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DO NOW
List three current events.
Reconstructing a National Culture:
Problems Faced by African Americans
The Purpose of
Reconstruction
The goals were to readmit states to the
Union, create new political systems, rebuild
the economy, and expand and protect the
rights of African Americans.
 The 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments
extended new rights to African Americans
and increased political participation at local,
state, and national levels.

The Purpose of Reconstruction
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The Freedman Bureau supported the development
of a free black culture by building schools,
hospitals, providing social services, and
advocating for equality.
Many freedmen became tenant farmers and
sharecroppers, but unfair labor contracts, poor
soil, and the inability to own land kept most in
deep poverty.
Still, many tried to find ways to deny African
Americans the rights to vote, own property, and
attend school. Despite the efforts of
reconstruction, blacks were treated as second-hand
citizens.
What do you think are
some problems African
Americans began to face?
Jim Crow Laws
State and local laws enacted in the Southern
and border states of the United States and
enforced between 1876 and 1965. They
mandated “separate but equal" status for
black Americans.
Plessy vs. Ferguson
Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) was a landmark
United States Supreme Court decision
upholding the constitutionality of racial
segregation even in public accommodations
(particularly railroads), under the doctrine
of “separate but equal."
Poll Taxes
a tax of a uniform, fixed amount per
individual (as opposed to a percentage of
income)
 a tax formerly required for voting in parts of
the United States that was often designed to
prevent African Americans from going to
the polls

Literacy Tests
a test designed to determine one's ability to
read and write a given language; the term is
often used, however, to refer to a test given
to determine one's eligibility to vote
 the 15th Amendment gave male aged 21
and over the right to vote, literacy tests were
used as a way to keep African American
men ineligible

Inequality in Education
Following the Jim Crow Laws, African
Americans are banned from white hotels,
barber shops, restaurants, theaters, and other
public accommodations. By 1885, most
southern states also have laws requiring
separate schools.
Violence
lynching, hanging, and rioting become more
prevalent as tensions between the first and
second class citizens increase
 many innocent lives are damaged or taken
through a misunderstanding of cultures

As shown in this Thomas Nast cartoon, Worse than Slavery, white groups such as the Ku Klux Klan and the
White League used every form of terror, violence, and intimidation to restore a “white man’s government”
and redeem the noble “lost cause.”
For the rest of the day…
 Consider
- Do you feel these or
similar problems are still faced by
minority groups in the United
States? Why or why not?