To what extent did the lives of African Americans improve in the period
1865-1877?
Intro
• To judge whether the lives of African Americans improved, one must analyse their
social, economic, and political conditions over 1865-1877 to see if there is clear,
wide-spread evidence of improvement to their lives, in contrast to the many years of
slavery before.
• As a result, some aspects of African Americans lives improved, but especially in the
Southern States, it was to a very small extent, and due to the lack of widespread
improvements, it would be inaccurate to state that their lives had improved a lot
since the abolition of slavery.
Economic / Farming Improve:
• The most significant improvement to the lives of African Americans in 1865-77 was
their new freedom to seek employment and negotiate wages, in contrast to before
1865 where they had been bound to the plantations as enslaved laborers.
• For example, sharecropping offered African Americans the opportunity to work on
land and have a degree of independence, getting a share of the crop produced and
some money in return for their work. It provided them with a means of subsistence
and allowed them to support their families, improving their lives. Pearson says that
“In Sharecropping, ex-slaves received a farm and half a crop, which was better than
the arrangement under slavery”.
• This is illustrated to be a widespread improvement as by 1880, 80% of land in the
cotton producing area of the USA was farmed by sharecroppers.
• Furthermore, on 16th January 1865, Union general, William T. Sherman, issued
Special Field Order No.15, which confiscated as federal property about 400,000 acres
of land, given to the ex-slaves.
Economic / Farming worsen:
• However, sharecropping trapped many African Americans in cycles of debt and
dependence, diminishing the significance of it improving the lives of African
Americans. The 4 million freed slaves lacked education, most being illiterate
• This is because Sharecropping agreements often favoured landowners, leaving
African Americans with a disproportionate share of the burden, with them receiving
lower payments than their labour warranted. Sharecroppers also had limited control
over their agricultural production and were tied to their land, causing there to be no
opportunity for them to peruse other economic opportunities or accumulate wealth.
• A prominent reason for this was because 90% were illiterate, with them struggling to
know what to do about it.
• Although the US Congress had given 44 million acres of land to ex-slaves in some
southern states, by the end of Reconstruction Period, almost none of them had used
this land properly to have their own farm – lacked experience.
• Furthermore, the Crop-lien system was also a scheme that resulted in worsening
economic conditions for African Americans.
