The South During Reconstruction

1. The South During Reconstruction African-Americans were elected to government positions. Southern whites react to Radical Reconstruction

2. In the South, African Americans held major positions but never in proportion to their population. At the national level, 16 African Americans served in the House and 2 in the Senate between 1869 & 1880 African Americans in Government

3. Hiram Revels was an African American senator elected in 1870. (Mississippi) He started a school for freed African- Americans and served in the Union army. Frederick Douglass campaigned for Revels. Hiram Revels

4. Blanche K. Bruce was an African-American Senator elected to the Senate in 1874. (Mississippi) He was a former runaway slave who became educated and taught in an African-American school. Blanche K. Bruce

5. Carpetbaggers were black and white politicians, government agents, businessmen, and adventurers from the North who traveled to the South during Reconstruction. Some were from the Freedmen’s Bureau and other government agencies set up to help freed Blacks. Some were humanitarians there to help. Some were seeking to exploit political and financial problems in the South. Carpetbaggers

6. Many carpetbaggers were able to broaden black voting activity, improve education, and aid in the restoration of the South. Some carpetbaggers were corrupt, looking only to make money. A scalawag was a southern Unionist who cooperated with carpetbaggers. Carpetbaggers & Scalawags

7. Secret societies, such as the Ku Klux Klan, used fear and violence to deny rights to freed men and women. The KKK often wore white sheets and hoods and members killed, beat and wounded many blacks and their white friends. They burned black homes, schools, and churches. The Freedmen’s Bureau fought to stop the KKK and similar organizations. Resistance to Reconstruction The birth of the KKK

8. Reconstruction brought important changes to education in the South. Education improved for both blacks and whites. The Freedmen’s Bureau and private charities played a major role in spreading education. By 1870 about 4,000 schools had been established, with 200,000 students. More than half the teachers were black. Improvements During Reconstruction

9. Reconstruction governments began creating public schools for both races, which had not existed before the war Within a few years, about 50% of white children and 40% of black children were enrolled in public schools. Generally, blacks and whites attended different schools. Louisiana, South Carolina, and Florida required that schools be integrated- include both black and white- but the laws were not enforced. Public Schools

10. Some African Americans were able to buy land with help from the Freedmen’s bank. Most failed to get their own land and had to become sharecroppers. Farming the Land

11. In this system, an landowner rented a plot of land to a sharecropper (farmer) along with a crude shack, some tools, and maybe a mule. Sharecroppers did not pay their rent in cash. They paid a share of their crops- often as much as ½ to 2/3- to cover rent, fertilizer, tools, and animals they needed. After paying the landowners, sharecroppers had little left to sell, barely enough to feed their families. For many sharecropping was little better than slavery. Sharecropping