Reconstruction: America After the Civil War Reaction

After watching the video "Reconstruction: America After the Civil War" I became more aware of the injustice African Americans faced after the Civil War era. 

The video began by telling a story of a case from 2015. A 21 year old white man went to a bible study session at a local church in South Carolina. This man, identified as Dylann Roof, participated in the bible study for about an hour before opening fire and taking the lives of 9 Black people. 

The video went on to say how the emancipation proclamation changed the outcome of the Civil War as former slaves joined the union army and helped defeat the confederate soldiers. this act lead to African Americans being allowed to vote along with many other rights that they did not have before. 

Andrew Johnson

one of the more notable parts of the video was when they were talking about Andrew Johnson. During
Andrew Johnsons inauguration, he was greeted by Frederick Douglas. Johnson had an offensive tone towards Douglas  and showed some very racist and unpleasant behavior. Johnson also went as far as to say that he was unwilling to shake his hand. 

Another part of the video that I thought was interesting was the mention of the Freedman Bureau. the Freedman Bureau was mentioned both in class and in the video and was brought up during the EOTO presentation. It was also brought up in one of my previous posts about the KKK. 

The Freedman Bureau was a group, mainly comprising of African Americans, who helped other Africans Americans with education, healthcare, food, and clothing to those who have just been freed in the south. although consisting of majority African

Frederick Douglas

Americans, they did have some white supporters who helped transport goods to the southern states. 

Overall the video taught me a lot about the reconstruction period after the Civil War and its nice to see some of the topics mentioned int he video in class discussion.