African Americans Life in the South 1865-1877 Essay

African Americans improve life in Southern Society Between 1865-1877
7/14/13

After the civil war, the country started to unify the union which is now called the “Reconstruction”. The length of reconstruction was from 1865 to 1877. That included abolishing slavery. On December 18, 1863 congress passed the thirteenth amendment abolishing slavery. After the amendment had been passed southern states came up with ways for African American to not have any civil rights. The Southern States passed the Jim Crow laws and Black codes. African American had no rights in the south. African Americans wanted a better life for themselves and their families. After being freed from slavery in 1863 African Americans needed to adjust to society.
After being in slavery for hundreds of years African Americans only knew how to farm and serve other people. It was challenging for black people to make changes; African Americans improved their position in southern society economically, socially and politically between the years of 1865-1877.
Confederates did not want slavery to end. They did anything possible to stop African Americans from having rights in the south.   “African American community as an economic, political or social equal and were determined to resist any change in the status quo antebellum.... whites instituted the systematic abridgement of black rights through fraud ,terror, intimidation , and the perversion of electoral ,legislative, and   judicial systems. The federal government simultaneously failed to protect and defend black rights.”
As time passed, economically black people started to improve their lives little by little. African Americans joined the freedmen's bureau; which provided food, clothing, shelter, healthcare and education. “The program was administered by the Department of War and was first headed by General Oliver Otis Howard who was appointed the position on May 13, 1865 by President Abraham Lincoln.”The program was to help blacks adjust in...