Hs 100 Quizlet
W.E.B DuBois
"The True Tragedy of Reconstruction is that people don't understand it's significance". W.E.B DuBois was the first African American man to graduate with a PHD from Harvard, and was an American Activist and Sociologist. Wrote of Double Consciousness, and thought African-Americans should protest for their rights to education.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
(1815-1902) A suffragette who, with Lucretia Mott, organized the first convention on women's rights, held in Seneca Falls, New York in 1848. Issued the Declaration of Sentiments which declared men and women to be equal and demanded the right to vote for women. Co-founded the National Women's Suffrage Association with Susan B. Anthony in 1869.
Andrew Johnson
17th President of the United States, A Southerner from Tennessee, as V.P. when Lincoln was killed, he became president. He opposed radical Republicans who passed Reconstruction Acts over his veto. The first U.S. president to be impeached, he survived the Senate removal by only one vote. He was a very weak president.
Mississippi Plan
1890 - In order to vote in Mississippi, citizens had to display the receipt which proved they had paid the poll tax and pass a literacy test by reading and interpreting a selection from the Constitution. Prevented blacks, who were generally poor and uneducated, from voting.
Rutherford B. Hayes
19th president of the united states, was famous for being part of the Hayes-Tilden election in which electoral votes were contested in 4 states, most corrupt election in US history
New Orleans Massacre of 1866
30 July, 1866; white mobs attacked black Republicans who were at a convention for Louisiana's state constitution;, angry at the fact that blacks were trying to increase their political power at all, the white mobs attacked, leading to 44 dead and about 100 wounded
Leo Frank
A Jewish man charged with the murder of Mary Phagan. Originally sentenced to death but was later overturned by John Slaton (GA Governor) to life in prison. Tom Watson led a public outcry against Slaton. Leo Frank was taken out of his cell by a group of angry men and lynched. His case will lead to the rebirth of KKK in GA
Hamburg Massacre (1876)
A battle in which a group of Black Militia men were killed on the night of the 4th of July. Armed white supremacists invaded the town, drunk, dragging black men out of their homes.
Black Reconstruction by W.E.B DuBois
A book that challenged historical narratives that African Americans had little to do with the Reconstruction era. DuBois wrote in order to protect and emphasize the effect the reconstruction era had on Blacks and vice versa. A stunningly intelligent piece of sociological perspective that reframed the way people thought about the reconstruction era.
Primary source
A document, journal, letter, newspaper, or any other source of information provided to the public deriving from the time period. It is a first hand source of information that comes directly from the person writing/manufacturing it. Usually can be found in an archival library or online
History from below
A historical method of recording perspectives from ordinary people during historical events. During the reconstruction era, history from below was a process of collecting information from the formerly enslaved. This process is aimed at gaining deeper insight into the events that transpired instead of a fabricated truth that the leaders of the time period manufactured.
Dunning School
A historical school of thought criticizing reconstruction, and the effects it had on Southern States. Maintained that blacks were incapable of self-governance. Took place in the early 1900's.
Slaughterhouse Cases
A monopoly created in New Orleans, putting all other butchers out of business in the area. Supreme Court cases starting in 1873 that challenged the 14th amendment; court ruled that the 14th amendment only protected federal rights and not STATE rights
The "Lost Cause" (Historiography)
A narrative written by white supremacist historians that empowers the Confederates and ignores the true cause of the Civil War, slavery. A false story crafted to change the view of Confederates in the Civil War and redeem the embarrassment of their losses and all who had died in the war.
"Redlining"
A process by which banks draw lines on a map and refuse to lend money to purchase or improve property within the boundaries. A racist term and action as the neighborhoods that were redlined were often Black Neighborhoods. This resulted in a generational wealth gap for African Americans.
poll tax
A requirement that citizens pay a tax in order to register to vote
Secondary source
A secondhand account written ABOUT an event that transpired or about the history of something. These types of sources can use primary sources to back up their information, but are not primary in the information they provide. These are usually textbooks, (can be) newspaper articles, biographies, etc.
