Post-Civil War Black History

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that the era following the Civil War was not a smooth transition from a slave-owning to a free-black society, but rather was characterized by conflict over the needs of the Southern states in the reconstruction of their ruined lands and fragmented social and political order. The author points out that this period is significantly important to subsequent African-American history because it enabled later periods of de-facto segregation and traditional issues of daily prejudice; however, it also marked the beginning of a constitutional move to demand free-men's rights equal to those of white men. The paper relates that the black codes, which eventually were named the Jim Crow Laws, allowed for officially sanctioned freedoms as well as restrictions that created legal segregation on many levels all over the South and reinforced those that already existed in the North.

From the Paper:

"From these movements local Southern activists emerged, like Fannie Lou Hammer, who spent the majority of her life fighting one campaign after another for local equality. The changes in the movement, demonstrated a concerted effort by national activists to include the voice of the people in the fight. The effort was successful in many ways because it helped create a system of people who were willing to endure countless personal and often violent attacks but who knew the local community and could create grassroots support for change."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Jim Crow Laws. (2004). In The Columbia Encyclopedia (6th ed.). New York: Columbia University Press.
• Reconstruction. (2004). In The Columbia Encyclopedia (6th ed.). New York: Columbia University Press.
• Golay, M. (1999). A Ruined Land: The End of the Civil War. New York: Wiley.
• Jonas, G. (2005). Freedom's Sword: The NAACP and the Struggle against Racism in America, 1909-1969. New York: Routledge.
• Klarman, M. J. (2004). From Jim Crow to Civil Rights: The Supreme Court and the Struggle for Racial Equality. New York: Oxford University Press.

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