The Change in Status of African Americans During Post-Civil War Reconstruction

The period of Reconstruction after the American Civil War introduced arguably more discrimination against African Americans, than prior to the civil war. The end of the American Civil War was supposed to solidify the death of slavery in America, however, slavery essentially continued in the South. New systems of labour, such as sharecropping, gave the impression of freedom, but kept African Americans economically disenfranchised. African Americans were denied judicial, economic, and political agency, despite being guaranteed these rights by the American Constitution. New racist groups, such as the Ku Klux Klan formed in the South, and violently terrorized newly freed African Americans. Discrimination was rampant in the North as well. Ultimately, the perception of African Americans as a threat to the livelihood of white Americans lead to even more discrimination against them after the Civil War.