Black Codes
A series of laws designed in the South during the reconstruction era to oppress African American attempts at integrating themselves into normal society. This strictly revolved around the ability for an African American to attain a job and to keep that job. These laws also claimed that Black Men over the age of 18 were not allowed to be without a job, however the jobs they were allowed to pursue were impossible to gain.
Panic of 1873 (1873-1879)
A severe international economic depression triggered by overproduction of railroads, mines, factories and farm products. *Historical Significance:* Led to the *Railroad Strike of 1877*.
Sharecropping
A system used on southern farms after the Civil War in which farmers worked land owned by someone else in return for a small portion of the crops.
Gone With The Wind (1939)
A three hour movie depicting life during the Civil War for Southerners. The women are portrayed as helpless Southern Belles while the men are portrayed as gallant heroes. A film that pushed the lost cause narrative even further.
Fisk University and the Jubilee Singers
A university created and funded by he freedmen bureau aimed at helping African Americans attain a higher level of education. The Singers were the colleges musical group comprised of formerly enslaved peoples and traveled around the country.
13th Amendment
Abolished slavery and was ratified in 1865. The first of three amendments during the Reconstruction era that aimed at integrating African Americans into normal society.
Everyday Acts of Resistance
Acts of resistance with enslaved peoples would reaffirm the slaves that, they themselves existed as human beings. This included acts of them getting married, dropping plates on purpose, or skipping out on work.
Enforcement Acts
Acts passed under President Grant. 1) Stops groups like the KKK from banning together and and stopping others constitutional rights, 2) Stops voting violence, 3) Gives the President the right to use military force if these acts are committed.
New History (Post 1960's)
Actual history becomes available as the diversity and power of the changing country overpowered consensus history.
Fredrick Douglass (1817-1895)
American abolitionist and writer, he escaped slavery and became a leading African American spokesman and writer. He writes Abraham Lincoln in 1865 that African American's, men and women, and white women, deserve jobs and employment and deserve the right to vote.
Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction (1865)
Amnesty and the return of property is returned to southerners after they take a loyalty oath to the constitution.
Charlotte Louise Forten Grimke
An African American writer who went from the Northern States to Southern as a teacher. She was an advocate for civil rights and was an anti-slavery advocate as well. She worked as a teacher in the Port Royal Experiment.
Birth Of A Nation (1915)
An American silent film that exists to this day as one of the leading promoters of the Lost Cause and White Supremacy. Portrayed African Americans as criminals who had an interest in sexually assaulting white women. Portrayed the KKK as American Heroes which is what initiated the second rise of the KKK in the United States.
American Missionary Association
An association formed in Albany, NY, in 1846, and aimed at abolishing slavery and educating African Americans. As well, they aimed at educating African Americans on christian values. This was the most prominent American missionary organization of this time period.
"Waving the bloody shirt"
An expression used as a strategy by Republicans to gain votes. This term meant that the opposing candidate could not put the past of the Civil War behind them.
Memphis Massacre of 1866
An officer shoots himself in the foot, garnering the rest of the police force to open fire into a group of African Americans. For 3 days, complete lawlessness ensued, where Irish Immigrants and former confederates would join in and rape, kill, and burn anything related to African Americans
Knights of the White Camellia
Associated with the KKK, a secret organization that operated in Louisiana during military Reconstruction and that used threats and physical violence to keep the freedmen from voting or to force them to vote for Democratic candidates.
1868 Presidential Election
Between Ulysses S. Grant (R) and Horatio Seymour (D). Seymour openly does not support the reconstruction acts and black male suffrage. The KKK had a huge impact on this election, not enough to get Seymour elected, but enough to be scary.
President Abraham Lincolns Reconstruction Policy
Confederate states would be allowed to establish new state governments after 10% of their population swore an oath to the Union.
Land Confiscation
Confederates who did not surrender within 60 days of the act's passage were to be punished by having their slaves freed. This act paved the way for the Emancipation Proclamation.
