Describe the southern freedman experience after the Civil WarKey Points[edit]oAfrican-American freed slaves in the South faced a number of struggles after theCivil War.oGeneralWilliamTecumsehSherman passed an ordinance guaranteeing recentlyfreed slaves land after his March to the Sea, but his orders had no force of lawand were overturned.oIn the 1870s, Democrats gradually returned to power in the Southern states,sometimes as a result of elections in which paramilitary groups intimidatedopponents, attacking blacks or preventing them from voting.oBlacks were still elected to local offices in the 1880s, butthe establishmentDemocrats were passing laws to make voter registration and electoral rules morerestrictive. As a result, political participation by most blacks and many poorwhites began to decrease.oThose who could not vote were not eligible to serve on juries and could not runfor local offices. They effectively disappeared from political life, as they could notinfluence the statelegislatures, and their interests were overlookedExamine the African American involvement in Southern politicsKey Points[edit]oMost African Americans served in local offices, with very few in national offices.oHiram Rhodes Revels was the first African American to serve in Congress as aSenator.oJoseph Hayne Rainey was the first African American to serve as a Congressman.
