Reconstruction Era and Related Terms

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Reconstruction (1865–1877)

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The period after the Civil War when the U.S. government attempted to reintegrate the Southern states and rebuild the nation while addressing the rights of formerly enslaved people.

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13th Amendment (1865)

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Abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime.

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14th Amendment (1868)

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Granted citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States and guaranteed equal protection under the law.

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15th Amendment (1870)

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Prohibited the federal and state governments from denying a citizen the right to vote based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

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Freedmen’s Bureau

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A federal agency established in 1865 to provide aid, education, and assistance to formerly enslaved people and poor whites in the South.

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Black Codes

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Laws passed by Southern states after the Civil War to restrict the freedom and economic opportunities of African Americans.

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Jim Crow Laws

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State and local laws that enforced racial segregation in the South from the late 19th century through the mid-20th century.

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Sharecropping

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A system in which formerly enslaved people and poor farmers worked land owned by others in exchange for a share of the crops, often trapping them in cycles of debt.

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Tenant Farming

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A system where farmers rented land and paid the landowner with a portion of their crops or cash, similar to sharecropping but with more independence.

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Convict Leasing

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A system where Southern states leased imprisoned individuals, mostly African Americans, to private companies for forced labor under brutal conditions.