DK - The American Civil War

outweighed those who had

“made these lands what they

are.” They urged plaintively,

“We wish to have a home if it

be but a few acres. Without

some provision ... our

situation is dangerous.”

Sharecropping

Former slaves saw freedom in

the same terms as Lincoln had

done—“the God-given right

to enjoy the fruits of their

own labor”—yet they

achieved minimal economic

gains in the years after the

war. The failure to obtain

land or compensation left people few

options. Without savings or influence,

they were at the mercy of white

landowners and politicians. A labor

system known as “sharecropping”

spread throughout the South, offering

the illusion of upward mobility. This

system bound tenant farmers to the

land through an annual contract under

which the tenant’s crop was “shared,”

typically fifty-fifty, with the landowner.

Several factors worked against the

success of the system, including low

crop prices, accumulated debts on the

The Reality of Black Freedom

For former slaves, Reconstruction changed everyday life considerably. African-Americans shaped

their own communities and achieved long-sought rights and freedoms. Yet Reconstruction remained an

“unfinished revolution” while African-Americans faced continuing racism and economic inequality.

LEGACIES OF THE WAR

later in the year, it lacked the necessary

support, and President Andrew Johnson

ordered the return of confiscated

properties. As a result, former slaves

felt deeply betrayed. On Edisto Island,

South Carolina, petitioners wrote

angrily to Johnson, declaring that the

rights of traitorous former masters

F

ormer slaves greeted

freedom as the coming

of “Jubilee,” an ancient

Hebrew principle that had

promised emancipation after

a period of enslavement

to a landowner. But they

understood that freedom

alone was not enough to

overcome racism and poverty

and, like many white

Americans, they regarded

land ownership as the very

foundation of true freedom.

Forty acres and a mule

Some Northerners agreed

that without land and education

Southern blacks would not advance in

society. During the war, the Union

army had begun temporary

experiments to give plantation lands

to refugee slaves. In early 1865, Union

general William T. Sherman’s Special

Field Order No. 15 distributed

abandoned or confiscated land along

the South Carolina and Georgia coast to

more than 10,000 families in parcels of

40 acres. Some were also given an army

mule. But when the matter of land

redistribution came before Congress

BEFORE

As slaves, African-Americans were

considered property by law and had

no basic human rights.

MALTREATMENT

If a master killed his slave by abuse, it was

not considered a felony. Slaves could also be

whipped, branded, or bound in painful collars and

cuffs. Masters could take sexual advantage of

female slaves with impunity.

EDUCATION OUTLAWED

In most slave states it was against the law to

teach a slave to read and write out of the

fear that knowledge would lead to rebellion.

NO RIGHTS

Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger Taney wrote

in 1857 that African-Americans “had no rights

which the white man was bound to

respect” << 26–27. Among other restrictions,

slaves could not sue in court, testify against

whites, or protect their families from separation.

part of the sharecroppers to local

merchants, and periods of crop failure.

After harvest, many sharecroppers

found themselves mired deep in debt.

While a minority of them began to

rise in life, many remained trapped

in a poverty that affected them and

the region for decades.

Building black communities

Although racism and discrimination

remained, Reconstruction brought

many changes to everyday life. The

significant social transformations that

took place appear all the greater when

compared with the hardships of slavery.

Slave marriages were not legally

binding, and families could be separated

through sale. In freedom, former slaves

married and labored to reunite lost

family members. Black families tried to

turn the ideal of the bread-winning

father, home-making wife, and properly

schooled children into reality.

Newly founded churches played

crucial roles in the community. Formal

black churches had been uncommon

under slavery, while in the master’s

church, sermons described slavery

as worthwhile and godly. During

Reconstruction, the flourishing black

churches became community centers.

Black ministers prophesied a new age

of freedom, comparing emancipated

slaves to the Israelites released from

“The First Vote”

A contemporary magazine cover illustrates black

voters in the South casting their votes for the first

time, in state elections in 1867.

Marriage of a black soldier

A black couple is married by Chaplain Warren of the

Freedmen’s Bureau. On being freed, many black couples

married, knowing they could not be lawfully separated.

“All persons born or naturalized

in the United States ... are

citizens of the United States ...”

SECTION 1 OF THE 14 AMENDMENT TO THE U.S. CONSTITUTION, RATIFIED IN 1868

Freedmen’s school

A teacher and her pupils are pictured outside a

Freedmen’s school in North Carolina. In the 1860s,

the Freedmen’s Bureau established thousands of

such schools for black children.