After two and a half centuries of enslavement in the United States where
Black people were tortured, abused, sexually assaulted, killed, and subjected
to forced labor, Emancipation finally came at the end of the Civil War with
the ratification of the 13th Amendment in 1865. Most formerly enslaved
people in the United States were remarkably willing to live peacefully
with those who had held them in bondage despite the violence they had suffered
and the degradation they endured. Emancipated Black people put aside their
enslavement and embraced education, hard work, faith, and citizenship. This period
called Reconstruction held great hope for America and Black Americans in
particular. But the Reconstruction Era's initial hope for progress gave way to
devastating deadly violence. Between 1865 and 1876, thousands of Black women, men,
and children were attacked, killed, and terrorized by white people who were
shielded from arrest and prosecution. During the Memphis Massacre of 1866,
white mobs indiscriminately beat, robbed, tortured, shot, raped, and killed Black
women, men, and children. In the course of three days, 90 Black homes were destroyed
and all Black schools and churches were burned to the ground. Black residents
were stripped of their belongings and forced to flee into the woods. There was
no criminal prosecution against the white instigators of the Memphis
Massacre, one of hundreds of such incidents during this period. The surge
of anti-Black violence prompted Congress to approve the first Reconstruction Act
in February 1867 to ensure that Black people's equality would be reinforced. In
1868, the 14th Amendment declared all persons born in the country were
citizens regardless of race and thus entitled to privileges of citizenship,
due process, and equal protection. Over 80 percent of eligible Black men registered
to vote, schools for Black children became a priority, and courageous Black
leaders overcame enormous obstacles to win elections to public office.
This triggered a violent backlash from those within the white community who
could not accept Black equality. In Opelousas, Louisiana, in September 1868,
white citizens terrorized the community to suppress Black voter turnout at an
upcoming election. White mobs roamed the countryside for several weeks targeting
Black citizens and their white allies, murdering an estimated 200 people.
Other massacres of hundreds of Black people took place in New Orleans, Colfax, and
parishes throughout Louisiana. Violence spread from Texas to North Carolina,
where white mobs sought to intimidate and deprive Black people of their rights.
Despite being continuously terrorized by their former enslavers, the Black
community mobilized throughout the South by organizing meetings, parades, and
petitions calling for the implementation of their legal and political rights
including the right to vote. In 1870, the United States ratified the 15th
Amendment explicitly prohibiting racial discrimination in voting. But still, most
white people refused to accept Black citizenship—in both the North and the
South there was tremendous resistance to the idea of Black equality. On October
10th, 1871, African American activists and Union Army veteran Octavius Cato left
the Philadelphia Pennsylvania School where he served as a teacher and
administrator, and headed to the polls to cast his ballot in the city's mayoral
election. Mr. Cato successfully cast his vote but on his way home from the polls
he was assassinated by Frank Kelly, who had ties to white supremacist party
leaders and who was later acquitted by an all-white jury. Being attacked or
killed on an election day was a common reality for Black citizens. During
Reconstruction an estimated 2,000 Black men served in elected office from local
and state positions all the way up to Congress, but increased political
participation came at a cost of increased white violence against the
Black community. In Vicksburg, Mississippi, in December
1874, where Black people gathered to protest the removal of their elected
Black sheriff from office, white mobs attacked and killed at least 50 of them.
And then in 1877, just 12 years after emancipation, the meager progress that
was made toward securing equal rights for Black citizens was abandoned when
political compromise with Confederate holdouts resulted in the removal of the
last federal troops from the South. The commitment to abolish chattel slavery
was not accompanied by a commitment to equal rights or equal protection for
African Americans and the hope of Reconstruction quickly became a
nightmare of unparalleled violence and oppression.
It was during Reconstruction that a century-long era of racial hierarchy,
lynching, white supremacy, and bigotry was established. An era from which the nation
has yet to recover. One and a half centuries after the Emancipation
Declaration, racial injustice persists in America.
EJI presents this report on the tragic period of Reconstruction to
describe its implications for the issues we face today. We believe our nation has
failed to acknowledge our history of racial terror, and that we must commit to
a new era of truth-telling followed by meaningful efforts to repair and remedy
the continuing legacy of racial injustice.