Summary

The end of the Civil War was a hopeful beginning for African Americans. Although President Lincoln left no definite plan for reconstruction, many Americans supported one, and the Reconstruction Act of 1867 was eventually passed. African Americans were given the right to vote, and the South was given assistance to rebuild itself. With Republican support, African Americans began to gain power socially and politically. However, discrimination persisted, and African Americans struggled to find a place in American society. When the nation fell into economic depression, interest in the Reconstruction decreased, thus leaving African Americans alone to face segregation and violence and to doubt the resiliency of their hard-won freedom. From the new set Slavery in the Americas, African Americans during Reconstruction explores this intriguing time in American history more thoroughly.

Topics include:

• Lincoln and Reconstruction
• The beginning of Reconstruction
• The New Reconstruction Plan
• The new African-American role in politics
• African-American life under Radical Reconstruction
• The end of Reconstruction
• The legacy of Reconstruction.

Specifications

Black-and-white photographs. Maps and graphs. Glossary. Further reading. Timeline. Sidebars. Fact boxes. Index.

About the Author(s)

Richard Worth holds a B.A. and an M.A. in colonial American history from Trinity College in Connecticut. He currently teaches writing to third and fourth graders. Worth is the author of several books for middle-grade readers and young adults, including Henry VIII; Westward Expansion and Manifest Destiny; The Spanish Inquisition; American Slave Trade; Plantation Life; and Gangs and Crime, which was included on the New York Public Library’s 2003 "Books for the Teen Age" list.