1. Civil Rights Beginnings
Reconstruction – time period between 1865 and Goal of reconstruction was to rebuild the South and reunite the nation.
After Lincoln is assassinated, Andrew Johnson takes over and sets three terms for reunification:
Nullify acts of secession
Abolish slavery
Refuse to pay Confederate war debts
Results:
Confederate leaders are put in charge of southern governments.
Many former confederates still paraded around in their uniforms after the war.
Got to be representatives in government even though they were considered traitors.

2. Civil Rights Beginnings
13th Amendment – Abolished Slavery.
State of Mississippi refused to ratify it or accept it. Johnson let it go.
Some southern lawmakers didn’t like union troops (especially African-American troops) in the South. So Johnson had them removed.
Black Codes – laws established to prevent Blacks from achieving social, political, and economic equality.
Examples:
No meetings unless whites were there
Can’t travel without permits
Can’t own guns
Can’t go to schools with whites
Can’t serve on juries
Codes put Whites in control of Black labor.

3. Civil Rights Beginnings
14th Amendment – gave full citizenship to all people born in the U.S. No Voting Rights though.
This law was made to make the South lose representation in Congress based on how many African American males were not allowed to vote.
They thought this would force the South to allow Blacks to vote instead of lose representation in Congress.
Didn’t work.
Tried to impeach Johnson, fell one vote short. Government was effectively a mess.

4. Civil Rights Beginnings
Sharecropping – White plantation owners with support of southern lawmakers swindled or tricked many African- Americans into slavery roles through these contracts.
Activity: Sharecropping Contract
Jim Crow Laws – laws created to keep African-Americans from organizing and becoming too powerful. Also, common factor was segregation or separation of races.
Jim Crow name origin -
De Facto Segregation – traditional racism, always around.
Du Jure Segregation – legal racism determined by laws.
Jim Crow Laws Examples - attachment

5. Civil Rights Beginnings
Literacy and poll tests – tests given to people in the south who tried to vote that lawmakers didn’t want to allow to vote. In other words all minorities. If you failed the test, you cannot vote.
Test time: 10 minutes
Plessey vs. Fergusson (1896) – supreme court said education could be separate, but equal. It was not really equal, but was intended to continue segregation in the south.
This was the norm for education until 1954 and the Brown vs. Board of Education case.
Combating segregation methods:
Booker T. Washington – wait for change, don’t make waves.
W.E.B. Du Bois – lawyer, created NAACP, wanted rights now.