Reconstruction to Civil Rights

1. Reconstruction to Civil Rights

2. Learning Targets • I can analyze the impact of Reconstruction on Georgia and other southern states. Freedmen’s Bureau  Sharecropping and Tenant Farming  Reconstruction Plans • 13th, 14th, 15th Amendments to the Constitution • Henry McNeal Turner & Black Legislators • Ku Klux Klan

3. AS A RESULT OF THE RECONSTRUCTION ACTS, MANY AFRICAN AMERICANS SERVED AT THE LOCAL, STATE, AND NATIONAL LEVELS OF GOVERNMENT

4. African Americans in Politics • The election of 1867 was the first time African Americans had voted. • Several African Americans were elected to Georgia’s General Assembly.

5. 29 African Americans Georgia House of Representatives 3 African Americans Georgia Senate

6. Henry McNeal Turner was one of the first black men elected to Georgia’s House of Representatives.

7. Black & White Political Participation

8. Establishment of Historically Black Colleges in the South

9. Colored Rulein the South?

10. The African Americans elected to the General Assembly were expelled in 1868. • It was argued by whites that civil rights laws gave blacks the right to vote but not to be elected.

11. IN RESPONSE TO NEW AFRICAN AMERICAN RIGHTS, SEVERAL HATE GROUPS SPRANG UP THROUGHOUT THE SOUTH.

12. Ku Klux Klan • The Ku Klux Klan Was The Most Powerful One. • It Was Created In 1866 By A Group Of Former Confederate Soldiers Who Planned To Utilize Violence To Terrorize Blacks And White Sympathizers To Prevent Them From Exercising Their New Rights. • Secret organization – originally started as a social club for men returning from the war. • Members hid behind robes and masks. • The group terrorized blacks to keep them from voting.

13. “Invisible Empire of the South”

18. As a result, Congress passed “The Georgia Act” and sent troops back to Georgia. • The act required Georgia to pass the 15th Amendment giving all males the right to vote.

19. 15th Amendment • Ratified in 1870 & gave all male citizens the right to vote. • The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. • The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. • Women’s rights groups were furious that they were not granted the vote!

20. Economic Reconstruction • Without slaves, landowners needed laborers to work their large farms. • Two systems emerged: tenant farming and sharecropping

22. Sharecropping

23. The Reforms In The South Did Not Focus On A Diversified Economy And Sharecropping Dominated The South. This Prevented Small Farmers From Owning Land And Made Them Dependent On The Prices Charged By The Landowner Which Left Them Constantly In Debt. Both Small Farm-owning Whites And Sharecropping Blacks Were Negatively Effected And Left In Poverty.

24. Cotton Cotton was Georgia’s most important crop. Continuous growing of tobacco and cotton ruined the soil on many farms.

25. Banks Banks began to reopen.

26. Businesses Reopened Dry goods stores, shops, and hotels opened again.

27. Railroads Railroads expanded across the state.

28. Ports Savannah and Brunswick became important shipping ports.

29. Atlanta Atlanta was rebuilt and began to grow into an important business center.

30. Capital Moves to Atlanta In 1868, Georgia’s capital moved to Atlanta. In 1877, Georgia voters chose Atlanta to be the permanent state capital. The vote was 99,147 to 55,201.

31. The End of Reconstruction • The African Americans who had been expelled from the General Assembly in 1868 were readmitted by the Georgia Supreme Court in 1870. • The Assembly approved the 14th and 15th Amendments. • Georgia was readmitted to the Union, again, ending Reconstruction.

32. MAP OF THE DATES THE STATES REENTERED THE UNION