Explain how Reconstruction benefitted African Americans, and how it failed them Positives- 13 th Amendment- ends slavery 14 th Amendment- African Americans gain citizenship 15 th Amendment- African American men given right to vote Freedmen’s Bureau- helped to improve their lives African Americans make inroads in politics as they were elected to state & national government positions

Negatives- Southern states passed Black Codes- restricting African Americans’ rights Poll taxes & literacy tests were used to keep many African Americans from voting Faced threat of violence from the Ku Klux Klan Jim Crow Laws legally segregated African Americans Trouble finding jobs. Many forced into sharecropping, which was not much better than slavery