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Election of Benjamin Butler
Benjamin Butler was a major advocate for the rights of African Americans. In 1865, he was elected to Congress as part of the Republican Party. During his life, he supported African American Regiment and forced the Confederacy to recognize African American Union soldiers. -
Black Codes
Black codes were a major blow to African Americans; they violated their basic rights. In Mississippi, these codes made it so that interracial marriage was illegal and selling or lending firearms or booze to freed men was illegal. The exact codes laid out varied by state but all were horrid. -
Ku Klux Klan
This cruel organization was organized the same month that the 14th Amendment passed. White men met and created this group in order to resist laws that were being passed that gave African Americans rights. The members wore white hoods in order to hide their faces as they carried out their heinous crimes. Hanging their victims was their most common method that they practiced. -
Thirteenth Amendment
The 13th Amendment was ratified in December. This abolished slavery throughout the united states.
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Freedmen's Bureau
The Freedmen's Bureau was established in 1865. The goal of the organization was to help former African American Slaves during the course of the Reconstruction Period. They gave medical assistance to 1,00,000 men and handed out more than 21,00,000 rations. The organization was disbanded in 1872. -
Lincoln's Assassination
Lincoln was the 16th president at the time. He died due to being shot in the head. His assassinator was John Wikes Booth. Link text -
New Orleans Race Riot
Dismayed by black codes, Radical Republicans met up to discuss African American Rights. Former Confederates who were fearful of the gathering came together and attacked then. Over 100 people were injured. -
Fourteenth Amendment
This amendment was approved by Congress in 1866. It declared everyone born in America had the same rights. Link text -
Readmitted States
The southern states of Tennessee. Arkansas, Louisiana, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, Virginia, Mississippi, Texas, ad Georgia were readmitted into the U.S. -
African American Men Vote
Johnson had originally forbid African American men from voting. However, in the District of Columbia, Congress granted them the rights to do it. -
Office of Tenure Act
This act stated that president had little to no power to dispose of an office member while congress is out of session. In 1867, Johnson violated this act. He replaced Edwin M. Stanton with Ulysses S. Grant and was impeached the following year. -
Francis L. Cardozo
Francis L. Cardozo was elected to be the secretary of state in South Carolina. He was an African American graduate from the University of Glasgow and later worked as a principal in a colored school. He wanted the plantation system abolished. -
The Opelousas Massacre
This Massacre took place in Louisiana where 200-300 African Americans were killed. The ignition for the riot was when African American tried to join a Democratic political group by Washington but white supremacists pushed them out. This massacre encouraged violence against African Americans in the future. -
Fifteenth Amendment
The 15th Amendment granted everyone the right to vote, regardless of race. However, by the end of the 70s discriminatory bars prevent most people of color from being able to vote. -
Sharecroppers
By 1870, Sharecroppers were noticeably popping up. These were typically former slaves who would go back and work for their masters. This was largely due to the fact that thee were no land reforms, pushing African Americans to do this work for miniscule pay. -
Hiram Rhodes Revels
In 1870, he became the first African American on the senate. He served for one year. -
Ku Klux Klan Act
This act was published shortly after the Enforcement Act. This act targeted the KKK, making involvement punishable by the federal law. -
Martial Law
Mass arrests in South Carolina take place because of Grant because of violations to the Enforcement Acts. Klan members will soon also be arrested for their own violations. -
Freedmen's Bureau ABolished
Underfunded and not widely liked, the bureau was disbanded. It's jobs were passed off to the military. Without the organization, many freed African Americans were left uneducated. -
Liberal Republican Convention
Many Republicans met up in Cincinnati to discuss their complaints with the Reconstruction policies. They thought their government was becoming increasingly corrupt and coined it with the term, Grantism. -
The Mississippi Plan
The Mississippi Plan was a racist strategy that barred African Americans from voting or owning firearms. Devices such as literary tests were deployed in order to ensure its success. This was enacted in hopes to overthrow the Republican Party in Mississippi. -
Blanche Kelso Bruce
While not the first person of color to serve as senator, he was the first one to serve a full six years. -
The United States Vs. Cruikshank
The supreme court ruled that the right to vote comes from within the states but the right to not face discrimination comes from the federal law. -
Civil Rights Act
The Civil Rights Act recognized African American rights to equal treatment in public facilities. The act stated that if someone did discriminate against someone by their race, they were subject to pay the victim $500. For every following violation, they would be convicted of a misdemeanor. -
The Bargain of 1877
The Bargain of 1877 was the last event that pulled the trigger on the Reconstruction Era. This compromise made it so that Rutherford Hayes would be the next president, and it also pulled the last of the troops out of the south. With the militia presence gone, the south treated African Americans poorly and soon enacted the Jim Crow Laws.
