IndexIntroductionThe Challenges of Integrating ReconstructionBlack Codes and Political Participation During ReconstructionTransforming Gender Roles During ReconstructionConclusionWorks CitedIntroductionOur Understanding of Black Political and Social Life Then and today, it wouldn't be the same without Reconstruction, a pivotal era in American history that shaped the trajectory of African Americans. The Reconstruction period has profound significance in revealing the complex dynamics of race and power during the post-Civil War era. It was a time of immense hope, as African Americans were granted new rights and opportunities. However, these advances were short-lived, as they faced numerous obstacles and setbacks that ultimately led to the end of this transformative era. This raises the question: Who killed Reconstruction? The black response to the “Black Codes,” gender roles during Reconstruction, and black women's courageous defiance of gender stereotypes all contribute to our understanding of the forces that undermined and dismantled the progress made during this critical period. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay The challenges of integrating Reconstruction“Probably the most dramatic episode in American history was the sudden decision to free four million black slaves to stop a major civil war, to end forty years of bitter controversies, and to appease the moral sense of civilization." After the end of the Civil War, the United States had to reintegrate both a formerly enslaved population and a formerly rebellious population into the country, which is a challenge that could have been met except Abraham Lincoln had been assassinated and we were left with Andrew Johnson. “The heroes of the story were Andrew Johnson, who sought to defend constitutional government from assaults by radical Republicans in Congress, and the Ku Klux Klan and related groups who ultimately overthrew Reconstruction and restored “home rule” (i.e. white) ) to the South." Lincoln's whole postwar idea was to facilitate reunion and reconciliation, and Andrew Johnson's guiding principle of Reconstruction was that the South had never had the right to secede in the first place. Furthermore, since he himself was a southerner, he resented all the southern elites who ignored him. Furthermore he was also a racist who did not think blacks should have any role in Reconstruction. So, between 1865 and 1867, also known as “the presidential Reconstruction period,” Johnson appointed governors and ordered them to call state conventions to establish new all-white governments. And in their 100% whiteness in their oppression of former slaves, those new governments looked suspiciously like the old Confederate government. which they had replaced. But many things were changing for the former slaves. Fiske and Howard University were founded along with primary and secondary schools thanks in part to the Freedmen's Bureau, which lasted only until 1870 but had the power to divide, confiscate and abandon Confederate lands for former slaves. This was very important because for most slaves, land ownership was the key to freedom and many feel as if the land was promised to them by the union army. Like General Sherman's Field Order 15 which promised to distribute land in 40-acre lots to former slaves. But this did not happen, and President Johnson ordered the return of all lands to the previous owners. Thus the South remained largely culturalagricultural, with the same people owning the same lands, and in the end it ended with sharecropping. This system replaced slavery in many areas of the South. Landowners provided housing, seeds, and the like for sharecroppers to work on the land. Eventually, sharecroppers would get a “share” of their crop, which would usually only be about a third, to sell. So basically black freedmen could control their own labor while plantation owners got permanent labor. This system tied workers to land they did not own, which was the exact opposite of the Jeffersons arrangement of the small independent farmer. Republicans were unhappy that this reconstructed South looked so much like the pre-Civil War South, so they took the lead in Reconstruction after 1867. Radical Republicans fought the war for equal rights and wanted to see the powers of the national government expanded . Not many were as radical as Thaddeus “Tommy Lee Jones” Stephens who wanted to take the land away from Southern planters and give it to former slaves, but rank-and-file Republicans were radical enough to pass the Civil Rights Act, which defined people born in the United States United as citizens and establish equality nationwide before the wall regardless of race. Andrew Johnson immediately vetoed the law, arguing that trying to protect the rights of African Americans amounted to discrimination against whites, which infuriated Republicans because Congress had done something it had never done before in all of American history. they overrode the presidential veto with a 2/3 majority in the civil rights bill that became law. So Congress decided to amend the Constitution with the 14th Amendment, which defines citizenship, guarantees equal protection and extends the rights provided by the Bill of Rights to all states. The amendment had no Democratic support, but it didn't need it either, because there were almost no Democrats in Congress due to the fact that Congress would have to refuse to seat representatives of the "new" all-white governments supported by Johnson . And that's how we got the 14th Amendment, probably the most important in the entire Constitution. Black Codes and Political Participation During Reconstruction Then there were the Black Codes. Black codes, also known as black laws, were laws created specifically for African Americans. The Black Codes were legal codes in which they simply replaced the word slave with the word nigger, which shows how reluctant white governments were to guarantee the rights of newly free citizens. The best-known black codes were passed between 1865 and 1866 by the Southern states, after the Civil War. These codes were adopted to limit the freedom of African Americans and gave them no choice but to work in low-wage jobs. The Black Codes were one of many ways whites attempted to maintain political dominance and suppress newly emancipated African American slaves. “One of the most important aspects of Reconstruction was the active participation of African Americans (including former slaves) in political, economic and social life. Southern” During the first two years of Reconstruction, blacks organized equal rights leagues. The National Equal Rights League (1864-1921) was founded in Syracuse, New York in 1864. It promoted full and immediate citizenship for African Americans. The League based its demand for full citizenship as compensation for military service in the Revolutionary Wars. They argued that the sacrifices of African Americans on the battlefield entitled all black males to the vote and all black men and women to full, 1990.