Reconstruction Era EOTO

The topic of today's each-teach-one presentation was the reconstruction era. We learned about the bad, the good, and the in-between. 

The reconstruction era was the period after the American Civil War. This period was aimed at reorganizing the southern states after the Civil War. Just like every era in the USA, it had positives and negatives.

To start with the good things this era had to offer we discussed “Forty Acres and a Mule.”

This was a promise made by General Sherman for land distribution. They stated that 400,000 acres would be given to African American families. The plan was to take the land away from wealthy confederates to financially harm them.

Black leaders in Georgia felt that this would give freed families a place to escape discrimination and help them establish economic independence. 

Although this plan was on the right track it became a promise that was not kept. After the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, President Andrew Johnson rescinded the agreement and returned the 400,000 acres of land to the Confederate owners. 

Next, we discussed the amendments that were brought upon during the reconstruction era.

The first amendment was the thirteenth amendment, this amendment was set in place to abolish slavery because, at the end of the Civil War, it was still allowed. 

The next amendment was the Fourteenth Amendment, this amendment was set in place and granted legal citizenship and equal and civil rights to anyone who is born in the United States or has become a Citizen of the United States. 

The last amendment was the Fifteenth Amendment, this amendment was set in place to grant African American men the right to vote. 

The last “positive” thing we discussed was the Civil Rights Act of 1875. This act was set in place to guarantee all citizens, regardless of their skin color, access to public accommodations and the right to be included in jury duty. This law made history as the first accommodation law passed in the United States. 

Moving on to the negatives we first discussed the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. 

The death of Lincoln caused national grief and ended the possibility of peace, disarrayed the government, and even began a manhunt for his assassin, and his death even erased the progress of reconstruction like the 40 acres and a mule for example. 

Next, we discussed black codes. Black codes varied from state to state and they placed restrictions on Black Labor, Property, and Suffrage. 

These codes granted some civil rights such as the ability to marry and make contracts, yet they were denied the right to vote, serve on juries, and testify against white people.  

Then there were labor contracts, these contracts were required to be signed by African Americans, and they could be arrested, fined, or forced into unpaid labor if they refused to sign it. This also led to vagrancy laws, which meant black people could be arrested for being unemployed. And then many misdemeanors were treated as felonies, with harsh sentences and fines. 

We also discussed the Ku Klux Klan, or the KKK for short. They are a white supremacist hate group that is still around to this day. The organization was founded immediately after the Civil War.

The Klan wanted to overthrow the republican government and they chose the tactic of intimidating voters and especially targeted violence towards African Americans. 

The members of the Klansmen were individuals who hid in plain sight. And even adopted the name of the “Invisible Empire of The South.”

All in all the eoto was very informative and I learned new things as well as learning more information about the topics that we breezed over in school.