 1960s in some parts of the country to try and stop African Americans from being able to vote

12. Example of 1960’s Literacy Test

13. Compromise of 1877
1876 presidential race between Samuel Tilden (D) and Rutherford Hayes (R) too close to call – Republicans and Democrats make deal allowing Hayes to become president and…
Compromise of 1877 =
Govt removed federal troops from South
Govt provided land grants, loans, and funds for improvement projects and construction of railroads linking North and South
President Hayes appoints Democrat to his cabinet
Democrats promised to respect African Americans’ civil and political rights

15. End of Reconstruction Compromise of 1877 marked end of Reconstruction
Passing of 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments all helped to correct injustices created by slavery
Reconstruction helped African Americans to make gains but they still lacked full rights by the time Reconstruction ended