Reconstruction Video Blog Post

 Most of us know that our country fought a civil war in the 1960s, but no one really knows the tragedy that came after, which was the reconstruction era. The reconstruction era was an exciting time but also it had a lot of backlash and depression. Reconstruction meant storing the United States back to a union. The reconstruction era was a process by which American society tried to come to terms with the consequences of the civil war. On April 9th, 1865, Palm Sunday marked the end of the civil war.           

 

 However White southerners couldn’t accept the 4 million slaves as equal members of their society. It was Apparent that the north and the south saw reconstruction quite differently. From the war's first days, legions of slave people defied their masters. By the summer of 1862 many slaves found safe haven. Shortly after 1865, ads were being placed in newspapers. African Americans wanted to build the life they ever got to have. They longed for things they couldn’t have, like the right to own land, the right for education, and the right to marry. They also were trying to reconnect with their families that they got separated from.

 

While Abraham Lincoln was in office, he believed black people deserved the write to vote. This unfortunately was the last speech he got to deliver before he was assassinated on April 14th. Hours after Lincoln's death, Andrew Johnson was sworn in. Few imagined Johnson would ever ascend into presidency. Andrew was the first man in this country made president by an assessed bullet. Johnson grew up in the south as a democrat, he also grew up poor. Which gave him perspective. Now with Andrew Johnson in office, White southerners were having a hard time accepting the fact that slavery was dead.

 

When laws started to change, and when black men heard they could enter the army, 180,000 answered the call; most of them were slaves. The role of black soldiers would ensure that it would end emancipation. 100 years after emancipation black people were still fighting for their rights. A system functioning without race is still something we are working for.