The Freedmen’s Bureau was created in 1865 to help formerly enslaved people and poor whites after the Civil War by providing food, housing, education, and medical care.

It set up schools, helped reunite families, and supported freed people in finding jobs and fair labor contracts.

President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated on April 14, 1865, by actor John Wilkes Booth while attending a play at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C.

He died the next morning, making him the first U.S. president to be assassinated, just days after the Civil War ended.

After Lincoln’s assassination, Vice President Andrew Johnson became the 17th President of the United States on April 15, 1865.

Johnson took over during Reconstruction and faced criticism for being too lenient toward the former Confederate states.

The first Black Codes were passed in 1865 by Southern states like Mississippi and South Carolina to restrict the rights and freedoms of newly freed African Americans.

These laws aimed to control Black labor and behavior, forcing many into unfair labor contracts and limiting their ability to own property, vote, or move freely.

Officially abolished slavery in the United States, freeing all enslaved people.

Marked a constitutional change that ended legal slavery nationwide.

The Ku Klux Klan was founded by former Confederate soldiers to resist Reconstruction efforts.

Used violence and intimidation to suppress African American political and social rights

Granted citizenship and equal rights to all people born in the U.S., regardless of race.

Aimed to protect the civil rights of newly freed African Americans from discriminatory Black Codes.

White mobs and police attacked Black neighborhoods, killing dozens and destroying homes and churches.

Highlighted racial tensions and violence during early Reconstruction.

Divided the South into five military districts governed by Union generals.

Required Southern states to write new constitutions guaranteeing Black men the right to vote.

Granted citizenship to everyone born or naturalized in the U.S., including former slaves.

Guaranteed equal protection under the law and due process for all citizens.

New state constitutions were drafted with participation from African American delegates.

These constitutions expanded voting rights and public education for Black citizens.

Prohibited states from denying the right to vote based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

Intended to secure voting rights for African American men.

A violent campaign by Southern Democrats to intimidate Black voters and Republicans.

Used threats, shootings, and fraud to regain political control of the South.

Resolved the disputed 1876 presidential election by awarding the presidency to Rutherford B. Hayes.

Led to the withdrawal of federal troops from the South, effectively ending Reconstruction.