CWR - Resistance To Reconstruction (Lesson)

 Resistance to Reconstruction

While the Reconstruction Amendments provided protection for former slaves, the enforcement of those laws was opposed by many in the South who took various steps to suppress racial equality.

Black Codes

Also known as Jim Crow Laws, Black Codes were a means to control the African-American population following the Civil War. The Reconstruction Amendments provided rights afforded to former slaves including citizenship, voting and marriage rights; however Black Codes were enacted to limit their rights. Voting restrictions such as poll taxes, literacy tests and the Grandfather Clause which limited voting to only those individuals whose grandfathers could vote before 1867—eliminating former slaves as voters since their fathers were slaves before 1867--were utilized to prevent or deter African-Americans from voting. They were also discouraged from involving themselves in areas in which they may have influence or power over whites. White landowners used Black Codes to restrict African-American workers in such a way to almost equally bind them to the land they worked on as they had during slavery. This oppression was accomplished through the controversial practices of share cropping and tenant farming. Both share cropping and tenant farming forced the workers into conditions of indebtedness to the white landowner. The farmers lived in shelters owned by the landowner and they paid the owners rent. The farmers had to buy seeds and tools from the landowners at inflated prices. They had to purchase food from a “commissary” owned by the landowner at exorbitant prices. Finally, the farmers had to buy all of these things from the landowners on credit, allowing the owner to hold a lien on the farmers’ future crops. To further deter African-Americans from advancing in society, violence and intimidation became commonplace. These tactics were most notably used by the Ku Klux Klan.

The Ku Klux Klan

The Ku Klux Klan (KKK) was established with the intent to intimidate and control former slaves in the South, thereby denying them of their rights. The KKK used extreme forms of intimidation including violence and murder to conduct their hatred and hate filled agenda. The KKK’s actions evolved from intimidation and violence against former slaves and free blacks to anyone who opposed their agenda. Because of their strength and the fact that many influential whites were members, the KKK was able to influence politics in the South. After the end of Reconstruction no federal troops were present to protect citizens or enforce legislation in the South. The KKK later reemerged in the early 20^th century and continue to play a pivotal role in segregationist attitudes and politics in the United States even today.

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