140 Years of Flawed Reconstruction

Today's poor statistics send us back in time to post-Civil War issues; the effects of a faulty Reconstruction plan.

The concept of Reconstruction is one that needs examining. Struggles that the South continues to experience can be dated back to the Civil War. Southern states—like Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana—have been falling short in so many ways; lack of success in education and employment, as well high levels of poverty. A flawed Reconstruction plan and improper execution could very well be factors to the adversities that exist today.

Even years after the Civil War had ended and slavery was abolished, the confederate states continued to suffer from difficult setbacks. As told by a Civil War historian, “Slavery was the first great sin of this nation. The second great sin was emancipation, or rather the way it was done. The government told four million people, ‘You are free. Hit the road.’ Three-quarters of them couldn’t read or write. The tiniest fraction of them had any profession that they could enter.” With many southerners being slaves with little to no education, the idea of finding a job was probably daunting. Maybe Reconstruction had been flawed since the very beginning. Maybe the way it had been set-up made it impossible to move forward.

The end of the Civil War also brought the need for rebuilding, as the majority of the battles were fought on Southern soil. This was yet another setback and made progress difficult to attain. Also, with racist-driven groups like the Klan, equality and renewal must have seemed like distant ideas.

African-Americans continued to be pushed back relentlessly. Jim Crow laws were established and put restrictions on everything from marriage and education to restaurants and seating on a bus. Some actual Jim Crow laws included—“Marriages are void when one party is a white person and the other is possessed of one-eighth or more Negro, Japanese, or Chinese blood.” (Nebraska, 1911). And also, “Separate free schools shall be established for the education of children of African descent; and it shall be unlawful for any colored child to attend any white school, or any white child to attend a colored school.” (Missouri, 1929). Clearly, these laws caused greater segregation within the population, which was in no way a step forward in the South’s efforts to catch up with America.

Today, these states are still far behind. Mississippi, Louisiana, and Kentucky rank as the last three states in the percentage of people 25 and older who have completed high school. Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Kentucky, and Arkansas are the last five states according to ranking of the percentage of people age 16 to 64 in the labor force. In addition to my thoughts on the effect on education and employment, Wyatt’s Blog spends time examining the poor economy in Southern states in relation to the Civil War.

Failed Reconstruction has been called, “...a part of American history that isn't easy to face. It tells us that we had a moment in our history when our politics broke down. We don't like to face that. We don't even want to know about it. We like to believe we are a society of security and progress and improvement. Reconstruction makes us face an era when we were something else.”

Reconstruction should have been a catalyst to put the country back on track, but we still seem to struggle with its unintended consequences.

Sources Cited:

Horwitz, Tony. Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War. New York: Vintage, 1999.

"Abolition & Slavery - American Civil War - CivilWar.com." Home - American Civil War - CivilWar.com. http://www.civilwar.com/content/section/38/70/ (accessed October 2, 2008).

Blight, David. "Q&A: Southern Violence During Reconstruction." PBS; American Experience, Reconstruction: The Second Civil War. www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/reconstruction/40acres/sf_ violence.html#c (accessed October 1, 2008).

"Jim Crow Laws - Separate Is Not Equal." National Museum of American History. http://americanhistory.si.edu/brown/history/1-segregated/jim-crow.html (accessed October 1, 2008).

Randall, Vernellia R. "Examples of Jim Crow Laws." autoredirect to main site. http://academic.udayton.edu/Race/02rights/jcrow02.htm (accessed October 2, 2008).

"United States and States - R1501. Percent of People Who Have Completed High School (Includes Equivalency)." American FactFinder. http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/GRTTable?_bm=y&-geo_id=01000US&-_box_head_nbr=R1501&-ds_name=ACS_2006_EST_G00_&-format=US-30 (accessed October 1, 2008).

"United States and States - R2301. Percent of People 16 to 64 Years Who Are in the Labor Force (Including Armed Forces)." American FactFinder. http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/GRTTable?_bm=y&-geo_id=01000US&-_box_head_nbr=R2301&-ds_name=ACS_2006_EST_G00_&-redoLog=false&-format=US-30&-mt_name=ACS_2006_EST_G00_R1501_US30 (accessed October 1, 2008).

Watt, Wyatt. "Wyatt's Blog". http://wyattwatt.blogspot.com (accessed October 2, 2008).