Reconstruction & Amendments
What amendment abolished slavery in the United States (with the exception of punishment for a crime)?
What is the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery (except as punishment for a crime).
What federal agency, established in 1865, provided food, clothing, legal help, and schools to formerly enslaved people?
What is the Freedmen’s Bureau (Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands).
What name is commonly associated with the promise to redistribute land in 40-acre parcels?
What is “Forty acres and a mule.”
What 1877 political settlement effectively ended federal enforcement of Reconstruction policies in the South?
What is the Compromise of 1877.
Name one major literary or cultural movement described in Unit 3 that emphasized Black self-definition and cultural innovation in the early 20th century.
What is the Harlem Renaissance.
Which amendment established birthright citizenship and equal protection under the law
What is the 14th Amendment, which established birthright citizenship and equal protection under the law.
Name two services the Freedmen’s Bureau provided that helped reunite families after emancipation.
Possible Answers (any two):
Helped locate missing family members
Assisted with communication and records searches
Helped reunite separated families
Established schools for freed people
Provided legal assistance and protection
Define “sharecropping” in one sentence.
Sharecropping was a system where farmers worked land owned by someone else and paid rent with a share of their crops.
Name one legal tool (listed in Unit 3) that states used to disenfranchise Black voters after Reconstruction.
Possible Answers:
Poll taxes
Literacy tests
Grandfather clauses
White primaries
Which poet of the Harlem Renaissance wrote “If We Must Die,” a 1919 poem urging dignified resistance?
Who is Claude McKay.
Which amendment prohibited denying the right to vote on account of race and initially extended voting rights to which group?
What is the 15th Amendment, which prohibited denying the right to vote based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude and initially extended voting rights primarily to Black men.
Describe one method freed people used to locate family members after emancipation (give one primary source example from the Unit 3 text).
Freed people used newspaper ads, letters, and Freedmen’s Bureau records to search for family members. For example, formerly enslaved people placed ads in newspapers asking for information about relatives who had been sold away during slavery.
Explain the “crop lien” system and how it contributed to a cycle of debt for Black farmers.
What is the crop lien system allowed farmers to borrow money or supplies using their future crop as collateral. Because of high interest rates and poor harvests, many Black farmers remained trapped in cycles of debt and poverty.
What 1896 Supreme Court decision established the doctrine of “separate but equal”?
What is Plessy v. Ferguson (1896).
Identify two ways the New Negro movement used arts and photography to challenge racist stereotypes (name one photographer or one technique).
Possible Answers (any two):
Photography portraying dignified images of Black life
Artistic portrayals challenging racist caricatures
Promotion of Black pride and self-definition
Photographers like James Van Der Zee
Explain one way the 14th Amendment overturned a major Supreme Court decision of 1857.
What is that the 14th Amendment overturned the Dred Scott decision by granting citizenship to people born in the United States. In Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857), the Supreme Court ruled that Black people could not be U.S. citizens. The 14th Amendment directly reversed this by establishing birthright citizenship.
Using the Bureau’s land policy excerpt (Circulars / Act), summarize the intended land assignment policy and one practical obstacle that prevented widespread land ownership by freed people.
The Freedmen’s Bureau intended to distribute confiscated or abandoned Confederate land to formerly enslaved people in small parcels (often associated with the idea of 40 acres). However, this policy largely failed because President Andrew Johnson returned land to former Confederates, preventing most freed people from becoming landowners.
Describe two provisions or effects of the Black Codes that limited African Americans’ freedom of movement or labor options.
Possible Answers (any two):
Laws requiring Black workers to sign yearly labor contracts
Vagrancy laws that allowed arrest of unemployed Black people
Restrictions on where Black people could live or work
Limits on movement or property ownership
These laws forced many African Americans into low-wage agricultural labor.
Identify and explain two consequences of Plessy v. Ferguson for public education or civic life.
What is Plessy v. Ferguson established the “separate but equal” doctrine, which allowed legal segregation. This led to segregated schools, transportation, and public facilities. In practice, facilities for Black Americans were far inferior, reinforcing racial inequality in education and civic life.
Explain how the Great Migration contributed to the cultural developments of the Harlem Renaissance — give one economic and one cultural effect.
The Great Migration moved millions of African Americans from the South to Northern cities. Economically, migrants sought industrial jobs and better wages. Culturally, the concentration of Black communities in cities like Harlem helped create a vibrant artistic movement that produced literature, music, and art associated with the Harlem Renaissance.
Analyze how the Reconstruction Amendments together were intended to redefine citizenship — give two specific legal effects and one limitation or way those protections were undermined during Reconstruction’s aftermath.
What is the Reconstruction Amendments redefined citizenship by abolishing slavery (13th Amendment), establishing citizenship and equal protection (14th Amendment), and protecting voting rights for Black men (15th Amendment). These amendments expanded civil and political rights for formerly enslaved people. However, these protections were undermined by Black Codes, violence from groups like the Ku Klux Klan, and later Jim Crow laws, which limited voting and civil rights.
Evaluate the Freedmen’s Bureau’s overall impact on family reunification and civic integration — cite evidence from the Unit 3 sources (including the 1865 Act and Circular No. 9)
The Freedmen’s Bureau helped many formerly enslaved people reunite families, access legal support, and build schools and institutions. It also helped integrate freed people into civic life by supporting education, labor contracts, and legal rights. However, its impact was limited by lack of funding, resistance from white Southerners, and the restoration of land to former Confederates, which prevented widespread economic independence.
Compare and contrast convict leasing and sharecropping as systems that reproduced forced labor conditions after emancipation. Use one specific image or source from Unit 3 to support your claim.
What is both convict leasing and sharecropping recreated systems of forced labor after slavery. Sharecropping trapped Black farmers in debt and dependency on landowners, while convict leasing forced prisoners—often arrested under discriminatory laws—to work for private companies. Convict leasing was often even more brutal, with prisoners subjected to harsh conditions and little legal protection.
Argue how racial violence and political compromises (e.g., Compromise of 1877) worked together to dismantle Reconstruction reforms — reference a Unit 3 primary or visual source (e.g., Thomas Nast cartoon or poll tax poster).
What is reconstruction reforms were dismantled through both political compromise and racial violence. The Compromise of 1877 removed federal troops from the South, ending federal enforcement of civil rights. At the same time, white supremacist violence and intimidation suppressed Black political participation. Together, these forces allowed Southern states to establish Jim Crow segregation and disenfranchise Black voters.
Analyze the relationship between the New Negro movement’s calls for racial uplift and debates between Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois. Include one quotation or paraphrase from Unit 3 sources (e.g., “Cast down your bucket where you are” vs. Du Bois’s emphasis on the “color line” or higher education).
The New Negro movement emphasized racial pride, education, and cultural expression. These ideas reflected debates between Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois. Washington encouraged economic progress and vocational training, famously saying “Cast down your bucket where you are.” Du Bois argued for higher education and political activism, believing a “Talented Tenth” should lead the fight for civil rights.