Outraged by these developments, Radicals were determined to steer the nation in a different direction. At the state level, southern legislatures populated with formerĬonfederates passed unjust laws known as Black Codes to restrict the rights of freed people. Throughout the South, voters elected former Confederates to state legislatures and to Congress. States during the war, had granted blanket pardons to many Confederate soldiers and officials, restoring their right to hold public office. President Andrew Johnson, a slaveholder and former Tennessee Senator who stayed loyal to the United Since the conclusion of the Civil War in April, most of the former Confederate states had taken dramatic steps to reconstitute their governments under the leaders of the rebellion.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.As the 39th Congress (1865–1867) convened on December 4, 1865, Radical Republicans confronted a crisis in the South. “And depending on who wins the election, the government may or may not be in a position or have the desire to address deep economic inequalities in this country.”Ĭopyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. “Nothing is going to happen until after the election, I’m sure,” Foner said.
While the Reconstruction era included an expansion of voting rights to African Americans - albeit largely unenforced - economic justice was not pursued.Īnd while the civil rights movement about a century later yielded equal access to opportunity, Foner said much of the racial injustice protests today are centered around the economic component of freedom. And our society has never allowed African Americans to accumulate money and assets the way white families have.” It’s not like income from a job, which comes in every week or every month. “Family assets are what is built up over time. “That’s the legacy of history,” Foner said. But a reexamination of the period - and the economic promises to African Americans that went unmet - can help explain some of the disparities seen today, in which the assets held by Black family assets are, on average, 10 percent that of white families. Historian Eric Foner said misconceptions about the Reconstruction era helped uphold white supremacy in the South, and a greater understanding of the period can provide context for the economic demands of Black protesters today.įoner told Hill.TV that Reconstruction was portrayed by early 20th century historians as a corrupt era, and that the advent of Jim Crow laws helped restore governance in the South.
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