The Ku Klux Klan

The Ku Klux Klan is a white supremacist group which originated in 1866, following the civil war, and it became the country's first ever domestic terror group. They initially wanted to stop all blacks from voting, but eventually their goals became to deprive blacks of all rights whatsoever and create a white America. Not only did they target blacks by lynching and killing them, but they also attacked many whites who sided with the blacks and were radical republicans who wanted equal rights for all people. Nowadays, they claim to be trying to restore the world order peacefully, but they clearly do not know what exactly peace is because they still attempt to instill fear in all other races because of their strong white-supremacist views. All throughout history, members have dressed in white clothes that cover their whole body and head so as not to be identified, calling themselves the white knights. The new amendments to the constitution started the KKK and it has continued and led to more and more fear among blacks as time has passed. Today they continue to send letters to victims and burn crosses and other cultural items in protest of equality.


angryblacklady.com
http://www.history.com/topics/ku-klux-klan

Henry McNeal Turner and Black Legislators

Henry McNeal Turner was a minister at the African Methodist Episcopal Church in Georgia who was elected to the Georgia General Assembly, although he and other black legislators were taken out of power by the white supremacists who ran the mostly Democratic legislature. The white democrats claimed that the blacks had the right to vote but not to hold office, and the federal government had to intervene and called it unconstitutional to do that. The black legislatures got their seats back. Before the whole ordeal, Turner received an education in Washington D.C., where he met some powerful friends, Charles Sumner (who was caned to death) and Thaddeus Stevens, as well as other powerful figures. He used them to get a jump start into the political world, in which he excelled greatly. Despite receiving many threats from the KKK and other hate groups, Turner established a Republican party in Georgia and went on to serve the legislature as a representative from Macon. His accomplishments happened because he defied the odds to get an education and he effected Georgia by acting as a prominent black politician and role model at the time.



















http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-632
en.wikipedia.org

The 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments

The 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments were all new, slavery-related amendments which were passed at the end of the civil war. They were passed as a result of the abolition of slavery, and they all led to better treatment of blacks even though they also led to some hate groups as well.Here is a synopsis of all three, known as the Reconstruction Amendments.

13th Amendment:
The 13th amendment to the constitution was the one which completely outlawed slavery and forced labor, except as a result from a crime/punishment. It was passed on January 31, 1865, and was adopted on December 6, 1866.

14th Amendment:
The 14th amendment to the constitution was the one in which all freedmen were guaranteed citizenship and equal protection under the U.S. laws. It also prevented all former Confederate officers from holding office in the country. It was adopted on July 9,1868.

15th Amendment:
The 15th amendment to the constitution was the one in which all men (not yet women) were given the right to vote, regardless of skin color or if they were a slave in the past. It was ratified on February 3, 1870.


www.abhmuseum.org
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirteenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourteenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifteenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution

Reconstruction Plans

The reconstruction era that directly followed the civil war was a time in which the entire south was in a deep economic depression due to war debts and low morale. Reconstruction in the south was caused because of the civil war and its economic impact, and it led to racism and eventually the betterment of the southern economy. There were three main plans for reconstruction, made by three different people or groups of people.

1. Lincoln's Plan-
Abraham Lincoln, the president of the United States at the time, felt that it was crucial for the south to be quickly reunited with the northern states. In his plans, southerners were pardoned after taking an oath of allegiance to the north. and when 10% of voters in a state had taken the oath, they were allowed to have their state rejoin the Union.

2. Andrew Johnson-
Johnson, the vice president of the confederacy at the time, agreed fully with Lincoln's plan and also added a few touches of his own. Firstly, the 13th amendment was required to be passed, guaranteeing that slavery would be forbidden everywhere in the nation. Secondly, Johnson wanted to completely nullify the ordinances of secession, or make the states all rejoin immediately. While Johnson did want to have slavery anymore, he did not advocate black suffrage at all, as he thought that it would cause problems for the states.

These first two plans both had major downfalls to them, including...
-Black Codes were passed, which restricted black rights.
-No attempts were made to fix economic issues related to newly freed people.

