1- Top Ten

Priority From most to least influential Event/Person/Term Brief Description Justification 1 Congressional reconstruction 1867 – 1870 Reconstruction Acts, U.S. legislation enacted in 1867-68 that outlined the conditions under which the Southern states would be readmitted to the Union following the American Civil War (1861-65). The reconstruction acts fulfilled the radicals three major objectives; first they secured the freedmen's right to vote, second they made it likely that southern states would be run by republican regimens that would enforce the new constitutions protect former slaves rights and maintain the public majority in Congress, finally the act set standards for readmission that required the South to accept the consequences of defeat the premises of the federal government in the end of involuntary servitude. 2 Southern Homestead Act The Southern Homestead Act was an extension of the Homestead Act of 1862, which freed for settlement millions of acres of public lands in the West. The Southern Homestead Act was initiated to help former slaves gain their own land. In 1866 Congress passed the southern homestead act giving African Americans preferential access to public lands in five southern states. Two years later the republican government of South Carolina initiated a land distribution program financed by the sale of state bonds, the state used proceeds from the bond sales to purchase farmland which it then resold to freedmen who paid for it with the state funded long term low interest loans. By the late 1870s more than 14,000 African American families had taken advantage of this program. 3 15 th Amendment Guaranteed the right of all American male citizens to vote regardless of race. Passed 1869 and ratified in 1870. The basis for black voting rights. In February 1869, in response to growing concerns about voter fraud and violence against Friedman, the amendment guaranteed the right of American men to vote regardless of race. Although the amendment provided a loophole allowing states to impose restrictions on the right to vote based on literacy or property qualifications. It was nonetheless a milestone and made the right to vote perhaps the most distinguishing characteristic of American citizenship. 4 Radical Republicans The Radical Republicans were a group of politicians who formed a faction within the Republican party that lasted from the Civil War into the era of Reconstruction. Favored black suffrage and protection of black civil rights. Favored land redistribution and treating rebellious states as territories in establishing military districts. Favored limiting franchise to black people and loyal white people. Corynn McCoy Dr. Campbell HIS 122 March 20, 2022

5 The Knights of Labor A union of craftworkers founded in Philadelphia in 1869. Grew dramatically after the great uprising under the leadership of Terence V Powderly, reflecting the views of many skilled workers the night saw and inevitable conflict between the wage system Of Labor and the republican system of government remarkably inclusive for its times and nights welcomed black workers and women to its ranked victories in several small railroad strikes in 1884 and 1885 boosted its membership to nearly one million workers by 1866. 6 Freedman’s Bureau A multi-purpose agency to provide social, educational, economic services, advice, and protection to former slaves and destitute white southerners The first step Congress took beyond emancipation was to establish the Bureau of refugees, freedmen, and abandoned lands in March 1865. The Bureau marked the federal government first foray into social welfare legislation. Congress also authorized the Bureau to rent confiscated and abandoned farmland to freedmen in 40-acre plots with an option to buy. This auspicious beginning belied the great disappointments that lay ahead. The Bureau established 3,000 Freedman schools in the South serving 150,000 men, women, and children. 7 National American Woman Suffrage Association The National American Woman Suffrage Association was an organization formed on February 18, 1890, to advocate in favor of women's suffrage in the United States. Susan B Anthony and others formed groups to lobby Congress and state legislatures for constitutional amendments, extending their right to vote to women. The leading organizations merge in 1890 as the National American Woman Suffrage Association. Despite the opposition of male politicians of both major parties’ suffrages had succeeded by the mid 1890s and gaining full women suffrage in four western states Wyoming, Colorado, Idaho, and Utah. Also, partial suffrage in several other states east and West. 8 Booker T Washington He was born a slave in Virginia in 1856. Washington and his family worked in the salt and coal mines of West Virginia, after the civil war he enrolled in Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute the premier black educational institution in the South at the time. He graduated and taught for a time then in 1881 Washington thought that his students would be best served if they learned a trade in workplace discipline. By learning industrial skills, he maintained, African Americans could secure self-respect and economic independence. As a result, Tuskegee emphasize vocational training over the liberal arts. Washington argued that African Americans should accommodate themselves