Transcript The Emancipation Project

Mr. Reinking
U. S. History, GAVS
8 October 2013
These are the topics that this
presentation covers:
 The Emancipation Proclamation
 The Freedmen's Bureau
 13-15th Amendments
 The Black Codes
 The Ku Klux Klan
The Emancipation Proclamation
President Abraham Lincoln issued the
Emancipation Proclamation on January 1,
1863, announcing, "that all persons held as
slaves" within the rebellious areas "are,
and henceforward shall be free."
The Emancipation Proclamation, continued
The order first freed all slaves that were in the Confederate states
that were not in control of the Union forces. The slaves were not
freed right then. It took some time, but eventually about 4 million
people got out of slavery.
The Emancipation Proclamation, continued
The Emancipation Proclamation, continued
 The Emancipation Proclamation
made it so that freed slaves could
enlist into the United States military,
the Union army. During the war
nearly 200,000 blacks joined the
Union Army. The great majority of
those black men were former slaves
who contributed to winning the war.
 Of course, slaves were very happy at
hearing that they would be freed but
what was surprising was that most
owners of the slaves were not violent
about the order to free the slaves.
The Emancipation Proclamation, continued
The enslaved people waited for the Emancipation Proclamation the
night before President Lincoln announced at Watch Meetings. Many
churches continued the tradition to remind of the eventful time.
Freedmen’s Bureau
In 1865, Congress established the U.S.
Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and
Abandoned Lands, that became known
as the Freedmen’s Bureau. The Freedmen’s
Bureau was established by an act of Congress
on March 3, 1865, two months before the
Civil War was ended. The Freedmen’s
Bureau was supposed to help former
black slaves who had been freed from
slavery.
The Freedmen’s Bureau was supposed to
be able to provide food, housing, medical
treatment, establish schools, help with
jobs, and help with legal matters. It also
attempted to settle former slaves on
Confederate lands confiscated or
abandoned during the war. The bureau
was unable to carry out all of its
programs because there was not enough
money or people to help. The bureau was
shut down by Congress in 1872.
Freedmen’s Bureau, continued
 There were many hardships
faced by the slaves who got
freed. It is estimated that
hundreds of thousands of
freed slaves died from
starvation and disease.
Initially, they had no one to
help them get food, jobs, or
education.
 While the Freedmen’s Bureau
workers tried to help, the
freed slaves still suffered.
There were churches set up
where former slaves band
together, where education
was started, and it gave some
time to get jobs.
Freedmen’s Bureau, continued
Freedmen’s Bureau, continued
The
th
13
Amendment
 One January 31, 1865, the U.S. House
of Representatives passed the 13th
Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. It
abolished slavery in the United States of
America.
 The amendment states: "Neither slavery
nor involuntary servitude...shall exist
within the United States, or any place
subject to their jurisdiction."
The 13th Amendment, continued
It was the 13th Amendment that eventually made it so that four
million slaves were freed.
The 14th Amendment
The 14th amendment was ratified on July 28, 1868. It is important because it
provides some specifics about what it means to be a U.S. citizen and clarifies
the rights of citizens. The three most important parts:
 Citizenship Clause: The freed slaves were made citizens because they were born
in the United States. Before the amendment passed, African Americans were not
able to become citizens and that made it hard to overcome their hardships.
 Due Process Clause – The due process clause protects the 1st amendment rights of
the people and prevents those rights from being taken away by any government
without “due process.” Due process is a trial by jury for all people accused of
wrongdoing.
 Equal Protection Clause – This part of the fourteenth amendment states that there
may be no discrimination against them by the law. The federal government
enforces this protection on the states.
The 14th Amendment, continued
This amendment is referred to a lot even nowadays to protect others,
not just freed slaves.
The 14th Amendment, continued
The 15th Amendment
The 15th Amendment was ratified on February 3,
1870. The Fifteenth Amendment to the U.S.
Constitution states:
 The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not
be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State
on account of race, color, or previous condition of
servitude.
 The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by
appropriate legislation.
The 15th Amendment, continued
 States are not allowed to
deny citizens the vote
because of their race, color,
or the previous experience
of being a slave.