UNC Archives and Dr. J. G. de Roulhac Hamilton
Dr. J. G. De Roulhac Hamilton was a student of William A. Dunning who soon moved to UNC Chapel Hill, spending his time as a professor. In his work, he began to promote the lost cause myth in his teachings. As well, he curated and created the UNC Archives Southern History Department. The archives reflected Hamilton's perspective of the reconstruction era being useless, and minimized/erased the Black experience in the South.
Compromise of 1877
Ended the reconstruction era between the North and the South. A group of allies of both Hayes and Tilden met and agreed that Hayes would win the presidency and Southern Democrats would have the US Military leaving the Southern States.
"Forty acres and a mule"
Enslaved people were promised forty acres and a mule following the emancipation of enslaved people. Special Order no.15 declared 40 acres of land along the coast of South Carolina and Georgia. The majority of African Americans never saw this transaction occur resulting in them resorting to Sharecropping.
Civil War "Contrabands"
Escaped enslaved peoples who were recruited by the Union Army to fight. Once they escaped the South, they were viewed as property and could be confiscated by the Union Army. Gave the military the right to free slaves.
Joint Committee on Reconstruction (1865)
Established by congress to investigate under what terms the seceded states should regain their congressional representation. The committee ultimately decides against giving the south representation in congress so quickly.
KKK
Founded by 3 former Confederate soldiers who fought to preserve slavery. This group drastically grew throughout the South and promoted white supremacy. They use violence, engaging in the lynchings and killings of any non-white race of people. Their main motive is to establish white control throughout the country.
Labor Contracts
Freedmen who would sign a contract for a years work under any landowner, comparable to slavery in a way, as the conditions stayed the same. The only difference is African Americans were now able to back out of the deal, although they would compromise their wages.
Self-liberation
Freeing oneself from slavery. Escaping from the South to the North.
DC Suffrage Act of 1867
Granted voting rights to all Black Males over the age of 21 in the D.C area.
National Womens Suffrage Association
Group founded in 1869 by Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Pushed for voting rights for women.
Credit Mobiler Scandal (1872)
Happens inside the Grant administration, a scandal that formed when a group of union pacific railroad insiders formed the credit mobilier construction company and then hired themselves to build the railroad with inflated wages. They bribed several congressmen and the vice president to keep the scandal from going public.
Amateur History (Pre-1900's)
Historians writing about the reconstruction era, very amateur people history aiming at keeping white people in power. these historians are often politicians looking to push the lost cause myth within their writing
Andrew Johnsons Reconstruction Policy
Inherently gives all White Southerners amnesty and their property back if they pledge an incredibly simple allegiance to the United States. Johnson treated the South with extreme leniency, being that the confederate president only spent 2 years in jail. Provisional governors would be elected until actual governors, racist white men, would be elected.
"Presidential Reconstruction"
Initially started by Lincoln but tainted by Johnson, the South would establish new state governments after 10% of the population sweared loyalty to the Union. Allowed Southerners, who vowed loyalty to the union, to be pardoned.
Emancipation Proclamation
Issued by Abraham Lincoln on September 22, 1862 it declared that all slaves in the confederate states would be free. This is what basically declared the Civil War to be about slavery.
Juneteenth (Emancipation Day)
June 19th, 1865, is the date in which enslaved peoples were freed from slavery. Considered as our Nations second Independence Day, this day remembers the horrors of slavery and what it took to officially end it and honors the independence of the formerly enslaved.
Jim Crow
Laws implemented after the U.S. Civil War to legally enforce segregation, particularly in the South, after the end of slavery.
Captured and Abandoned Property Act
Legislation that allowed the US government to seize any lands of loyal Confederates and to reapportion those lands as they deemed necessary. Claimed that the federal government had the right to seize the property of any Southerner still involved in slavery or support of the confederacy.
DC Emancipation Act of 1862
Lincoln signed a bill in 1862 ending slavery in the District of Columbia. This came 8 1/2 months before the emancipation proclamation. Allowed for freed slaves to leave the country, with the government giving them $100.
