Civil Rights and State Opposition Acts: Fighting Discrimination in Reconstruction Era

1. Warm-up: • What is discrimination? • What do you think can be done to stop it?

2. Reconstruction Legislation & State Opposition

3. Acts (laws) • A series of Federal Acts were passed to address civil rights of African Americans • Civil Rights Act of 1866 : Af. Am. were allowed to own property, bring lawsuits, and marry legally • Southern Homestead Act 1866: • offered low cost land to Southerners, black or white, who would farm the land. • Reconstruction Act of 1867: put South under military rule; required states to ratify the 14th Amendment • Civil Rights Act 1875: Af. Am. guaranteed equal treatment in public—later ruled unconstitutional by Supreme Court • Also known as Enforcement Act—Congress’s reaction to the KKK

6. Amendments • When the Acts did not seem to be enough, the Federal government attempted to provide rights to African Americans by adding Amendments to the Constitution • 13th Amendment: freed slaves • 14th Amendment: made African Americans citizens and deserved rights accordingly • 15th Amendment: gave African Americans the right to vote

7. State Opposition • Black Codes: laws passed by Southern State governments • Ku Klux Klan: group that wanted to keep the African Americans from voting; often used violence to achieve their goals • Jim Crow Laws: laws like the black codes that allowed separation of whites and African Americans to keep African Americans inferior • Purpose of all of these was to restrict the rights of African Americans and keep the submissive to white superiority

8. Supreme Court • Played role in ending Reconstruction • 1873 Slaughterhouse Cases • 1876 U.S. vs. Reese • 1876 U.S. vs. Cruikshank • Placed control of individual’s basic civil rights in the hand of the states • Limited the federal government’s ability too protect the civil and voting rights of African Americans

9. Activity: • Reading of Acts • Reading of Black Codes