While the Civil War and Reconstruction years offered many positive changes for Black Americans, racism and violence was still a threat to their communities. Before the war, the Fugitive Slave Law made communities fear that their families would be abducted by slave catchers. After the war, with new rights came new dangers. Many white Americans felt threatened by the new level of agency and success of Black Americans. Their ability to organize politically, pursue education, and succeed in business and skilled labor meant the racial divide was thinner.

 

Unwilling to accept this, white communities enacted violence against Black community members. Black property owners were pressured to sell their property or face retribution and the criminal justice system gave harsher treatment to Black offenders. Mob violence and lynching rose as forms of terrorism against Black Americans. White Americans used these acts to enforce racial inequality through control and fear, and the impact had a profound impact on Black communities.

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Notes

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Image: Thomas Nast, “Worse than slavery,” New York: Harper’s Weekly, October 24, 1874. Princeton University. Library. Graphic Arts Collection. GA 2008.01533. http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/6q182k29v

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