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Freedmen's Bureau
Established by Congress to help millions of former black slaves and poor whites in the South in the aftermath of the Civil War. The Freedmen’s Bureau provided food, housing and medical aid, established schools and offered legal assistance. It also attempted to settle former slaves on land confiscated or abandoned during the war. However, the bureau was prevented from fully carrying out its programs due to a shortage of funds and personnel, along with the politics of race and Reconstruction. -
13th Amendment Ratified.
Abolishes slavery in the United States. -
Black Codes Enacted
Southern states begin to create laws restricting the rights of the black population. Specifically creating harsh laws and sentences in order to justify the arrest of black men. -
Ku Klux Klan Formed
A secret organization to intimidate African Americans and restore white rule is founded in Pulaski, Tennessee. It quickly becomes a terrorist organization intent on using violence and intimidation to try and control politics throughout the South. -
Civil Rights Acts of 1866
Awards citizenship to entire black population (remember: Dred Scott Case) and guarantees equal rights -
Memphis and New Orleans Race Riots
White civilians and police kill dozens of African Americans and destroy large swaths of churches, hospitals, and schoolhouses. -
Reconstruction Acts
Congress divides the former Confederacy into five military districts and requires elections in which African American men can vote. -
Howard University - Washington D.C.
Founded by the Commissioner of the Freedmen's Bureau to foster the higher education of black Americans. Remains one of the strongest Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) to this day. -
President Johnson's Impeachment Trial
US Senate fails, by one vote, to remove the president from office for abuse of office and attempts to disrupt the peaceful integration of the black populations in the south. -
14th Amendment Ratified
Guarantees due process and equal protection under the law to all blacks in the country. -
Ulysses S. Grant Elected President
The former Union general becomes the 18th president. He is far more progressive than Johnson, showing interest in supporting former slaves and suppressing the KKK. -
First Redeemer Government
Tennessee is the first state to replace a bi-racial Republican state government with an all-white Democratic government, followed by Georgia, North Carolina, and Virginia in 1870. The Redeemers are Democratic Party affiliated, politically aggressive, states rightists, male white dominated alliance in the Southern U.S. (former Confederate States). They want to "redeem" the south from the stain of freedmen and northern influence. -
Congress Passess Enforcement Laws to Supress KKK
Authorized federal prosecutions, military intervention, and martial law to suppress terrorist activity. -
First Black Senator Elected
Hiram Revels of Mississippi elected to U. S. Senate as the first black senator. -
15th Amendment Ratified
Extends the vote to all male citizens regardless of racer or previous condition of servitude. -
Forty-Second Congress
Five black members in the House of Representatives: Benjamin S. Turner of Alabama; Josiah T. Walls of Florida; and Robert Brown Elliot, Joseph H. Rainey and Robert Carlos DeLarge of South Carolina. -
Freedmen's Bureau Abolished
Abruptly cut following decline in northern economy and motivation to continue pressuring the south. -
Economic Depression
Debt and lost industry from the war finally catch up the US economy, starting a 6-year economic depression. -
Democrats Control 43rd Congress
For the first time since before the Civil War, Democrats control both houses of Congress. -
Minor v. Happersett
Supreme Court rules that the 14th Amendment does not extend voting rights to women. This ruling stays in place until 1920. -
Civil Rights Act of 1875 Enacted by Congress
Written "to protect all [black] citizens in their civil and legal rights", giving them equal treatment in public accommodations, public transportation, and to prohibit exclusion from jury service. These issues were ruled unconstitutional in 1883 and left alone until the Civil Rights acts of the 1950's and 60's. -
Wade Hampton Elected as Governor of South Carolina
The election of Hampton, a leader in the Confederacy, confirms fears that the South is not committed to Reconstruction. -
Rutherford B. Hayes Inaugurated President, Reconstruction Ends
Electoral Commission awards disputed electoral votes to the Republican candidate, who promises to remove federal troops stationed in the South, thus exposing the black population to violence, intimidation, and suppression by the resurgent white ruling class.
