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LIVES OF AFRICAN AMERICANS DURING THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR AND RECONSTRUCTION
LIVES OF AFRICAN AMERICANSDURING THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR AND
RECONSTRUCTION
Name of Student
Institution affiliation
LIVES OF AFRICAN AMERICANSDURING THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR AND
RECONSTRUCTION
After the year 1865 when the American civil warended, African Americans in America achieved their freedom althoughthey still faced numerous challenges. During Reconstruction, theRepublican Party that got rooted in the South represented a coalitionof blacks (who made up the majority of Republican voters in theregion), and this gave them the power to win elections as well asspearhead their freedom.
During Radical Reconstruction, which got initiatedin 1867, newly enfranchised blacks achieved a say in government inthe American history for the first time, this got marked by theirwinning of election to the legislature of the southern state and evento the United States Congress. Under the regime of President AndrewJohnson in 1865 to 1866, the newly formed government of the southernstate enacted restrictive “black codes” that aimed at controllingthe labor as well as the behavior of former slaves and other AfricanAmericans.
The various amendments that got instituted duringthe American civil war and reconstruction impacted both positivelyand negatively on them. For instance, the end of the civil war led tothe achievement of freedom of African Americans as their deliveryfrom slavery got enhanced.
The institutionalization of the 14th Amendmentgave African Americans a chance to get recognized as Americancitizens and they received protection from the federal government.After the reconstruction, a 15th amendment got passed, and thisinstituted the right to vote on black men, Freeman’s Bureau gotestablished to help in the training as well as the registration ofvoters and educate blacks on matters concerning voting and the law.
Some barriers impacted negatively on this groupdespite the fact that they had achieved freedom, some whitesoutherners who owned large plantations had lost their cheap labor,and so they tried to stop the freedom strategy by instituting “blackcodes” that posed a challenge to African Americans. The blackbenefited by being enrolled in schools that help them improve theirliteracy levels.
African Americans participated in the Americancivil war and reconstruction in some ways. They served as nurses,cooks and blacksmiths during the war. They got used in the buildingof fortifications and the performance of some camp duties they actedas scouts as well as spies to the union army, and their fundamentalrole was that of providing valuable information about the plans,forces, and terrain of their enemies or the Confederate army(Arenson, 2013). During the Reconstruction, blacks participated inenforcing their freedom through voting and after the implementationof a policy that allowed them to attend school, they became literate,and they were able to fight for their rights.
African Americans were victims and beneficiariesof the American civil war and reconstruction, since they got engagedin the war, and they acted as slaves before the year 1865.Theybenefited from the legislation that led to the end of African slaveryas well as the legislation that resulted in the institution of theirright to vote.
The Conclusion
It is practically evident that the American civilwar and reconstruction brought about a variety of benefits toAfrican-Americans, but at the same time, there were somedisadvantages. Most southerners felt that the act of stopping slavelabor hampered their farming and thus resulted in numerous trials ofpreventing the working arrangements by the government. Despite thefact that there existed various stumbling blocks towards black’sfreedom, still these obstacles failed to hold much resistance to thepoint of stopping these advances.
Reference
Arenson, A. (2013). Experience Rather than Imagination:Researching the Return Migration of African North Americans duringthe American Civil War and Reconstruction. Journal of AmericanEthnic History, 32(2), 73-77.doi:10.5406/jamerethnhist.32.2.0073
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