The Freedman’s Bureau & the Emergence of the KKK

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Presentation by Robert MartinezPrimary Content Source: Reconstructing America by Joy HakimImages as cited.

Reconstruction The period after the Civil War, in which

the South attempts to rebuild. In addition, this era represents the manner in which the southern states were to be

re-admitted back into the Union.

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After the assassination of Abraham Lincoln at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. The Vice-President Andrew Johnson

assumes the presidency.

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During the first two years of Reconstruction, President Andrew

Johnson was in control. That time is called “presidential reconstruction.”

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In the beginning, things seemed to go well, Congress had created a Freedman’s Bureau. It was to help the newly freed blacks. They needed food, clothing, and shelter.

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The Freedman’s Bureau began opening schools. In the years of the Confederacy, Southern states had laws making it a crime to teach slaves to read and write. Now, as free people, they were thirsty for knowledge.

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But it’s hard to learn if you’re hungry, and many Southerners were hungry. Their

farms were in terrible shape. The wheat crop failed in 1865. It didn’t do much better

the next year.

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The Freedman’s Bureau kept most people from starving. Clothing was distributed. In

some places more of its help went to whites than blacks.

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Northern soldiers kept order. Just looking at those blue uniforms upset many Southerners. And some whites couldn’t accept the idea of a society where people were equal.

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Thousands of Southerners left the country for Mexico and South America. Former Confederate General Robert E. Lee was not pleased to see Southerners leave the United States.

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“Virginia has need of all her sons and can ill afford to spare you … Abandon all these local animosities and make your sons Americans.” – General Robert E. Lee

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Most Americans put the war behind them. White Southerners were willing to be good

U.S. citizens, except when it came to treating their black fellow citizens fairly.

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Every Southern state passed laws that discriminated against blacks. The laws were called “black codes.” They made

blacks practically slaves again.

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The black codes gave whites almost unlimited power. No Southern state would

establish public schools for blacks.

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Some whites put masks over their faces and burned black churches and schools.

They terrorized and killed blacks.

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These were members of a newly formed hate organization, the Ku Klux Klan, and they didn’t have the courage to show their faces. The state governments did not bring them to justice.

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President Johnson urged the Southern states to protect the freedmen and

freedwomen’s rights. But he didn’t do anything to see that they were protected.

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