Analysis of the reconstruction period

The plan stipulated that each secessionist state had to redraft its constitution and could reenter the Union only after 10 percent of its eligible voters pledged an oath of allegiance to the United States.

Summary Analysis Washington defines the Reconstruction Period as the time betweenwhich is also the time that he spent as a student at Hampton and teaching in Malden.

He says that the period was governed by two major concerns for black people—first, a pursuit of Latin and Greek education, and second, a desire to run for political office. According to Washington, most black people deemed Greek and Latin learning a marker of superiority, and education in general was seen as a means by which to be freed from labor.

Washington wished to instill the opposite ideology of these beliefs. He also detested that some black Americans were trying to avoid a life of labor, and felt that these people were simply being lazy. Western educational practices, however, still greatly valued Greek and Latin education and book learning, and used such an education as a mark of class and social status.

Thus it is understandable that many black Americans wished to pursue that type of education in order to uplift themselves. Active Themes Washington states that most black people who received an education found work in either education or the ministry. Although some of these educated black Americans were excellent practitioners of their profession, Washington implies that most of them were no better off than their pupils or congregations.

Some teachers could not even write their names. Washington is deeply critical of black teachers because in his eyes, many black Americans Analysis of the reconstruction period teaching simply so that they would not have to work in the fields. Since the institution of slavery connected labor with degradation, it is indeed true that many black Americans sought professions outside of manual labor during Reconstruction.

Active Themes The ministry was no better off than the teaching profession. Some churches had as many as 18 ministers for congregants. Washington cynically states that he never received such a call, despite his dedication to receiving an education.

Many black people felt that avoiding labor was thus a way of establishing subjectivity and personhood after slavery. Washington, however, attributes those who avoid labor with laziness.

He is particularly harsh toward ministers in this critique, because he feels that they should be held to a higher moral standard than others, and the greatest moral duty, according to Washington, is proving merit through labor.

After expressing disdain for the amount of black Americans getting an education for what Washington feels were the wrong reasons, he likens the status of black Americans during this period to infancy. He says that black people depended on the Federal Government like an infant on its mother, which he sees as a natural relationship, since the government granted black Americans their freedom.

Washington feels that the Federal Government failed, however, in not providing a proper means to an education for black people, and many of the problems that he listed above were directly related to this dereliction of responsibility by the government. Washington feels that if there would have been a proper education provided to black Americans, they could be in a completely different sociological and economic state than they are now.

Similarly, most liberal educational thinkers suggest that the project of the Reconstruction Era did not go far enough for the uplift of newly freed slaves.

On the subject of education, Washington agrees—arguably going against some of his other more rigid ideas of success being only the result of merit and labor.

Brief Overview

He also feels that his race was being used as a political tool to get white people elected to office, and that the political agitation of the time simply created more unrest and problems for black people.

Rather than depending upon the Federal Government for aid and support, Washington suggests that black Americans focus on bettering themselves through thriving in their already existing industries and owning more property. Washington pivots from his liberally inflected advocacy of Federal education to a more conservative view of the Reconstruction era.

Many conservative politicians and thinkers at the time felt that the Federal government was creating artificial racial progress by forcing Southerners to bend to the ideals of racial progress through army occupation and legislation.

Conservative thinkers believed that black people needed to pursue uplift on their own if they were to be successful in establishing themselves in white society after slavery. Active Themes Related Quotes with Explanations The alluring draw of political office at the time even tempted Washington, but he resisted because he felt that his calling to education was much more significant.

SparkNotes: Reconstruction (–): Brief Overview

Washington also qualifies his detraction of politicians by suggesting that although most politicians were unsavory, some politicians were noble people of good morals. Washington believed that becoming a politician would be too far removed from the reality of race relations in the U.

Washington distrusted any profession that did not advocate labor, especially ministers and politicians. Washington also held the conservative view that many black people were unprepared for office, and that they would surely ruin the country if they were to get elected because they did not have the experience or education to work in government.

This view is certainly problematic, but Washington believed that black people must prove their worth in labor before moving forward to higher positions. Washington argues the contrary—that black Americans have progressed greatly since Reconstruction and that the mistakes committed were natural to a race held in subjugation by slavery.

Around the turn of the century when Washington was writing, the practice of lynching as well as the infamous Jim Crow laws were in effect.Analysis of The Reconstruction Period Essay - After the ending of the Civil War in , slavery was, at last, formally abolished by the Thirteenth Amendment.

Due to the freedom of these African Americans and the South’s ever-growing hatred towards this group, African Americans were left to suffer harsh discrimination and horrible conditions. Need help with Chapter 5: The Reconstruction Period in Booker T.

Washington's Up From Slavery? Check out our revolutionary side-by-side summary and analysis. Up From Slavery Chapter 5: The Reconstruction Period Summary & Analysis from LitCharts | The creators of SparkNotes.

Reconstruction-era instances of corruption or bribery were vastly exaggerated. The nation's foremost scholars, especially historians, wrote seething histories of the period that decried the supposedly deplorable treatment of white Southerners and spun overtly racist tales concerning the ignorance and savage lust of Black officeholders.

Reconstruction in Mississippi (), Dunning School online edition; Hahn, Steven. A Nation under Our Feet: Black Political Struggles in the Rural South from Slavery to the Great Migration () Hamilton, Peter Joseph.

The Reconstruction Period (), full length history of era; Dunning School approach; pp; chapters on each state; Harris, William C. Washington defines the Reconstruction Period as the time between , which is also the time that he spent as a student at Hampton and teaching in Malden.

He says that the period was governed by two major concerns for black people—first, a pursuit of Latin and Greek education, and second, a desire to run for political office. 50) In the history of Reconstruction "redemption" refers to A) the period of Republican control of the southern state governments.

B) salvation of the southern blacks by the Freedmen's Bureau. C) recapture of control of the southern state governments by conservative .