Radical Reconstruction

1. Radical Reconstruction . Grab a Robert Smalls Reconstruction Hero Article and Read Prepare for notes

2. Of Race and Racism

3. Think Pair Share Activity • 2 Minutes • Define the term Race • 2 Minutes • Meet with Elbow Partner, Discuss, Come up with a working Definition • 2 Minutes • Write definition on the Board

4. Race • A social construct • A definition created or formed by society • Definition: race (n) a human population considered distinct based on physical characteristics. • No Scientific Basis

5. Definitions • The belief or attitude or both that certain human groups are--by virtue of heredity--physically, intellectually, and otherwise inherently and collectively superior to other groups and that this innate superiority is a determining factor in social affairs. Dictionary of Concepts in History • with racism - human groups determined by skin color and physical characteristics

6. The Importance of Reconstruction The 13th 14th and 15th Amendments

7. Goals • Racial Equality • African American Enfranchisement • Build Political Power Base

8. Radical Reconstruction • “Radical” in terms of rebuilding society in our nation • End Southern society and its divergent view on the nation • Rebuild country’s society

9. What Was Southern Society Like Before Reconstruction?

10. The Reconstruction Amendments • 13th – Ends Slavery • 14th – Citizenship to all peoples of color, race and nationality, except Native Americans • 15th – Cannot Deny Vote Based on Color

11. Advances in Politics • Power to vote allowed for election of African Americans • Made most impact at local level • What do local governments do?

12. Reconstructing State Governments • help write new state constitutions • establish public school system • pass civil rights laws, eradicate slavery • abolish imprisonment for debt, divorce laws • legislation to rebuild infrastructure and attract commerce

14. At the National Level • 16 Representatives • 2 Senators

15. African Americans in the Government • 1,500 public offices held

16. Robert Smalls Filmstrip Activity • Create a 6 panel cartoon strip of highlights of Robert Smalls’s life

17. Warm Up • Take out a Textbook • Open to the 13th Amendment • Read Amendments 13, 14, 15 • Also, prepare for notes

18. The Reconstruction Amendments The 13th 14th and 15th Amendments

19. The Reconstruction Amendments • 13th – Ends Slavery • 14th – Citizenship to all peoples of color, race and nationality, except Native Americans • 15th – Cannot Deny Vote Based on Color

20. Reconstruction of Society • Previously only the white minority held power to vote • African Americans gain ability to vote, become the powerful in South

21. Effect of Reconstruction Amendments • The definition of who are citizens in this country broadens • Now includes African American men

22. The 13th Amendment • Emancipation • Ends All Slavery/Involuntary Servitude in The United States except as punishment for a crime

23. The 14th Amendment • 5 Sections • Section 1 – Rights of Citizens, including nationalization, and guarantee of life and liberty and property • Section 2 – Representation in Congress, repeals 3/5 • Section 3 – Punishment for Confederates • Section 4 – Assumption of Federal Public Debt • Section 5 – Congress has power to enforce however needed

24. The 14th Amendment • Finally commits the United States to the ideals of the Declaration of Independence • “Life, Liberty and Property” • Sets goal towards all men are created equal

25. 15th Amendment • “Cannot deny vote based upon race” • Believed power of vote would allow African Americans to protect themselves

26. Aiding in Emancipation The Freedman’s Bureau

27. The Freedman’s Bureau • Former name was the Bureau of Refugees, Freedman and Abandoned Lands • Designed to help rebuild post war South • Run by the War Department

28. The Freedman’s Bureau • The Bureau supervised all relief and educational activities relating to refugees and freedmen, including issuing rations, clothing and medicine. • The Bureau also assumed custody of confiscated lands or property in the former Confederate States, border states, District of Columbia, and Indian Territory.

29. 40 Acres and Mule • The initial goal of the Freedman’s Bureau was aid the Freedman by redistributing Confederate land to former slaves • Why would the Bureau distribute land?

30. The Freedman’s Bureau • In the end (ultimately) was a failure • Its efforts were hurt by corruption, greed, and lenient terms of land confiscation and redistrubution • Very few Freedman received their 40 acres and a mule • How would this hurt African Americans in the South?

31. Freedman’s Bureau Worksheet

32. Warm Up

33. Warm Up • Take the Packet from the Front • Take the Voting Rights Test

34. Disenfranchisement • Elite Southerners begin to take away African American Political Power and regain their own power • Take away voting rights • Make economic security impossible • Campaign of Violence

35. The Retreat • Southern Whites and Former Confederates angered at loss of power • Had to figure out how to get power back • Manufactured myths about African American Politicians

36. Elite southerners • obstruct Reconstruction - maintain economic control • sharecropping, convict lease, and lien system • land never redistributed • emphasized white superiority • support from poor white southerners • deny black political power • terror and violence

37. Myths of “Redemption” • black politicians dominated state governments • justify overthrow - manufactured twin myths - corruption and ignorance • necessary to cheat and kill to restore “honest” government • myths perpetuated by successive generations of historians • era of corruption

38. Real fears • honesty not corruption, brilliance not ignorance • good black government not bad black government • Southerners conclude monstrous crime of Reconstruction was equality, violation of American caste system

39. Losing the Vote • Reflect on the Literacy Test • Poll Tax • “Grandfather Clause”

40. Economic Disenfranchisement • Planters wanted to recreate a legal system like slavery • Create Sharecropping • African Americans rent fields for a share of their crops • Primary Source: A Sharecropping Contract

42. Disenfranchisement: Violence • Northerners retreat from protection and occupation • Southerners use violence to stop voting and prosperity

44. Violence • Primary Source: KKK Victims