RECONSTRUCTION ERA
“Schoolhouse being burned to ashes during the Memphis riot.”
[Source: Tennessee State Library and Archive]
After the Civil War, Americans were faced with the challenge of rebuilding the South and reuniting a divided nation.
The Emancipation Proclamation declared the intention to abolish slavery in the United States. However, states were left to determine the fate of African Americans, leading to the adoption of restrictive "Jim Crow" laws that enforced segregation.
“For The Sunny South: A humor magazine published in New York City, satirizes the Jim Crow laws that mandated segregated public transportation in the South.”
[Source: Library of Congress]
JIM CROW LAWS
The landmark case of Plessy v. Ferguson, which established the "separate but equal" doctrine and legally allowed for the racial segregation of public facilities.
"The Rail Splitter At Work Repairing the Union: Cartoon of Reconstruction era of the United States (1863–1877)"
[Source: Joseph E. Baker; 1865]
“African-Americans vote for the first time, as depicted in 1867 on the cover of Harper's Weekly.”
[Source: Harper’s Weekly]