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Reconstruction Stations
• 5 stations – located around the room
• Work individually or with a partner to complete the
questions for each station
Consider the question throughout all of your stations:
Did the lives of African Americans
improve during Reconstruction?
Why or why not?
Constitutional Amendments Passed
During Reconstruction
• 13th Amendment (1865)
(FREE)
– Abolished slavery across the whole United States
• 14th Amendment (1868)
(CITIZENS)
– Established citizenship for all people born or naturalized in
the United States
– Provided equal protection & due process for all citizens.
• 15th Amendment (1870)
(VOTE)
– Prohibited states from denying citizens the right to vote
based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude
Station 1 - Sharecropping
• More than anything else, slaves wanted
land to support their families with.
• During Sherman’s March through the
South, General Sherman promised
conquered territory in the south would be
divided up – each former slave would
receive 40 acres a mule to help plow their
land – never happened.
– Property ownership seen as a cornerstone in
American society – large landholdings by former
plantation owners were never split up.
• Many former slaves became sharecroppers.
• Benefit – received pay for their crops
(although very little)
Station 2 – Freedmen’s Bureau
• Purpose – help Southern blacks transition from
slavery to freedom by providing services to them.
– Built/operated schools
– Settled disputes & established contracts between white
landowners and black laborers
– Defended blacks in courts
• Andrew Johnson was opposed to Bureau because he
saw the enforcement of black rights as a state issue,
not the responsibility of the federal government.
• Bureau faced violent opposition in the south –
especially from KKK. Prevented many blacks from
voting or trying to move up in society.
• Bureau succeeded in education – established
universities that are still around today (Howard &
Hampton universities).
• The Bureau ceased operations by 1872 because of
little political or financial support.
Station 3 – Black Codes
• Laws enacted in the South to restrict freedoms of former slaves and
limit their opportunities
– Enforced by the KKK
• President Johnson was not opposed to these laws because he favored
the states enforcing the rights of newly freed slaves, not the federal
government.
• Examples:
– Blacks traveling into town must have a permit to travel into town from the
country
– Some towns outlawed blacks from owning/renting homes
– Requiring blacks to have written evidence of employment or face fines
– Blacks must pay annual tax to hold a job other than sharecropping
– Prohibited public meetings of blacks after sunset
• Despite these, blacks managed some political successes – some
African Americans were elected to state governments & Mississippi
elected the first black Senator (Hiram Revels) in 1870
Station 4 – Rise of KKK During Reconstruction
• In defiance of Republican-led federal government
during Reconstruction, Southern Democrats formed
organizations that intimidated blacks and Republicans
in the south.
• Ku Klux Klan formed in Tennessee originally as social
club for former Confederate soldiers, led by Grand
Wizard Nathan Bedford Forrest
• Goal of the KKK was to keep southern society
dominated by whites – prevent blacks from exercising
new rights & freedoms
• Klan evolved into violent organization – used terror to
intimidate blacks and Republicans from voting or
running for office in the South.
• To stop this, federal government passed the
Enforcement Acts in 1870, which made it a crime to
interfere with political rights of blacks, BUT very few
violators prosecuted under this law
Thomas Nast. "The
Union as it was / The
Lost Cause, worse
than slavery.“ 1874
Station 5 – 1876 Election & Compromise of 1877
• In 1876 election, Republican Rutherford B. Hayes and Democrat Samuel Tilden run for
president – neither a particularly good candidate.
– Tilden won the most votes, but did not win a majority in the Electoral College.
• Republicans (primarily in the North) accused Democrats (primarily in the South) of voter
fraud & intimidation of black voters in the South.
• To resolve the dispute, an electoral commission decided the election & gave contested
votes & the election to the Republican Hayes.
– Democrats furious – another Civil War?
• Compromise of 1877 – Democrats accepted Hayes as the President in exchange for:
– Withdrawal of federal troops from the South
– Provide federal funds provided for internal improvements in the South
– Name a Southerner to his Presidential cabinet
• This compromise effectively ended the period of Reconstruction and allowed the South
to return to policies of racial segregation.
• With no federal enforcement, southern states continued policies of racial segregation &
discrimination for almost 100 more years:
– Poll tax – voters forced to pay tax to cast ballot, often prevented poor from voting
– Literacy tests – voters required to pass reading test to cast ballot
– Grandfather clause – exempted voters from poll tax or literacy test if their grandfather had voted –
allowed poor whites to vote
Reconstruction Reflective Response
Did the lives of African Americans improve
during Reconstruction? Why or why not?
In your response, use at least 3 examples of
historical evidence from the Reconstruction
stations.