Alexandra Kaluta

2/4/18

HIS 104

Professor Heidtmann

Research Paper

In 1619, the Dutch brought African slaves from West Africa to America. European

settlers in the 17th century forced African slaves to work on rice, tobacco and Indigo plantations

in the south. The Northern and Southern states starting in the early 1800’s, were dealing with an

ongoing conflict over the issue of slavery, which resulted in the southern states wanting to

separate from the United States to become their own nation. Besides the issue of slavery, the

north and the south also had disagreements when it came to politics, the south wanting their own

laws and states and over the ideas of states right to own another person. The Civil War also

known as the most deadly and destructive war in American history began in 1861. The south

surrendered to the north in 1865, which ended the war. Even though the north won the civil war

and slavery was abolished, African Americans were very far from being free (history.com).

After the Civil war, the north and south and former slaves will seek to rethink the

meaning of freedom. African Americans will be granted the right to vote and would start a

reform for the modern African American community, although fighting for African American

rights wasn’t an easy task. In the article, Black Residents of Nashville to The Union Convention,

it explains how African Americans in Tennessee asked for the abolishment of the last vestige of

slavery and asked the government to make an effort to bring freedmen back to bondage after the
reorganization of the state government, unless slavery be abolished by the constitution (Page 1).

When leaders of the black community met with General William T. Sherman, Sherman

acknowledged the black delegation by issuing Special Field Order 15. Special Field Order 15

made it possible for the settlement of black families on forty-acre plots of land and also offered

former slaves broken down mules that the army no longer needed. In the book, An American

History: Give me Liberty! Written by Eric Foner, states that, “Sherman’s order raised hopes that

the end of slavery would be accompanied by the economic independence believed essential to

genuine freedom” (Foner, Page 442).

Before slavery in America, African Americans were not free and after the civil war

African Americans still had very little rights, but the U.S government was finally promising

equal civil rights to African Americans, which gave African American men and women hope.

In the book, An American History: Give me Liberty! Written by Eric Foner, states that, “African

Americans understanding of freedom was shaped by their experiences as slaves and their

observation of the free society around them. To begin with, freedom meant by escaping the

numerous injustices of slavery which, which were punishment by lash, the separation of families,

denial of access to education and the sexual exploitation of black women by their owners and

sharing in the rights and opportunities of American citizens” (Foner, page 443). This quote

means that, until former slaves and African Americans have the same rights as a white man, they

are not truly free (Foner, Page 443).

After slavery was abolished, African Americans freedom gave them many new

opportunities. Former slaves could now locate loved ones from whom they were separated from

during the era of slavery, as well as abandon white-controlled religious institutions to create their

own churches. African Americans were granted the right to vote and wanted the right to land
ownership, even in exchange for unpaid labor. They also started attending schools established by

northern missionary societies, groups of ex slaves and the Freedmen’s Bureau. Unfortunately

freedom for African Americans was a never-ending process that was just beginning. (Foner, page

445.) In the article, Report of The Joint Select Committee to Inquire into The Condition of

Affairs in The Late Insurrectionary States, it explains how Elias Hill (a former slave) was

whipped by the Ku Klux Klan (Congress, United States, Page 44).

Since emancipated African Americans were left with nothing after the abolishment of

slavery, African Americans now had access to the same opportunities for advancement as

northerners, but unfortunately would labor more productively then they had as slaves. Former

slaves were stuck in a vicious cycle where southern planters sought out to establish a labor

system as close to slavery as possible. It states in An American History: Give me Liberty! that,

“Former slaves were demanding economic autonomy and access to land, a long period of

conflict over the organization and control of labor followed by plantations throughout the south”

(Foner, Page 447).

The Freedmen’s Bureau agency was established by congress in 1865 to establish a

working free labor system. General O.O Howard led the Freedmen’s Bureau along with the

bureau’s agents and helped established schools, settle conflicts between races as well as among

freed people and provide aid to the poor and elderly (Foner, Page 447). It states in Freedom: a

Documentary History of Emancipation that, “We are landless and homeless, from the homes we

have lived in, in the pat we can only do three things, step into the public road or the sea or

remain on them working as in former time and subject to thire will as then”(Hahn, page 440). In

Henry Brams, Ishmael Moultrie and Yates Sampson’s letter to General O.O Howard of

Freedmen’s Bureau, they explain that, they have no choice, but to keep working for their former
owners until they own their own land and homes. Their letter to O.O Howard shows that their

freedom is still far from their clutch (Hahn, Page 440). The failure of the land reform led to

protests and petitions. The freedman told President Johnson and O.O Howard that land is

essential for freedom. When the freed people remained poor and without property during

reconstruction, they remained anything but free (Foner, Page 448).

