African Americans After The Civil War Reginald Dickerson March 7, 2018

Political Reconstruction and Aftermath The Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 freed African Americans in rebel states, and after the Civil War, the Thirteenth Amendment emancipated all U.S. slaves wherever they were. As a result, the mass of Southern blacks now faced the difficulty Northern blacks had confronted--that of a free people surrounded by many hostile whites. One freedman, Houston Hartsfield Holloway, wrote, "For we colored people did not know how to be free and the white people did not know how to have a free colored person about them."

Reconstruction and Aftermath During the years after the war, black and white teachers from the North and South, missionary organizations, churches and schools worked tirelessly to give the emancipated population the opportunity to learn. Former slaves of every age took advantage of the opportunity to become literate. Grandfathers and their grandchildren sat together in classrooms seeking to obtain the tools of freedom.

Reconstruction and Aftermath After the Civil War, with the protection of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution and the Civil Rights Act of 1866, African Americans enjoyed a period when they were allowed to vote, actively participate in the political process, acquire the land of former owners, seek their own employment, and use public accommodations. Opponents of this progress, however, soon rallied against the former slaves' freedom and began to find means for eroding the gains for which many had shed their blood.

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Questions What is the 13th Amendment ? What is the 14th Amendment ?

Answer 13th Amendment - officially abolished and continues to prohibit slavery to this day. 14th Amendment - declared that all persons born or naturalized in the United States are American citizens including African Americans. 15th Amendment - prohibits each government in the United States from denying a citizen the right to vote based on that citizen's race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

Booker T. Washington Educator. He was one of the foremost African-American leaders of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, founding the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute, now known as Tuskegee University.

W. E. B. Du Bois William Edward Burghardt “W. E. B.” Du Bois (1868-1963) was was a leading African-American sociologist, writer and activist. Educated at Harvard University and other top schools, Du Bois studied with some of the most important social thinkers of his time. He earned fame for the publication of such works as Souls of Black Folk (1903), and was a founding officer of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and editor of its magazine. Dubois also taught at Wilberforce University and Atlanta University, and chaired the Peace Information Center. Shortly before his death, Du Bois settled in Ghana to work on the Encyclopedia Africana.

Schools Est. For African Americans