The Reconstruction Era

The Reconstruction Era was the rebuilding of Black America. The reconstruction was riddled with many ups and downs. The biggest tragedy of reconstruction was that the better Black people became as a group, the worse it became for their safety and wellbeing. A common theme throughout history was whenever Black people gained power, they were attacked and were threatened to stay in an inferior position. A group who was set in their ways to keep power and put fear into Black people was and is the Ku Klux Klan (KKK). The KKK became a counter political revolution against the Reconstruction Era. The KKK was threatened by the power that black people held. Congress held the Ku Klux Klan hearings where black people were given the opportunity to speak out against the crimes against them. 

A specific story shown in the video was Abram Colby who was elected to the legislature and offered a monetary bribe to be replaced. When he refused, he was attacked in his home and beaten. The actions perpetrated against Abram Colby showed jealousy and fear which was the catalyst of many of these white people who were in fear of the power that Black people have. The attacks were retaliatory and an attempt to prevent them from speaking out. The condition of affairs: the late insurrectionary states are eight thousand pages of testimony that were given about their experiences. The history of violence against Black people has created a white supremacist paradigm that has yet to dissolve. 

Ulysses S. Grant was the president during the Reconstruction Era and did well integrating Black people into the federal government. The downfall that came with Grant putting Black people in power is that when they left the environment of the federal courts, their lives were threatened. In order to act against the violence directed towards Black people from the KKK. Congress passed a series of enforcement acts which became known as the Ku Klux Klan Act. The act was designed to give the federal government the direct right to act against the KKK’s actions. The political divide between the North and South was relentless. The North was already more advanced in race relations as opposed to the South. 

The White South was set on denying and creating a difficult situation for reconstruction to continue. The last great effort to try and achieve better before the reconstruction ended was the Civil Rights Act. The bill was shot down by Democrats and Republicans.  It was seen as forced integration, eventually The Civil Rights Act of 1875 was passed. After the Civil Rights Act of 1875 passed, the Reconstruction Era came to an end with Ulysses S. Grant’s presidency. The new candidates for election were Samuel J. Tilden and Rutherford B. Hayes led to the end of reconstruction. “In backroom negotiations, Democrats conceded the disputed election returns to Hayes in return for his agreement to withdraw the remaining 3000 federal troops, thereby putting a formal end to Reconstruction and assuring Democratic control, based on a platform of white supremacy and black disenfranchisement, throughout the South”. 

                                                                                

Sources

                                        The End of Reconstruction, 1876 (umich.edu)

                  #RECONSTRUCTION: AMERICA AFTER THE CIVIL WAR - YouTube