Reconstruction, The Success of the Elite White South
During the 12 year period after the Civil War (1865-1877) four main groups of people, Southern Whites, Recently Freed Blacks, Northern Democrats, and Northern Republicans, were all competing to rebuild the war ravaged South to their advantage or ideals, but it was the Southern Whites whose needs were most closely met. Because the freedmen were never given social equality, education, means of economic success, or full participation in government operations the plantation owners of the south were able to bring about conditions after the civil war which were not far from those of the prewar, with the whites controlling the laws and the money and the blacks performing all of the labor needed to fuel an agrarian economy. After the Civil War many Negroes though they would soon be entitled to nearly full, if not complete, social equality because of congressional action such as the formation of the freedman's bureau and the passing of the civil rights act. However, they soon learned that the Southern whites were not about to let this happen, and that blacks would be kept in the inferior position they had known for the hundreds of years that preceded the war. Soon after the war most Southern states wrote into the books news laws perta
Lack of good education for blacks was another important factor that prevented them from achieving any status higher than servant after the war. Although blacks schools were set up from primary to college, they were sparsely funded and almost completely segregated, leaving the blacks with either no education or a very poor one. Congress did make attempts at, and succeed in, creating state funded schools in the South, they allowed them to be segregated, which permitted the whites to control which race got what kind of education. Their prejudices of course pointed them in the direction of inferior education for blacks. Black schools were almost always poorly funded and inadequately staffed. The teachers at these schools, usually Northern whites, were often given such a horrible social stigma that they were forced to leave the South, and teaching there, completely. They were ostracized by the whites, and often beaten or tarred and feathered by the Ku Klux Klan. Some states attempted to integrate state colleges, or create all black colleges, but these ventures met with little success. In Arkansas, for example, the state college was declared open to all races, but only one black person registered and he was taught privately off campus. Not only did the prospect of segregation allow for poor black education, but it also caused their demoralization. Almost a hundred years later when the Supreme Court finally ruled segregation unconstitutional, one of the strongest arguments was that separating the blacks from the whites caused a great feeling of self hatred and inferiority among the blacks. Had the blacks not faced these practical and psychological barriers, they would have been far more likely to contend with white southerners in the job market. ining to Negroes called the "Black Codes." These laws, which were often identical to prewar laws save the word "slave" was replaced with the word "freedman", limited almost every conceivable right of the black man. They were denied the ability to congregate in groups, stay at certain motels or inns, and eat at many restaurants. They were required to carry special passes and given a curfew. Because the white South was so opposed to black equality, any law passed to grant Negroe
Some common words found in the essay are:
Charleston Sherman, Supreme Court, Black Codes, War Negroes, Southern Whites, Klux Klan, Northern Republicans, Civil War, Rights Act, civil war, civil rights, , southern whites, civil rights act, social equality, black codes, blacks kept, subsistence farming, allowed whites, job market, supreme court,
Approximate Word count = 1512
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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