 States are not allowed to
deny the vote to anyone
based on literacy, property,
or the circumstances of his
birth.
 All male citizens who were
21 or older had the right to
vote. (Former slave women,
along with all other women,
had to wait another 50 years
until 19th amendment to get
the right to vote.)
The 15th Amendment, continued
The Black Codes
The Black Codes were laws created
by states that were against former
slaves and were based on the slave
codes that were in effect when
slavery was legal. It was a way to
discriminate against the former
slaves and to mistreat them as
inferior.
 There were vagrancy laws that
declared a former slave to be
vagrant if unemployed and without
permanent home.
 A former slave person could be
arrested, fined, and forced to labor
if unable to pay the fine
The Black Codes, continued
 Another twist was
“apprentice laws” that
allowed the “hiring out” of
orphans and other young
former slaves to people that
sometimes even turned out
to be their former slave
owners.
 Some states limited the type
of property former slaves
could own, and in other
states blacks were excluded
from certain businesses or
from the skilled trades.
The Black Codes, continued
 Former slaves
were forbidden
to carry
firearms or to
testify in court,
except in cases
concerning
other former
slaves.
 Legal marriage
between former
slaves was
allowed but
interracial
marriage was
prohibited.
The Black Codes, continued
 Sharecropping was a system
created to have laborers with no
land of their own to work on farm
plots owned by others. Then at the
end of the season, landowners
were to pay workers a share of the
crop. They were often cheated.
 The former slaves who were very
poor, often illiterate, and very
much intimidated by widespread
violence after the Civil War fell
into the system.
 There were many former slaves
who agreed to sharecropping
contracts that were actually
designed to keep them poor, with
almost no chance of every
becoming land owners
themselves.
The Black Codes, continued
Sharecropping was a very
difficult way to live and work.
The Ku Klux Klan
 The Ku Klux Klan was founded
during 1865-66 in Pulaski,
Tennessee by six Confederate
veterans as a social club.
 In the beginning, the Klan was a
secret fraternity club rather but
later became more like a terrorist
organization.
 After the Civil War ended, the
former Confederate soldiers who
were stripped of their citizenship,
their right to vote, their property,
and their livelihoods.
The Ku Klux Klan, continued
 The word “Ku Klux” comes
from the Greek word
"kuklos," which means circle,
and the English word clan.
 The costume or disguise worn
by its members was a mask
and white robe and high
conical pointed hat.
The Ku Klux Klan, continued
Eventually, the KKK became a serious terrorist
group that killed many innocent former slaves and
black men, women, and children. It faded for
awhile but in the 1920s reared its ugly cone-head
again. They killed people, often going unpunished,
up until the late 1960s. There are still KKK people
active now but they are not getting away with
lynching like they did back then. They still
threaten black people and people who help black
people.
Works
Cited
“Black Codes,” www.history.com/topics/black-codes. Accessed 6 October 2013.
“Eyewitness to History: The Ku Klux Klan” www.eyewitness.com/topics/kkk.
Accessed 6 October 2013.
“Freedmen’s Bureau.” www.history.com/topics/freedmens-bureau.Accessed 6 October
2013.
“Historical Documents: Emancipation Proclamation,”
www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4h1549.html. Accessed 6 October 2013.
“How the End of Slavery Led to Starvation and Death for Millions of Black
Americans.” www.theguardian.com/world/2012/jun/slavery-starvation-civilwar.com.” Accessed 6 October 2013.
“Passage of the Fifteenth Amendment,”
www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/grant-fifteenth.
Accessed 6 October 2013.
“Slave to Sharecropper.” www.pbs.org/
www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/reconstruction/sharecrop.” Accessed 6 October 2013.
“The Creation of the 13th Amendment.” www.13thamendment.harpweek.com.”
Accessed 6 October 2013.
“The Creation of the 14th Amendment.” www.14thamendment.harpweek.com.”
Accessed 6 October 2013.
/“The Emancipation Proclamation,”
www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured_documents/emancipation_proclamation.
Accessed 6 October 2013.