Reconstruction Era Vocabulary

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Black Codes

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Laws passed by Southern states to restrict the freedom of African Americans after the Civil War.

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Freedman's Bureau

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The first federal relief agency in U.S. history, providing clothes, medical attention, food, education, and land to African Americans coming out of slavery. It ended in 1869 due to lack of support.

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Sharecropping

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An agricultural system in the Southern states where African Americans farmed land owned by white landowners in exchange for a place to live and a small portion of the crop.

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13th Amendment

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Ratified in 1865, it made slavery illegal in the United States.

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14th Amendment

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Made African-Americans citizens of the United States.

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15th Amendment

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Guaranteed all men the right to vote, regardless of ethnic background.

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Jim Crow Laws

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Laws passed by Southern states after the Compromise of 1877, legalizing segregation by requiring separate facilities for whites and blacks.

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Involuntary Servitude

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Being forced to work against your will.

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Ratify

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To formally approve or sanction.

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Reconstruction

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The action or process of building something again, particularly after the Civil War in the U.S.