Discussion Posts

Study Guide: Repair & Reconstruct HIS 1110 G. J. Giddings We have seen that it took the violent cataclysm of a civil war (U.S.A.’s most deadly!) to abolish the evil/diabolically forced, resisted, legal and contradictory enslavement system in the U.S. But as you can imagine, abolition could not instantly make 4.5 million “Freedmen” automatically ready for full citizenship. In 1865 and beyond, postbellum Blacks still faced challenges including illiteracy, poverty, structural (governmental & economic) racism and personal terrorism. What would, and did, it take to repair and reconstruct Blacks as well as a relatively young U.S., torn apart by civil war? Just as Blacks had done before in conventions, abolition and emigration movements, now too they looked to themselves, and their white allies, including the “Radical Republican” politicians of the day, to help overcome centuries of bondage and such challenges as illiteracy, share cropping, lynching, and “black code” laws such as segregation, convict leasing, etc. As in the past U.S. wars, Blacks showed initiative and patriotism by serving in the Civil War (approximately, 186,000) and also sacrificed by suffering higher casualties, proportionally, than white soldiers. Having defeated the rebelling Confederate States of America (CSA), and dragging them back into the Union, President Abraham Lincoln’s government, some Civil War generals, and Radical Republicans in Congress initiated Reconstruction initiatives to “rebuild” the south, “check” the southern rebels, and help the new “freedmen” get back on their feet. F&H chapters 10 and 11 explore the several methods by which Reconstruction and reparations took effect. Efforts included: the 13, 14 and 15 Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, Department of the South; Penn Normal Industrial & Agricultural School; Northern educators: Hezekia Hunter, Laura Towne, Charlotte Forten, et al., Special (Field) Order #15, Ten Percent Plan, Wade-Davis bill, Freedman’s Bank; Civil Rights Act of 1866, Freedman’s Bureau, and Black elected officials (1,700, i.e., 2 U.S. Senators, 14 U.S. Representatives.) Next we will explore (F&H chapter 12) post-Reconstruction efforts of Southern states to almost revive slavery, after the Federal government gave up on Reconstruction through the 1877 presidential election compromise that put Republican President R.B. Hays in the Whitehouse. Importantly, Blacks responded by growing their self-help tradition in light of the Reconstruction betrayal. Just as during the antebellum period, Blacks “closed rank” and helped each other, creating many organizations, movements, and leaders (i.e., Ida B. Wells-Barnett, B. T. Washington, W.E.B. DuBois, M.M. Garvey, et al.)

In our next Unit, we will also explore the biographic sketches of key classical Black leaders of the turn of the 20th Century, to understand and assess archetypes of Black leadership which emerged during this “nadir” period in African American history, and inform subsequent periods of Black leadership.