History

01.06: Objective

How Are Freedoms Limited?

What Role Does the Government Play in Protecting the Rights of its Citizens?

The period after the Civil War seemed full of promise for African Americans. New constitutional amendments seemed to open up the doors of opportunity for formerly enslaved peoples. The Thirteenth Amendment ended slavery, while the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments guaranteed equal treatment and voting rights to African Americans.

However, within a few years, African Americans found that their new rights came with some limitations. State laws were passed that undermined the constitutional amendments. The sharecropping system of agriculture kept many former slaves bound to the land. Few could escape the violence, poverty, and state-supported discrimination.

Historian Rayford Logan described this period as "the nadir of American race relations." In that time, African Americans fought against terror and prejudice. It was the beginning of a civil rights struggle that continues today.

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In the decades after the Civil War, the Ku Klux Klan led a terror campaign against blacks. Disguised in robes and hoods, they harassed, intimidated, and killed African Americans and white citizens who supported them. 

Black Codes

How Did Black Codes Restrict African Americans?

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These freedmen voting in New Orleans in 1867 saw their new rights chipped away by restrictive black codes. 

Black codes, which passed soon after the Civil War ended, were an effort to restrict civil rights for African Americans. They also helped maintain a cheap source of farm labor and sustained the social hierarchy. These codes made it illegal for African Americans to carry weapons or vote. They could not serve on juries, testify in court against or marry white citizens, or travel without permits.

Some codes even restricted African Americans' ability to own land....