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The Civil War was the most historic and studied war in American history. It was the first step to a huge turning point in the United States, the end of a way of life that many people had to endure for way too long. With the end of the war and the victory of the North came the conclusion that the United States would remain as one nation and end slavery. However, getting there was not as easy as it sounds. The Civil War was one of the largest wars ever, with over 625,000 American soldiers dead.
Shortly after the Civil War ended, from 1865 until 1877 came the period of time called ‘Reconstruction’. It was a time with lots of confusion and uncertainty about ways of life – one of the most common was the question of rights. During this time, Congress passed acts that were meant to clear the air, such as the Freedmen’s Bureau, which was an agency established by the Government meant to help the former slaves during the aftermath of the War. There was also the Civil Rights Act of 1866, which was the first law to declare that all citizens are equally protected by the law. Of course, there were also a variety of Reconstruction acts.
Although this was all being done, there was still so much more that needed to be done. The end of the Civil War meant so much to the millions of African-Americans who had been living such unjust, tragic lives as slaves, but at the same time it meant they had to take back those years and rebuild their lives – which is much easier said than done.
One of the realities that lots of African-Americans faced during this period was the need to re-establish bonds. For many years, millions of people had been separated and disconnected due to slavery. Of course, once these people were free their first reaction was to do whatever it would take to find their loved ones. To think that this was even an issue that people had to deal with is tragic and unfathomable. People would place advertisements and clippings in the newspapers, hoping it would find its way to the person they were looking for. In most of these scenarios, they had been separated from these certain loved ones for years – and only had slight recollections of each other. In a day and age where we can communicate with anyone at any time no matter how close or far, they are due to technology, it’s so hard to believe that people once lived in a time in which it wasn’t as simple as it is today. It’s even harder to believe that people had to deal with the hardships of being away from their loved ones for so long and have to live wondering if they were okay, where in the world they were, and how they would be able to reconnect with them again (if they even would be).
Another one of the realities that African-Americans had to face during Reconstruction was finding work. Because they had been stuck living and working in the same place for so long (and had endured so much in that particular place), it was expected that the majority of African-Americans wanted to get as far away from where they were enslaved as possible. As they explored and traveled to different areas, African-Americans were said to find more employment opportunities in cities as opposed to rural towns. Most African-American men that did migrate to cities began working as manual laborers. Basically, they did the jobs that Whites would not want to do, again. To make matters worse, during the Reconstruction era there was a period in which African-Americans were being excluded from employment in factories while at the same time White workers were constantly getting employed.
Perhaps one of the most important things to note about Reconstruction and the next thing I want to speak on regarding how African-Americans were going about bettering their lives was the willingness and drive to get an education. For so long, people had been denied the right to get an education. The literacy rates for African-Americans at the time were incredibly low, and during Reconstruction they were determined to make a way for themselves and learn basic literacy skills. The chance to receive an education was one of the main priorities of African-Americans during Reconstruction.
During this time, African-American communities came together and started building schools with the help of the Freedmen’s Bureau. This was a start, but there came challenges as lots of the people who were building the schools were also the people who were wanting to get an education. Families started moving to cities where there was easier access to education in order to provide their children with the opportunity. A milestone during Reconstruction was the creation of Howard University, one of the nation’s most respected and famous historically black colleges.
As I mentioned before, it’s hard to imagine people ever had to live this way. It’s hard to believe that people then (and even now) could even believe that they were more superior to others based on the color of their skin. I may not be African-American, but I am a minority in another way – I am a Latina woman. Although the injustices I have had to face in my career, school, and even just from going through life can’t even come close to what African-Americans have had to face, these topics still touch me in a way that I can’t describe and make me wish there was something I could do. One day.
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