Question

In what conditions did most Southern blacks live after the Civil War?

Answer 1

The Reconstruction witnessed many African Americans return to manual labor. Many, moreover, returned to their masters as hired hands or sharecroppers. When the KKK formed, it strived to punish blacks. Contrary to popular belief, many blacks did "not" stay or reside in the North. Current demographics also reflect that the greatest numbers and percentages of African Americans still reside in the South.

After the war many states held "State Constitutional Conventions" and passed "State Civil Rights Acts." All were steps in the right direction. The Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments were created as a direct result of the American Civil War.

The Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery. The Fourteenth Amendment made African-Americans citizens and protected citizens from discriminatory state laws. Southern states were required to ratify the Fourteenth Amendment before being readmitted to the union. The Fifteenth Amendment guaranteed African American men the right to vote.

In the latter half of the 1860s, Congress passed a series of acts designed to address the question of rights, as well as how the Southern states would be governed. These acts included the act creating the Freedmen's Bureau, the Civil Rights Act of 1866, and several Reconstruction Acts. The Reconstruction Acts established military rule over Southern states until new governments could be formed. They also limited some former Confederate officials' and military officers' rights to vote and to run for public office. (However, the latter provisions were only temporary and soon rescinded for almost all of those affected by them.) Meanwhile, the Reconstruction acts gave former male slaves the right to vote and hold public office.