3. Congressional-
Congress wanted to approach reconstruction by requiring the ratification of the 14th amendment, which stated that freedmen had equal rights as far as economics and also legal rights. It also placed the states under military rule, meaning that a Union general watched over a certain part of the south.




















http://www.icsd.k12.ny.us/legacy/highschool/pjordan/ushonors/Regents%20Review/Manifest%20Destiny%20to%20Reconstruct/reconstruction.html 
georgiainfo.galileo.usg.edu

Sharecropping and Tenant Farming

Sharecropping was not at all an ideal way for freed slaves to make money, but it would have to do for the time being. Just having found independence, many blacks still faced much racism and prejudice from everyone who had once looked down upon them. They struggled to find jobs, homes, and safety from hate groups and abuse. Sharecropping was the best that most could manage. It was just a small step up from slavery, and sharecropping entailed a lot more giving to the land owners that receiving to provide for the family. The way sharecropping worked was that people, mostly ex. slaves, would rent land from the rich white landowners, and in exchange, they would pay for the land with up to half of their earnings or crop harvest, while not getting paid much at all. Sharecropping was mainly a trap, as the landowners would always pretend that the black farmers had not made enough crop for the year, so they would always have the farmers in a deficit. This made it impossible to get away from the lifestyle. Sharecropping happened as a result of the end of slavery, and it led to an all new kind of enslavement of the black people.





Tenant farming was a step up from sharecropping in the south. A tenant farmer usually owned his own animals and equipment, rather than borrowing from the land owner, but the trap in this situation was that the landowner owned the very house that the farmer and his family slept in and at the end of each growing season the farmer forked over much of what money he had earned and what crop he had grown in order to continue renting the land and home. Tenant farming was created as a way for those who owned tools and animals to have more opportunities, but it also led to the unfair treatment of the black people in the south. The typical amount of crop given in tenant farming was about 1/4-1/3 of the total production.

http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/a_f/brown/sharecropping.htm
www.english.illinois.edu
3chicspolitico.com 
http://stfm.astate.edu/tenant.html
 

The Freedman's Bureau

The Freedman's Bureau was created in 1865 to assist in the transfer of blacks from a life of slavery to a life of freedom and promise in the new south. It was formed by radical republicans, who believed in totally equal rights for blacks and whites, and they wanted to make sure that the rights of the newly freed blacks were protected to the best of their abilities. Some of the workers of the Freedman's Bureau assisted northern school teachers and built new schools for blacks all across the country, facing the adversity brought on by Jim Crow Laws and black codes, which hindered rights and segregated almost everything. Blacks, using Bureau funds, were able to set up  new churches, schools, and homes as well as get land. The Freedman's Bureau was run by the war department, and it also protected blacks who were being unfairly prosecuted in courts and who were being mistreated by white landowners or who were simply being taken advantage of. The abolition of slavery led to the establishment of the Freedman's Bureau and the Bureau led to more equal rights for all of the newly freed black people in America.


http://www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/stories_events_freed.html
www.learnnc.org

Sherman's Atlanta Campaign and March to the Sea

The Atlanta Campaign took place in the Spring and Summer of 1864, just before the end of the civil war. In it, Union General William T. Sherman marched into Atlanta and took the city, which was the heart of almost all Southern manufacturing power. Atlanta, at the time, was also a major railroad hub of the south, which allowed for exporting and importing of tons of goods. Sherman's men were mostly not contested, and while there were some battles along the way, the majority of Sherman's men lived and Atlanta was taken and 1/3 of it was burned down as well. This was the beginning of morale war, which is when the lives of civilians are effected to make a conflict much less popular. The events leading up to it was the need for a final death blow to the now struggling south, and it led to the loss of one of the biggest southern cities there was. Sherman, however, did not stop here. He waited for a few months in Atlanta, and then went of a march to the sea when Lincoln gave him the go-ahead. Sherman's plan was simple, but dangerous. He planned to march south from Atlanta all the way to Savannah, living off the land as he and his army went. Before he set off, he had all of his men checked for illness, and those who were injured or sick had to stay put. Sherman's plan was risky because he was going to pillage farms and things as he went along to feed troops, and Georgia did not have a very well settled back-country. In the end, his plan worked and they arrived in Savannah, which was surrendered to him because the governor had heard of what happened in Atlanta and submitted. The burning of Atlanta gave Sherman the confidence for his march, and it led to the loss of yet another important city and port, Savannah.




http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-2713
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-march-to-the-sea-begins
langecivilwar4b.wikispaces.com