Reconstruction Document-Based Questions

1. Reconstruction Document-Based Questions

2. Document A

3. Document B

4. Document C

5. Document D

6. Document E Elected Black Officials during Reconstruction During Reconstruction, thousands of African-Americans were elected to local and state governments throughout the Southern states. In addition, 17 African-Americans were elected to the United States Congress from Southern states between 1870 and 1877. Here are photographs of 6 of these 17 elected officials.

7. Document F Many of the negroes … common plantation negroes, and workers in the towns and villages, were supporting little schools themselves. Everywhere I found them hoping to get their children into schools. I often noticed that workers in stores and men working in warehouses, and cart drivers on the streets, had spelling books with them, and were studying them during the time they were not working. Go outside any large town in the south, and you will see children and in many cases grown negroes, sitting in the sun alongside their cabins studying. Baptismal ceremony at the First African Baptist Church in Richmond.(Harper's Weekly, June 27, 1874) Interior View of the First African Baptist Church in Richmond.(Harper's Weekly, June 27, 1874)

8. Document G Background: The leaders of Louisiana, eager to eliminate all black participation in politics, invented what came to be known as the Grandfather clause. In 1898, the state legislature passed this Grandfather clause. The clause said, "Literacy and property tests for registering to vote will not be given to any individuals whose fathers or whose grandfathers were legally entitled to vote on January 1st, 1867," right after the war. In Louisiana, no black man was legally entitled to vote on January 1st, 1867. Hence, the Grandfather clause, once adopted by the state, eliminated all black participation in politics. Sec. 5. No male person who was on January 1st, 1867, or at any date prior thereto, entitled to vote under the Constitution or statutes of any State of the United States, wherein he then resided, and no son or grandson of any such person not less than twenty—one years of age at the date of the adoption of this Constitution, and no male person of foreign birth, who was naturalized prior to the first day of January, 1898, shall be denied the right to register and vote in this State by reason of his failure to possess the educational or property qualifications prescribed by this Constitution; provided, he shall have resided in this State for five years next preceding the date at which he shall apply for registration, and shall have registered in accordance with the terms of this article prior to September 1, 1898, and no person shall be entitled to register under this section after said date. . . . Constitution of the State of Louisiana, Adopted May 12, 1898

9. Document H [ The 13th, 14th and 15th amendments to the US Constitution are sometimes called the “Reconstruction Amendments.” They were passed in order to abolish slavery and to establish the rights of former slaves.] 13th Amendment: 1865 Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime where of the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------14th Amendment: 1868 Section 1: All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction (laws) thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge (limit) the privileges or immunities (rights) of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------15th Amendment: 1870 Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

10. Document I • Black Codes • “No negro or freedmen shall be allowed to come within the limits of the town of Opelousas without special permission from his employers. Whoever breaks this law will go to jail and work for two days on the public streets, or pay a fine of five dollars.” • “No negro or freeman shall be permitted to rent or keep a house in town under any circumstances. No negro or freedman shall live within the town who does not work for some white person or former owner.” • “No public meetings of negroes or freedmen shall be allowed within the town.” • “No freedman shall be allowed to carry firearms, or any kind of weapons. No freedman shall sell or exchange any article of merchandise within the limits of Opelousas without permission in writing from his employer.” • “Every negro is to be in the service of (work for) some white person, or former owner.”

11. Document J . . . We believe you are not familiar with the description of the Ku Klux Klans riding nightly over the country, going from county to county, and in the county towns, spreading terror wherever they go by robbing, whipping, ravishing, and killing our people without provocation [reason], compelling [forcing] colored people to break the ice and bathe in the chilly waters of the Kentucky river. The [state] legislature has adjourned. They refused to enact any laws to suppress [stop] Ku-Klux disorder. We regard them [the Ku-Kluxers] as now being licensed to continue their dark and bloody deeds under cover of the dark night. They refuse to allow us to testify in the state courts where a white man is concerned. We find their deeds are perpetrated [carried out] only upon colored men and white Republicans. We also find that for our services to the government and our race we have become the special object of hatred and persecution at the hands of the Democratic Party. Our people are driven from their homes in great numbers, having no redress [relief from distress] only [except] the United States court, which is in many cases unable to reach them. We would state that we have been law-abiding citizens, pay our taxes, and in many parts of the state our people have been driven from the polls, refused the right to vote. Many have been slaughtered while attempting to vote. We ask, how long is this state of things to last? . . . — Petition to the United States Congress, March 25, 1871, Miscellaneous Documents of the United States Senate, 42nd Congress, 1st Session, 1871

12. Document K

13. Document L

14. Document M A Sharecropping Contract: 1882 To everyone renting land, the following conditions must be agreed to: For every 30 acres of land (rented by sharecroppers), I will provide a mule team, plow, and farming tools. The sharecroppers can have half the cotton, corn, peas, pumpkins, and potatoes they grow if the following conditions are followed, but – if not – they are to have only two-fifths. For every mule or horse furnished by me there must be 1000 good sized rails (logs) hauled, and the fence repaired if I so direct. All sharecroppers must haul logs and work on the fence whenever I may order. The wood must be split and the fence repaired before corn is planted. No cotton must be planted by sharecroppers on their home patches of land. No sharecropper is to work off the plantation when there is any work for them to do for me. Every sharecropper must be responsible for all farming gear placed in his hands, and if not returned must be paid for unless it is worn out by use. Nothing can be sold from their (sharecroppers’) crops until my rent is all paid, and all amounts they owe me are paid in full. I am to gin & pack all of the cotton and charge every sharecropper an eighteenth of his part, the cropper to furnish his part of the bagging, ties, & twine. The sale of every sharecropper’s part of the cotton to be made by me when and where I choose to sell, and after taking all they owe me.

15. Now you need to fill in the charts!!

16. Question: What were the social, political, and economic failures of reconstruction?

17. Question: What were the social, political, and economic successes of reconstruction?