Congressional Reconstruction (1867-1868)
Made of former abolitionists, this group of politicians aimed at undoing and contradicting all of what former President Andrew Johnson had done during his time as president. Charles Sumner and Thaddeus Stevens fought for civil rights in the Union.
Confederate Monuments
Monuments that were erected to romanticize the Souths efforts in the civil war. Aimed at portrayed confederate leaders, such as Robert E. Lee, as heroes who died noble deaths. Many of these monuments are now destroyed or were taken down as they represent the racism of the time.
Carpetbaggers
Northern whites who moved to the South during the Reconstruction Era. During this time they would take up political roles as Republicans in the South. The term "carpet-bag" is a derogatory statement used to slight against the cheap luggage the northerners would carry.
Loyalty Oaths
Oaths former confederates were made to pledge to the union following the ending of the civil war.
Howard University
One of the first African American Colleges, it was established in Washington D.C in 1867. This college offered African Americans the ability to gain an education.
Special Field Order 15
Order by General William T. Sherman in January 1865 to set aside abandoned land along the southern Atlantic coast for forty-acre grants to freedmen; rescinded by President Andrew Johnson later that year.
Opelousas Massacre (1868)
Over the span of 2 weeks, 250 African Americans were killed after Black Men over the age of 21 were given the right to vote. This is a result of the KKK and the Knights of the white camellia.
Civil Rights Act Of 1866
Passed by Congress on 9th April 1866 over the veto of President Andrew Johnson. The act declared that all persons born in the United States were now citizens, without regard to race, color, or previous condition.
Presidential Election of 1864
Presidential Election in which Lincoln and Johnson ran as a part of the Union Party, General George B. McClellan ran as a Democrat; Fremont ran on the Radical Republican platform; Lincoln won; "Don't change horses in the middle of a stream"
Red Shirts
Primarily found in South Carolina, this was yet another White Supremacist military group and were simply more organized versions of rifle clubs. They aimed at political intimidation through violence.
14th Amendment
Ratified in 1868, this amendment declares that all persons born in the U.S. are citizens and are guaranteed equal protection of the law. The second of three amendments aimed at integrating African Americans into normal society.
15th Amendment
Ratified in 1870, this amendment granted African American men with the right to vote. The third and final amendment to integrate African American men into normal society.
Radical Reconstruction
Reconstruction strategy that was based on severely punishing South for causing the war, Republicans took over the reconstruction era.
Presidential Election of 1868
Republican Ulysses S. Grant defeated Democrat Horatio Seymour. "Let Us Have Peace" was Grants campaign slogan.
Presidential Election of 1876
Rutherford B. Hayes and Samuel J. Tilden tied in an election. Democrats said, "Hayes can be president if you get rid of the troops here in the south," Thus ending reconstruction
Freedman's Bureau, 1865
Set up to help freedmen and white refugees after Civil War. Provided food, clothing, medical care, and education. First to establish schools for blacks to learn to read as thousands of teachers from the north came south to help. Lasted from 1865-72.
United States v. Cruikshank
Supreme Court ruling of 1876 that overturned the convictions of some of those responsible for the Colfax Massacre, ruling that the Enforcement Act applied only to violations of black rights by states, not individuals
WPA Slave Narratives
The Great Depression caused the creation of the federal writers project hired by the federal government. The project was to go and find formerly enslaved people and ask them questions about their lives. The formerly enslaved were almost 80-90 years old and were being asked leading questions. Since the narratives were written and were never recorded, the random white reporters could rewrite whatever was said and fabricate the story.
Colfax Massacre (1873)
The White League attacks the courthouse in the parish of Colfax, Louisiana, because the republican politician won the election. 150 African Americans died during the massive killing spree. The Supreme Court was unable to do anything about this at the federal level, but the state of Louisiana was. They did nothing.
William A. Dunning
The creator of "the Dunning School" and a graduate of Columbia, William Dunning was a white Supremacist who believed the only true way for reconstruction to work was through White Supremacy
"Lost Cause"
The phrase many white supremacist southerners used to romanticize the South's defeat in the Civil War. Argues that the true cause for the South's entry into the Civil War was states rights, ignoring the true cause of Slavery. This ultimately is used to paint the South's dead confederate soldiers as noble dead.