There were new labor systems emerging throughout the south. One of them is

sharecropping which emerged through the freedmen’s desire for land and planters and demand

for labor discipline. Sharecropping allowed each African American family to rent a part of a

plantation, while sharing crops between themselves (the worker) and their owner. This labor

system, guaranteed workers a consistent resident labor force. Former slaves favored

sharecropping compared to gang labor since it allowed them to work without day to day white

supervision. African Americans were less abused in this labor system physically, but were still

trapped in the vicious cycle of their former owner. Unfortunately, economic opportunities

became too limited and the price of farm products suffered greatly (Foner, Page 449).

Another new labor system called the crop lien became known. In order to receive

supplies from farmers or merchants, farmers had no alternative, but to take up the growing of

cotton and use some of the crop as collateral. Interests rates were so high and the price of cotton

was so low, a great deal of farmers fell into debt after marketing their portion at the end of the

year and in order to receive new loans were forced to continually plant cotton. In the mid 1870’s,

white and black farmers were bound to crop lien and sharecropping systems until railroads were

built which helped spread the production of cotton to the north and promote cotton production

across the south (Foner, Page 452).

 Many former slaves suffered lynching and the other forms of violence after the civil war

ended. In 1892 the article, Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All its Phases, states that, “Eight

negroes lynched since last issue of the free speech one at Little Rock, Ark” (Barnett, Page 4). It

expresses in the article, how much the freedman still suffered at the hands of white men so

severely it ended in death of African Americans a lot of time. Former slaves were looking for as

much independence and peace as possible within their labor and daily lives. The president

Andrew Johnson and congress fought over reconstruction which ended with a major reform in

the meaning of freedom. (Foner, Page 454).

Presidential Reconstruction failed greatly and resulted in most of the Republican north

going against the president. Laws were created by southern governments that tried to control the

freedoms of former slaves. These laws were called Black Codes. Black Codes granted rights to

African Americans such as, ownership of property, access to courts (limitedly), and legalized

marriage. The Black Codes denied African Americans rights to testify against white men, to be a

part of the military and serve on juries. In the book An American History: Give Me Liberty, it

states, “Black Codes also forced African Americans to sign yearly labor contracts and if they

failed to sign the labor contracts could be arrested and hired out to white owner” (Foner, Page

456). This quote is further prove of how the freedmen and how African Americans after the war,

were still struggling to find their freedom. (Foner, Page 456).

In 1866, the fourteenth amendment gave birth to The Reconstruction Act. The

Reconstruction Act divided the south into five military districts and also paved the way for new

state governments. Black men were given the right to vote and this sparked the period of radical

Reconstruction which only lasted until 1877. Many African Americans were assaulted and

murdered especially in the early years of Reconstruction. The most prevalent organization for
inflicting violence on African Americans was the Ku Klux Klan which was founded in 1866 in

Tennessee. This era was known as the “Reign Of Terror”. Three Enforcement Acts were created

in 1870 and 1871, which made terrorist organizations illegal. The president also had the power to

use the army against such organizations. In 1871, the president dispatched many federal marshals

and arrested hundreds of accused Klansmen. The Ku Klux Klan went out of existence and for the

first time in 1872 since the Civil War there was some peace in the confederate south (Foner,

Page 468).

Even after Reconstruction ended, African Americans were still fighting for self-

ownership, family stability, religious liberty, political participation and economic autonomy.

In the 1950’s and 1960’s, the United States would attempt once again to give equal rights to the

descendants of slavery and African Americans. Some called this the Second Era of

Reconstruction (Foner, Page 473). It’s unfortunate that a century would pass before the United

States would fight for African American rights once again. Even today, the Ku Klux Klan is still

around (although not as prevalent in the 1800’s and 1900’s) and African Americans still suffer

discrimination in society today.

 Work Cited Page

History.com Staff. “Slavery in America.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 2009,

www.history.com/topics/black-history/slavery.

Foner, Eric. Give Me Liberty!: an American History. W.W. Norton & Company, 2017.

Hahn, Steven, and Hayden René. Freedom: a Documentary History of Emancipation, 1861-1867;

Selected from the Holdings of the National Archives of the United States. Univ. of North

Carolina Press, 2013.

Wells, Ida B. The Project Gutenberg eBook of Southern Horror: Lynch Law in All It's

Phases.

Congress, United States. “Ku Klux Klan Conspiracy Report of the Joint Select Committee...13

Vol by United States Congress on The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd.” The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd.,

www.lawbookexchange.com/pages/books/42851/united-states-congress/ku-klux-klan-

conspiracy-report-of-the-joint-select-committee-13-vols

Berlin, Ira. Freedom: a Documentary History of Emancipation 1861-1867. Cambridge U.P.,

1982.