Civil War? Reconstruction?

First Reconstruction after the Civil War was the most chaotic time in US history.  Simply put some parts of the country were more of mess than when they were at war. The transformation of the Southern States had New Republicans and Democrats fighting for individual powers, leaving the former slaves being used as pawns, which led to a more Radical Reconstruction.  Many failed Reconstruction policies, some of which included some States giving free land to slaves, led to violent controversy throughout the South over slave’s free rights and the ability to vote. Bitterness like this led to the birth of the Klu Klux Klan, and other white supremacist organization.

Free slaves were never really supported as equals to the whites, they were cast into hard labor jobs, such as building the railroad out west, or coal mining and the lucky ones continued to still live as sharecroppers on their original owners land. But as years passed, many ended up through education, integrating with success finding opportunities running for public office, and acquiring successful land and business ownership.

In some parts of the country it took almost a hundred years after Reconstruction, where the African Americans were treated as equals. Were the freed slaves better off after the Civil War, yes by what was accomplished with humane slavery abolishment. But the immediate freedoms they were given only led to more dependence, and suffering because our country was not facilitated to receive them in society as equals for many generations. Many could not read or write, and these cases they may have been better off still being slaves and cared for by the land owners that had them tending their crops.