Reconstruction refers to the period following the United States Civil War of Reconstruction. It was a time of great pain and endless questions. Reconstruction is the current topic of this essay that I wish to analyze. The Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 signed by President Abraham Lincoln freed slaves in the Confederate States and later all slaves were free under the Thirteenth Amendment of 1865. Even though the law stated that slaves were free, it seemed that they were still in slavery because they were free. always treated cruelly and unfairly. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Houston Hartsfield Holloway, wrote: “For we colored people did not know how to be free and white people did not know how to have a free colored person about them. Freed slaves were capable of fighting in war, but their full citizenship remained in question. Black people were considered impure and evil and white people believed that they were not and would never be equal to them. White Terrorism In Tennessee in 1866, angry white Southerners formalized their hatred in an organization known as the Ku Klux Klan. Presenting itself as the protector of the noble traditions of the Old South, the Klan united resentful Confederates. The Klan used hoods and flaming crosses, secret codes, and night raids to frighten blacks away from new opportunities. Black terror continued to spread throughout the world, not just in Tennessee. This Klan burned homes, killed African Americans, raped them, and lynched them to keep them oppressed and in fear. The Klan's preference for murder was lynching, which involved hanging black Americans from trees using a rope around their necks. These heinous acts were committed in public and were reported in local newspapers in horrific detail. Photos were even published showing smiling crowds taking photos of the lifeless bodies. These people were truly proud of what they did. Impact on African Americans. One of the most important policies implemented was Jim Crow law. Jim Crow was a slang term for black men. It made state laws passed different for whites and blacks, based on white supremacy and were put in place due to Reconstruction. It was essentially a response to Reconstruction. Whites believed that blacks could be separate but equal. They didn't want to dine in the same place as black people, use the same bathrooms, work in the same place, etc. They limited blacks' voice in elections by imposing requirements such as owning land or passing a literacy test, because they knew it was difficult for most blacks to achieve these requirements. Everything you could think of was segregated: schools, colleges, parks, telephone booths, prisons and hospitals, and this oppression spread throughout the United States. Signs have been placed at all these specific locations and serious consequences have been ruled out in case of disobedience. Alabama specifically imposed a curfew on black people, requiring them not to leave their homes after 10 p.m. These acts were not only humiliating, but also oppressive to these people of color. They were treated unfairly because of their skin color, which prevented them from progressing in everyday society. What freed slaves really needed once the