Hiram R. Revels, the first African-American to serve in the U.S. Congress.
Revels was born free in Fayetteville, North Carolina in 1827. He was ordained as a minister and served as a chaplain in the Union Army during the Civil War before being elected to the Senate in 1870.Time Life Pictures/Timepix/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
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One of a series of racist posters attacking Radical Republican exponents of black suffrage, issued during the 1866 Pennsylvania gubernatorial race.
The poster specifically characterizes Democratic candidate Hiester Clymer's indeed white supremacist platform as "for the White Man," represented here by the head on the left. In contrast, the stereotyped African-American head on the right represents Clymer's opponent, James White Geary, and his platform as being "for the Negro."Wikimedia Commons
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Another poster from the 1866 Pennsylvania series.Wikimedia Commons
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19th century lynching at a Kentucky courthouse. Culture Club/Getty Images
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A schoolhouse for Black children is burned by a white mob in the Memphis Riots of 1866.Wikimedia Commons
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This Reconstruction-era political cartoon shows a white Southern congressman-elect telling clerk of the House of Representatives that he would like to secure his old seat, only to be told that, due to Reconstruction, "we can not accommodate you."
This cartoon alludes to the Ironclad Oath, which prevented ex-Confederate officers from holding office. This required anyone seeking a place in Congress to swear that they had never supported the Confederacy.Wikimedia Commons
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This woodcut depicts Hiram Revels taking the oath of office to become a senator in Washington, D.C. on February 25, 1870.Bettmann/Contributor/Getty Images
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Cartoon showing Jefferson Davis, formerly the president of the Confederacy, looking over his shoulder at Hiram Revels, seated in the United States Senate. 1870.Library of Congress
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Sketched group portrait of the first black senator, Hiram Revels, as well as black representatives in Congress during the Reconstruction Era. Circa 1870-1875.Archive Photos/Getty Images
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Blanche Bruce was the first elected black senator to serve a full term (1875-1881). He continued to be a prominent member of society in Washington, D.C. after he left office.Wikimedia Commons
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Extract from the reconstructed Constitution of the state of Louisiana, with portraits of the distinguished members of the Convention & Assembly. 1868. All the members of this assembly were black. Wikimedia Commons
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Photomontage of members of the first South Carolina legislature following the Civil War. Many of these new representatives were black or at least supported civil rights for black Americans.Library of Congress
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American naval officer and politician Robert Smalls.
Born into slavery, he was forced to serve in the Confederate Navy during the Civil War. He took command of a ship and delivered it to Union forces He then became a pilot in the U.S. Navy, advanced to the rank of captain in 1863, becoming the highest ranking African-American officer in the Union Army. Later he became a member of the South Carolina State House of Representatives.Wikimedia Commons
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In the main image, Congressmen Robert B. Elliott of South Carolina delivers a speech on civil rights to the House of Representatives. January 6, 1874.
The other images depict some of the collective experiences of blacks during and after the Civil War.MPI/Getty Images
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After the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his vice president, Andrew Johnson, came to power. His sympathy for Confederates, as well as his general incompetence as a politician eventually led to the poor implementation of Reconstruction policies.Library of Congress
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1866 cartoon showing Andrew Johnson as the deceitful Iago who betrayed Othello, portrayed here as an African-American Civil War veteran.The New York Historical Society/Getty Images
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1871 sketch by depicting blacks voting during an election in the state of Virginia. American Stock/Getty Images
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Joseph Hayne Rainey was the second black person to serve in the U.S. Congress. He served in South Carolina's first district. Wikimedia Commons
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Office of the Freedmen's Bureau in Memphis, Tennessee. 1866. The Freedman's Bureau was a federal agency created in 1865 to aid newly freed slaves. The bureau built schools, aided in reconnecting families, and provided legal advocates for African-Americans in Southern states.Wikimedia Commons
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1867 Harper's Weekly political cartoon by Thomas Nast, depicting an African-American man casting his ballot during an election as Andrew Johnson and others look on angrily.Getty Images/Getty Images
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African-Americans vote for the first time, as depicted in 1867 on the cover of Harper's Weekly. Engraving by Alfred R. Waud.Wikimedia Commons
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Sketch of the "Colored National Convention" in Tennessee, 1876.Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images
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From scenes depicting blacks serving on juries to scenes of blacks registering to vote, these illustrations portray the integration of blacks into civic processes during Reconstruction.Universal History Archive/Contributor/Getty Images
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Despite federal intervention, white supremacist organizations like the Ku Klux Klan and The White League terrorized African-Americans in the South. Early in Reconstruction, the federal government was able to curtail some of the violence, but as the Southern states rejoined the U.S. government, and laws restricting Confederates from holding office were done away with, Southern states passed laws restricting the federal government from intervening to help black Americans in the South.Wikimedia Commons
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President Rutherford B. Hayes (1877-1881). He ended the Reconstruction Era when he withdrew federal troops from the South and reinstated home-rule of Southern states.Wikimedia Commons
25 Reconstruction Era Images That’ll Change Your View Of American History
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After the defeat of the Confederate Army at the end of the American Civil War, the South entered a long period known as Reconstruction. During this time, the Northern federal government took control of the South in an effort to rebuild industry, suppress further rebellion, and ensure the rights of former slaves under the 14th and 15th Amendments to the Constitution.
Throughout Reconstruction, between the end of the Civil War and the enactment of Jim Crow segregation laws starting in the late 1870s, African-Americans in the South were able to exercise their rights and participate in society in ways that they couldn't before — and, in many ways, wouldn't be able to again after Reconstruction for almost another hundred years.
However, while the Reconstruction era lasted, oversight of government organizations in the South helped reduce the suppression of African-American voters and, due to laws that prevented many former Confederate officers and soldiers from holding office, gave African-Americans the opportunity to serve as government officials all across the South.
Nevertheless, many African-Americans still faced violence and even death at the hands of the Ku Klux Klan. Federal troops, however, were able to drive the group underground, until they reemerged at the turn of the century, well after Reconstruction had ended.
Reconstruction came to a close in 1877 when President Rutherford B. Hayes withdrew federal troops from the South. Without the federal government enforcing civil rights for African-Americans, the South soon came back under the control of White Southern Democrats, who enacted a series of segregationist laws that removed African-Americans from the political process and placed them at the bottom of a legal caste system.
Above, you'll find some of the most striking images from the Reconstruction era of 1865 to 1877, a brief respite between two long periods of racist suppression in America. It was a time when African-Americans in the South were momentarily afforded, at least superficially, legal rights as citizens of the United States.
After seeing these photos from the Reconstruction era, see some of the most powerful photos of segregation and read these facts about American history you probably never knew.
Gabe Paoletti is a New York City-based writer and a former Editorial Intern at All That's Interesting. He holds a Bachelor's in English from Fordham University.
John Kuroski is the editorial director of All That's Interesting. He graduated from New York University with a degree in history, earning a place in the Phi Alpha Theta honor society for history students. An editor at All That's Interesting since 2015, his areas of interest include modern history and true crime.
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Paoletti, Gabe. "25 Reconstruction Era Images That’ll Change Your View Of American History." AllThatsInteresting.com, June 28, 2017, https://allthatsinteresting.com/reconstruction-era-photos. Accessed December 11, 2024.
