VS.8 The student will apply history and social science skills to explain the reconstruction of Virginia following the Civil War by
1. describing what the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution accomplished; b.
2.  examining the effects of Reconstruction on life in Virginia;
3. describing the role that the Freedmen’s Schools played in the lives of African Americans in Virginia after the Civil War:
4. discussing the election of African American leader John Mercer Langston to Congress in 1890;
5. describing the effect of the Supreme Court’s decision in Plessy v. Ferguson;
6. analyzing the effects of segregation and “Jim Crow” laws on life in Virginia.

VS.8a the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments

• The Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution abolished slavery in the United States
• The Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution gave citizenship to any person born in the United States.
• The Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution forbade any state from denying the vote to anyone on the basis of race, color or previous condition of servitude (enslavement).

VS.8b Effects of Reconstruction on life in Virginia

• Virginians faced serious challenges and new opportunities after the Civil War.
• Virginia’s economy and infrastructure were in ruins following the Civil War.
  • Hundreds of thousands of freed African Americans needed housing, education, clothing, food, and jobs.
  • Virginia’s economy was in ruins
  • Money had no value. – Banks were closed.
  • Railroads, bridges, plantations, and crops were destroyed.
  • Businesses needed to be rebuilt.
  • African Americans faced injustice, increased violence, and discrimination immediately after the end of slavery.

VS.8c Role of the Freedmen’s Schools

• Prior to the Civil War, Black people generally were prevented from receiving a formal education. In many places it was illegal to teach a Black person to read and write.
• The Freedmen's Bureau was established to provide food, medical care, and education to freed African Americans after the Civil War.
• Following the war, Freedmen’s Schools were established and both African American adults and children attended.

VS.8d Election of African American leader John Mercer Langston to Congress in 1890

• Despite resistance, African American political leaders, like John Mercer Langston, were elected during Reconstruction.
• John Mercer Langston was an important African American leader before, during, and after the Civil War 
• Free black from Louisa County, Virginia, who was educated in Ohio and became a lawyer in the North – Abolitionist who participated in the Underground Railroad in Ohio – 
• Recruited black volunteers to serve as soldiers in the Union Army during the Civil War – 
• Returned to Virginia after the Civil War and became the President of a new black college in Petersburg later known as “Virginia State University” – 
• First African American elected to the U.S. Congress from Virginia 

VS.8e Supreme Court’s decision in Plessy v. Ferguson

• In 1896, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) that “separate but equal” racial segregation laws were constitutional.

VS.8f Segregation and “Jim Crow” laws

• After Reconstruction, these gains were taken away through violence, intimidation and when “Jim Crow” Laws were passed by southern states. – “Jim Crow” Laws established segregation or separation of the races and reinforced prejudices held by whites Effect of “Jim Crow” laws on the lives of African Americans and American Indians included • experiencing unfair poll taxes and voting tests that were established to keep them from voting; • difficulty voting or holding public office; • being forced to use separate, poor-quality facilities and services, such as drinking fountains, restrooms, and restaurants; and • attending separate schools. Segregation and discrimination had an impact on: • Housing • Employment • Health care • Political representation • Education

• The freedoms and rights that had been promised to African Americans were gradually taken away after Reconstruction, and it would take years to win them back.
  
• Black Codes were practices and laws put into place to discriminate against African Americans.
• The Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) ruling and “Jim Crow” laws affected African Americans and Indigenous People. They legally established segregation, or separation of the races, and reinforced prejudices held among some individuals and groups. 
• The opportunity to participate in political life, travel, work, gain an education, and accumulate wealth in Virginia were severely limited for African Americans and Indigenous People during this time.