After the war, African Americans entered a period of growth that had never been seen before. Driven by a desire to improve their lives and the lives of their families, freed slaves had taken up the opportunity to do things that they could have only dreamed of before the war. Gaining an education, becoming scholars, politicians, and artist to name a few. For a period of 20 or so years, the recently freed blacks flourished in open communities where race was less a factor.
While Lincoln had announced his Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, slavery was still in practice across the union. That is because, beyond popular belief, he did not free the slaves in the northern states. It was not until the passage of three constitutional amendments (13th, 14th, 15th) that the practice was permanently abolished. This and many other laws would define a decade. Its effects still ripple across the country to this day.
The first of these amendments, the 13th, formally abolished slavery across the entire country. The 14th, granted citizenship to all people “born or naturalized in the United States” and included all former slaves. This was extremely important because for some time after the war blacks were not granted full citizenship until the passage of the 14th. The last amendment was the 15th. This last of the amendment and prohibits states from disenfranchising voters, especially those who were recently freed.
The Freedmen’s Bureau was created almost immediately after the war. The bureau’s mission was to help rebuild the south in a way that was beneficial to African Americans. It also divvied up lands confiscated by those who fought against the Union and give it to blacks and whites who had fought for the United States in 40 acre portions. Even though the land grants were promised, Andrew Johnson had a different interpretation of reconstruction and changed the direction of the government and pardoned most if not all rebellious soldiers and leaders.
In many major cities in the south at the time, rebuilding after the war was the top priority. For the past 4 years America had seen it’s most destructive era that left much of the south in ruins. In Charlotte between the end of the war leading into the 1890s many cities in the south were racially integrated more than they are today. In these communities, the rich lived next to the poor, blacks lived next to whites.
Sharing many of the same concerns, blacks and lower-class whites joined forces to create a coalition “Fusion” Party. This party was formed to combat the reemergence of the Democratic party. The coalition was successful at first, effectively wiping democrats from power in the state. In the election of 1896, over 1000 black officials were elected or appointed to office.
This scared Democrats; in 1898, they began a campaign of fear-mongering. Their message began to spread throughout the state in democratic led and allied newspapers. They also resorted to using terrorist organizations. called the Red Shirts to scare blacks and keep them from voting in subsequent elections. By 1900, their efforts succeeding in regaining control of the state. Once in power, the Democrats began instituting what would become later become known as Jim Crow laws and stripped blacks of the rights that they had just recently gained.
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