After Emancipation
The Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 freed African Americans in rebel states. After the Civil War all U.S. slaves no matter where they were, were emancipated under the thirteenth amendment. Even after emancipation of enslaved Africans in 1834 and 1863 in the Caribbean and United States respectively, now-freed individuals faced countless hardships. News of President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation did not even reach Texans until June 19th, 1865; a day now recognized as a federal holiday, Juneteenth.
With the new full citizenship for a whole newly freed population, Congress implemented “Reconstruction”; this was an effort aimed at reorganizing the Southern states toward allowing Black people and white people to live cohesively in a non-slave society. African Americans were able to actively participate in the political process, vote, seek employment, further their education, and use public accommodations. Southern states, however, saw this as humiliating and rallied against the former slaves.