Reforms Movements

Reforms Movements

            The reform movements that emerged before and after 1865 stressed on several issues including temperance, antislavery, capital punishment abolishment, debt imprisonment abolishment and prisons conditions amelioration amongst others. Some of these reforms movement are discussed as follows.

African-American Civil Rights Movement

According to Du Bois (321), the African-American civil rights movement’s objective was the elimination of racial prejudice against the African Americans, enhancing the employment and educational opportunities, as well as establishing the essential electoral powers following the slavery abolition in the United States. The African-American civil rights movement brought about immense changes in the black society’s fortune after the abolition of slavery in the southern parts of the United States. Thus, in 1865, two vital occurrences to the history of African Americans took place in the United States. The ratification of the 13^th Amendment that abolished slavery, and arrival of the Union Troops to enforce the emancipation proclamation in Texas, which gave rise to the contemporary Juneteenth holidays.

The Education Movement

Initially in America, there were a limited number of schools outside Massachusetts; children were either taught by their parents in their homes or sent to boarding schools. However, as from the 1830s, an increase in number of Americans concerned commenced advocating at every level for free education, at least for the Caucasian children. As a result, upon assuming the control of the Massachusetts’ Board of Education, Horace Mann commenced the pursuit of free, non-religious and equal education for all children regardless of the social class and that was offered by trained and professional tutors (Du Bois 342). The reforms not only set the standards for the United States’ public education but also ensured that every state had a free elementary public school. This also ensured that the available college opportunities expanded immensely.

The Abolition Movement

Amongst the renowned social reforms movement of the ear was abolition reforms movement. These were mainly efforts channeled towards the abolition of slavery in US. Though abolitionists exist as from the time of independence and included the Quakers and vocal minorities, slavery had undergone changes as a result of the invention of machines such as the cotton gin leading to increased amount of wealth being generated from cotton (Du Bois 451). Even as the southerners turned out to be increasingly devoted to the maintenance as well as extending peculiar institution, a number of the northerners commenced perceiving slavery as an ethical evil and this led to the abolition movement.

“What would be the meaning of freedom for the freedmen, and would it be the same as the freedom enjoyed by other Americans?”

The 13^th Amendment abolished slavery, and this implied the newfound freedom for the African American slaves. This not only meant the freedom of movement but also opportunities for education and employment, over and above the abolition of discrimination against African Americans. For the African-Americans living in the Southern parts of the United States, life following the 13^th Amendment implied a transformed world. This implied that the indignities and brutalities that came with slavery, the sexual assaults and frequent whippings, the forcible relocation and selling of members of families, the wages, and the abjuration of education, homeownership, and legal marriages amongst others (LaFeber and Nancy 182). As a result, the African-Americans held celebrations with regards to the new freedom both publicly and privately.

Nevertheless, life after slavery was not easy given that though slavery had been abolished, the Caucasian race’s brutalities and prejudice continued. Thus, after the abolition of slavery, the various state governments of the states found in the South enacted the Black Codes, which were laws granting specific legal rights and freedoms to the African Americans, including the freedom and right to own property, the right to marry, as well as the right to sue Caucasians in court; however, the black codes also ensured that it was illegal for African Americans to be appointed and serve on juries, serve in the militias of the states and testify against Caucasians. Further, the black codes additionally demanded that the tenant farmers along with black sharecroppers to sign yearly labor agreements with the Caucasian landowners. In case of refusal, they would be apprehended and after that hired to work.

Regardless of having been given the sought after freedom, a number of Southern African Americans lived in immense rural poverty. Given that they were mostly denied wages and education during slavery periods, the former slaves were regularly coerced by their economic situations to rent lands from the former slave owners (LaFeber and Nancy 241). On the other hand, the sharecroppers were required to pay rent for the lands through provision of a percentage of their crop harvest to the white landowners. In a limited number of cases in southern parts of the United States, the former slaves acquired land from their initial slave masters immediately after the Civil War. However, the lands were fast restored to the Caucasian landowners even as a movement that was started by Republicans in the Congress unsuccessfully tried to provide the former slaves with land. The former slaves did not get any compensation for enslavement.