The Role Of African Americans During The Reconstruction Era

The commonly held belief is that African Americans were free after the civil war and the passing of the thirteenth amendment in 1865. Since then, There have been many laws and practices enforced to systematically restrict African Americans from exercising their rights as citizens. Also whites wanted to keep blacks in a position to be considered inferior to them. Blacks were not slaves anymore; however, they were not free either. Generations of African Americans were forced to work against their will, following the emancipation of slaves and the thirteenth amendment. Immediately after blacks were no longer in bondage, whites put them back into a situation as close to slavery as possible. The southern economy could not successfully go along
In 1866, the fourteenth amendment gave African American s citizenship, In 1870, the fifteenth amendment gave African American men the vote. Reconstruction attempted to allow African Americans to be citizens just as White Americans. Blacks could now be a jury member, a witness, and even be a judge. African American politicians increased in the south. White resistance intensified, they did not want African Americans to be equal citizens as they were, they did not want to have biracial governments. Blacks began to constantly be under attack or intimidation. The end of reconstruction caused the nature of crime and punishment to change drastically. It spreaded around the south quickly. New laws established to target African Americans criminalized being black.It was illegal to walk along a railroad, to speak loudly in front of white women, to sell farming products after dark, spitting, drinking in public, and loitering. Your could be arrested or fined. Whites over exaggerated crimes of African American people. There were many trumped up charges. Pig laws extended misdemeanors to felony offenses. In Mississippi, theft of a pig, which was worth as little as one dollar, could result in a 5 year sentence. Vagrancy laws were the most dangerous and powerful laws. If a person could not prove that they were employed at any time, they were considered a vagrant. Arrests during this era was majority African American, About 10% of arrests were white. This did not mean whites were not breaking the law. Southern States placed prisoners with private organizations that paid for the prison housing and bills. Their prisoners would just have to work for them. They began renting prisoners to companies. Prices varied depending on the strength of the worker and the sentence. The thirteenth amendment states that slavery is abolished, “except as a punishment for a crime.” Therefore slavery could be extended,