"New Departure"
The political strategy of the Democrats was to shift their attention away from their pro-slavery attitudes to their economic advantages within the country. This was done in an effort to improve the Democratic chances at winning elections in the North.
Historiography
The process and methods of writing history. Incredibly important, leaving personal bias out of the informative sector of the writing. Historiography is a process meant to teach the truth of what happened prior to our present.
Select Committee to Investigate alleged outrage
The senate, along with President Grants support, supplies a select committee to investigate the killings of the KKK and the alleged outrages in the South.
Critical Race Theory
The study and teaching of the relationship among race, racism, and power. Preaches that systematic racism is apart of American culture and arose in the late 1970's-early 1980's.
Historical Memory
The ways in which groups of people collectively identify and recognize certain aspects of historical events
Ladies Memorial Associations
These women's organizations were formed in the South after the Civil War to commemorate Confederate soldiers. This is really where the lost cause myth began, as these women wanted their husbands remembered as heroes.
"Let Us Have Peace"
Ulysses S. Grant's campaign slogan in the election of 1868, pledging to unify the nation. As an American hero, Grant chose to use this slogan to promote the reconstruction of the United States and provide peace to the Union.
Oliver O. Howard
Union general known as the "Christian general" because he tried to base his policy decisions on his deep religious piety. He was given charge of the Freedmen's Bureau in 1865, with the mission of integrating the freed slaves into Southern society and politics during the second phase of the Reconstruction Era.
"Scalawags"
White Southerners who supported reconstruction policy and voted for Republicans. Many were draft dodgers and (some) supported Black Rights. This derogatory term was used as a political slander.
Grandfather Clause
an attempt to stop formerly enslaved from voting by stating that if your grandfather couldn't vote, you can't vote.
Decoration Day
another term for Memorial Day, a celebratory day honoring those who died in service of the United States. Aimed at servicing and designing the graves of fallen soldiers of the North and South. May 30th, 1868, is mainly when this tradition started.
Reconstruction Acts Of 1867
created five military districts, required Congressional approval for new state consitutions, Confederate states give voting rights to all men, and former Confederate states must approve the 14th amendment
United Daughters of the Confederacy
created monuments, gave out confederate flags, and helped reshape the image of the civil war
Port Royal Experiment
during Civil War where slaves worked on abandoned farmers land, and were funded by northern organizations; modeled what reconstruction could have been; showed blacks could work efficiently , Jan 1862, Brigadier General William Sherman asked the federal government to send teachers to instruct former slaves on the Sea Island of South Carolina.
Consensus History (Early 1900's)
elite white men who gained a college education who write history with the intention of promoting consensus. Writing history with America being a union and ignoring racial, gender, and political issues. W.E.B DuBois writes against consensus history
Penn School
founded in 1862 South Carolina; first school in Southern US to be specifically geared towards education of freed slaves after plantation owners fled from Union forces
Union Leagues
fraternal groups loyal to the Union and the Republican Party that became political and civic centers for blacks in former Confederate states
Archival Silence
letters, documents, and overall gaps in the historical record kept in museums or archives wether intentional or unintentional.
Lynching
putting a person to death by mob action without due process of law. The brutal killings were often seen done by groups like the KKK, and were used to ensue terror throughout the country.
Susan B. Anthony
social reformer who campaigned for womens rights, the temperance, and was an abolitionist, helped form the National Woman Suffrage Assosiation
Literacy Tests
tests requiring reading or comprehension skills as a qualification for voting. These tests were often made to be confusing and almost impossible to understand. African Americans at this time were not very well educated, so these tests were almost impossible to pass.
Freedmen's Bureau Bill
the relief to help formerly enslaved people in their transition to freedom. Aided in the Public health crisis going on with Small Pox as it helped set up hospitals. Johnson Vetos, but congress acts to get the veto overturned.