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Brinley T.

The reconstruction Amendments refer to the 13th 14th and 15th amendments to the U.S. Constitution. These were named as such because the need for them was brought into the light after the Civil war. This is when the federal government realized that the country was doomed if they continued on the current path. The 13th Amendment abolished slavery officially within the United States. In relation to the reconstruction period, this amendment  separated Black people from slavery and gave them more even footing to defend themselves without being demeaned to less than human. The 14th Amendment gave citizenship to all people who were born or naturalized in the US. This made it possible for Black people to become Political figures and get better jobs during the reconstruction period because they were now officially citizens and not "visitors." The 15th amendment forbid the "disenfranchisement" of people based on race, ethnicity, or previous conditions of servitude. This erased the past of former slaves and opened the doors to all the opportunities that were previously closed because of race. So the amendments to the Constitution that were made during the reconstruction period, were the biggest steps in giving freedom, and equal opportunity to Black people.

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Government agencies/departments involved and their goals

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Government agencies/departments involved and their goals

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The government agencies and departments involved in the reconstruction after the civil war included Lincoln governments. Lincoln gave the southern states an opportunity to declare allegiance to the U.S. by allowing citizens to pledge. Once 10% of a state had made the pledged, they then created a department called a Lincoln governments. These governments were union supporting and sprung up mostly in areas that were exempt from the emancipation proclamation.

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The planter or landowner assigned each black family a small tract of land to farm and provided food, shelter, clothing, and the necessary seeds and farm equipment. When the crop was harvested, the planter or landowner took the cotton to market and after deducting for the "furnish" (the cost of the items the tenant had been furnished during the year), gave half of the proceeds to the tenant. This arrangement became known as sharecropping. By 1930 there were 1,831,470 tenant farmers in the South.
-Paden

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Towards the end of reconstruction both republicans and democrats responded to economic issues by retreating and leaving reconstruction as it was. Democrats and republicans both reshaped themselves to some extent under new figureheads. Even after the half of reconstruction, the economic issues spiraled out, resulting in a six year depression in 1873. Many historical events were a result of the depression as black people fought for the right to vote and turmoil regarding black rights continued. In conclusion, slavery was ended, however the fight for rights continued for many black people and women as the country continued to expand. The fight for equal rights continues today for many.

-Anna

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This depicts 17th President Andrew Johnson

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Brinley T.

During reconstruction especially, a lot of new laws giving rights to African Americans were passed. During these years, the Black political activism was not slowed in the slightest, they jumped on the opportunity to get some human rights granted to them.
The new face of political power was president Andrew Johnson. He was not very progressive towards Black rights, however he did open the doors for more Black voices in politics. He would not fight for them himself, but if they wanted to get the right to vote and participate in congress, he would not stand in their way. The election of large numbers of Black people into political positions such as congressmen and state legislators, began during reconstruction. The transitions in the south into having Black people as political figures was marred by violence, and fraud. The first Black person elected into the Senate was Hiram Revels. He was given little more than a trial run in his position because he was soon replaced by a white republican officer. In many ways, politics during the time of reconstruction were a fiasco. Nobody knew how to act when someone who you had previously viewed as less than human, was now your state legislator. Politics were on an upward path in terms of diversity and new laws in favor of Black equality. However, politics during this time was full of violence and hate thanks to white southerners who were stuck in their old ways.

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After the civil war Literate black men and women started creating independent schools for black children to attend. Within a year of reconstruction after the civil war, 8000 freed slaves were attending schools in Georgia. In march of 1865 an organization called the Freedmens Bureau was formed to start creating schools for black children, these were called freedmens schools. Freedmens schools were implemented all across Georgia. The Freedmens Bureau rented school buildings, provided books and transportation for teachers, superintended the schools, and offered military protection for teachers and students, from those who opposed black literacy. Teachers from Georgia as well as the north were brought into freedmens schools to teach. Before the civil war Georgia had no system of public education, but after the civil war it was required for there to be segregated schools. 8 years later black schools were struggling to contain over 20,000 students. To help the adult former slaves, they started implementing night schools, throughout reconstruction it was said that approximately 1/3 of students were adults. They also created spaces for higher education like college, one of the places is Morehouse college which is now known as a famous HBCU. By the end of reconstruction Georgia had a solid foundation of schooling for freed slaves, as well as a universal schooling system.
(Nia)

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The reactions to reconstruction varied. Many people sought to prevent freed blacks from actually being free. A lot of the freed blacks sought to find family members they had lost connection with, as well as purchase land, get married, and start families. Despite that black people being freed, there was still an abundance of violence towards them. People (primarily white men) would use violence in black workplaces as a way to stifle black advancement. At their newfound loss of power over black people, some of the former southern elites formed criminal gangs such as the KKK and others like it. After the civil war, blacks in the south formed equal rights leagues to gain equalities like the right to vote.

-Anna

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Non-Government Organizations and Their Goals

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Non-Government Organizations and Their Goals

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There were a lot of organized white supremacist groups that had goals of destroying and disrupting the government. They also wanted to intimidate both black and white republicans, and prevent people from voting with violence. The reason for all of this was to restore white supremacy. On the other side of the equation there were organizations in order to support Black Americans and southern political activism like the Union League.

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In your Table group, first create own Padlet, add your names. Your task is to create a web of what reconstruction meant.  Different Categories should include positive as well as negative aspects
1.) Reconstruction Amendments
2.) Gov.t Agencies/Department involved, as well as their goals
3.) Non-Government Organizations their goals
4.) Politics
5.) Education
6.) Work Labor Contacts
7.) Reaction to Reconstruction
8.) Conclusion of Reconstruction