JJ Helfert

 After watching the documentary video, "Reconstruction: America After the Civil War," I have learned more and more about the Reconstruction time period and how it changed the course of history in many ways.  On the evening of June 17th, 2015, a stranger had walked into a historic black church in Charleston, South Carolina. He prayed with the Bible study group for about an hour. After that, he had opened fire. Many people believed this was a hate crime. From this attack, there were 9 victims.  This individual was a 22-year-old high school dropout who had a very deep hatred for black people. After this had happened in recent times, people questioned why this was happening in our country.  This all started with a very important and historical time period. Reconstruction.  Reconstruction came after the Civil War in the 1860s. This time period was chaotic and devastating.  At first, people believed that this time period was about America becoming the land of fre...

 In the Plessy V. Ferguson case,  Louisiana has a law adopted in 1892 requiring all private railroad companies to have separate accommodations for black and white passengers. Homer Plessy, who is 1/8ths black, got a first-class ticket. Apparently doing this broke the law. He ended up suing under the 14th amendment. There were two sides to this case. It was the state (Ferguson) against Homer Plessy. According to Homer Plessy's side, it e stablished the constitutionality of racial segregation. Plessy should not have been required to give up his right or access his train car. The Constitution should be colorblind so they don’t have to view color as a reason for treating other people differently.  Plessy had every right to not move because his rights were violated. The equal protection clause was violated and P lessy did nothing wrong. On the state's side (Ferguson), s ince slavery ended the state has tried to include blacks into society without violence, fear, or hate....

In the Reconstruction Era, the Freedmen's Bureau was beneficial for the time being.  It was a lso known as the Bureau of Refugees. It was a U.S. government agency from 1865 to 1872. The Bureau was placed under the authority of the War Department and the majority of its original employees were soldiers from the Civil War.  It was established on March 3rd, 1865 by Congress to help millions of former black slaves and poor whites in the South as a result of the Civil War.  With the Freedmen's Bureau came food, housing, medical aid, established schools, and offered legal assistance. The Freedmen's Bureau was organized into districts covering the 11 former rebel states, the border states of Kentucky, Maryland, and West Virginia, and Washington, D.C. Each district was headed by an assistant commissioner.  While the Bureau was active, it was underfunded and understaffed. With only 900 agents at its peak, some were corrupt or incompetent and others were brave and hardworking ...

  The Underground Railroad was an o rganization of whites and blacks that assisted runaway slaves from the south to the north and it played a vital role in the anti-slave movement and though its original starting date is unclear, it assisted runaway slaves in the 18th century. In class on 9/25, we were taught about many important events. These events included The Underground Railroad, Missouri Compromise, Fugitive Slave Act, Bleeding Kansas,  Nat Turner, and the Mutiny on Amistad.  The Missouri Compromise w as passed as the 24th state and north of Missouri's southern border was considered all free soil. The Fugitive Slave Act was p assed in 1850. This created the idea of bounty hunting and i t was ruled that this act was unconstitutional (Wisconsin Supreme Court declared that). Bleeding Kansas was also known as the Kansas Nebraska Act of 1854. Anti-slavery citizens there made a government of their own because Kansas territory was declared a slave state. The Pro slavery g...

 The State V. Mann's case was about an individual named John Mann, who had hired Lydia, who was a slave of Elizabeth Jones. After he had chastised her, she ran off. Mann ended up shooting Lydia and wounded her, however, she was still alive after the attack.  The state of North Carolina ended up charging Mann with assault.  The trial judge charged the Jury, that if they believed the punishment inflicted by Mann was cruel and uncalled for, that in the law the Defendant was guilty, as he only had a special property in the slave. The jury convicted the Defendant, and Mann appealed the conviction.   My group and I looked at all aspects of this case. This included religion, ethics, emotions, history, law, and economics.  My viewpoints however were solely based on the religious aspect of this case.  Religion does not support slavery by any means. In fact, It has been opposed on religious grounds. Throughout most religions slavery was accepted as an institutio...