The South During Reconstruction Section Three

A) Republicans in Charge

African Americans in Congress During Reconstruction, the Republican Party became the most dominant party in the U.S. They were supported by African American votes, white Southerners who supported the North, and white Northerners. The African American vote in the South was huge to the Republicans and many were elected to many top positions, but they never controlled any of the Southern governments.

U.S. Sen. Hiram Revels and Sen. Blanche Bruce (MS) In the House of Representatives, 16 African Americans would serve from the South including Josiah T. Walls from Florida. The Senate had two African Americans - Hiram Revels and Blanche Bruce from Mississippi.

U.S. Rep. Josiah T. Walls (FL) FL Rep. Jonathan C. Gibbs

Gen. Grant’s Promise After the war, Confederate soldiers had been promised by General Grant that they could go home and continue on with their farming and their lives, but most had lost their land for not paying U.S. taxes during the war. As well, Confederate soldiers could not receive military benefits and wounded soldiers received nothing.

Confederate Homecoming

Union Occupation of the South

Southern Scalawags In the South, Scalawags became hated by white Southerners. They were Southerners who sided with the Republicans and the North.

Northern Carpetbaggers Carpetbaggers were Northerners who traveled South to take advantage of cheap land prices and policies favorable to Republicans. Many were former Union soldiers and reformers.

Ku Klux Klan Many Southerners accused the new Republican governments in the South of being corrupt. Prejudice remained high in the South as most whites did not want the new freedmen to enjoy any of their new rights and made life very difficult for them. In 1866, the Ku Klux Klan was created in Tennessee.

Nathan Bedford Forrest The KKK was and is a terrorist organization that used fear to keep the freedmen down and violence to counter Northern attempts to help them in the South. Former Confederate leader Nathan Bedford Forrest created the KKK.

Ku Klux Klan

Klan Violence Many in the South supported the Klan, who used midnight raids, lynchings, and cross burnings while dressed as “ghosts” to scare their targets. There were over 150 lynchings in Jackson County, Florida alone. The U.S. Congress tried to make laws to stop the Klan, but Southern support was too strong.

B) Education and Farming

Freedmen’s Bureau Schools In the South, education improved greatly during Reconstruction for whites and African Americans. The Freedmen’s Bureau was of great help to education throughout the South with help from Northern teachers and freed African Americans.

Public School System In the 1870s, the public school system was created. Eventually over 50% of the whites and 40% of the African Americans would attend school.

Morehouse College Morehouse College and Atlanta University were created to offer higher education to African Americans in the South.

Atlanta University Most schools remained segregated between whites and African Americans.

Sharecropping Since land was hard to come by for African Americans, the system of sharecropping was created by the Southern land owners. They were given a small piece of land in exchange for a percentage of the crops for their labor.

New Form of Slavery This system basically kept African Americans in slavery. They could never get out because they owed too much to the land owner.