-
Period: to
Reconstruction Era
Reconstruction was the period after the Civil War in which the states formerly part of the Confederacy were brought back into the United States. -
W. E. B. DuBois
“The slave went free; stood a brief moment in the sun; then moved back again toward slavery." -
Thirteenth Amendment
"Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."
There was one caveat to this: slavery remained appropriate as punishment for a crime -
Period: to
Freedom Bureau
It was established by Congress to help millions of former black slaves and poor whites in the South in the aftermath of the Civil War. The Bureau's job was to provide food, housing and medical aid, established schools and offered legal assistance. -
Period: to
Redemption Era
Many white Southerners were calling for “Redemption,” the return of white supremacy and the removal of rights for blacks. In other words "...sought the "abolition of the Freedmen's Bureau and alt political instrumentalities designed to secure Negro supremacy." -
Ruffin V. Commonwealth
Virginia Supreme Court ruled that convicts were legally distinguishable from slaves.
For a time, during his service in the penitentiary, he is in a state of penal servitude to the State. He has, as a consequence of his crime, not only forfeited his liberty, but all his personal rights except those which the law in its humanity accords to him. He is for the time being a slave of the State. He is civiliter mortus; and his estate, if he has any, is administered like that of a dead man. -
Birth of Jim Crow
In 1883 when the federal government attempted to enforce the Reconstruction Amendments with the Civil Rights Act of 1875, the Supreme Court ruled that that law was unconstitutional, setting the stage for Jim Crow laws. -
Tom Watson
He gave a speech during his time in the US House advocating a union between black and white farmers: "You are kept apart that you may be separately fleeced of your earnings. You are made to hate each other because upon that hatred is rested the keystone of the arch of financial despotism that enslaves you both. You are deceived and blinded that you may not see how this race antagonism perpetuates a monetary system which beggars both -
Period: to
The Populist Movement
While Populists remained almost entirely agrarian-oriented they had some connections to the Democratic party. Their platform included an increase in the circulating currency, a graduated income tax, government ownership of the railroads, a tariff for revenue only, the direct election of U.S. senators, and other measures designed to strengthen political democracy and give farmers economic parity with business and industry. -
Parchman Farm
Following the end Reconstruction, the convict population grew ten times faster than the general population so the state of Mississippi constructed it own convict labor camp. "Prisoners became younger and blacker, and the length of their sentences soared." -
Tom Watson
He was engaged and encourage nativist attacks on blacks -
Tom Watson
Watson identified himself as a white supremacist and ran as such during his presidential bid. He used his highly influential magazine and newspaper to launch vehement diatribes against blacks
