Reconstruction of Virginia
and the South
Reconstruction
• Reconstruction – The
period following the
Civil War in which
Congress passed
laws designed to
rebuild the country
and bring the
southern states back
into the Union.
Reconstruction in Virginia
• Life was very difficult
for Virginians during
the Reconstruction
Period.
• Virginians had to
rebuild the state after
the Civil War.
• Virginia was
readmitted to the
Union on January 26,
1870.
Problems Virginians Faced During
Reconstruction
• Millions of newly freed
slaves needed food,
education, clothing,
housing, and jobs.
• Virginia’s economy
was in ruins:
– Money had no value.
– Banks were closed.
– Railroads, bridges,
plantations, and crops
were destroyed.
Virginians Rebuild!
• The U.S. Congress
created the
Freedman’s Bureau
that provided food,
schools, and medical
care for freed slaves
and others in Virginia
and the rest of the
South.
Virginians Rebuild
• Because plantation
owners (now former
slave owners) did not
have money to pay
workers, and because
former slaves needed
land and work,
sharecropping
developed.
Sharecropping
• Sharecropping – a
system common in
Virginia after the war
in which freedmen
(former slaves) and
poor white farmers
rented land from a
land owner (plantation
owner) by promising
to pay the owner a
share of the crop.
Virginians Rebuild
• Virginia adopted a
new state constitution
that banned slavery
and gave AfricanAmerican men the
right to vote.
Virginians Rebuild
• People moved from
the countryside to the
cities in search of
economic
opportunities. (Jobs)
Segregation in Virginia
• Segregation - the
separation of people,
usually based on race
or religion.
• Because of this,
African Americans
established their own
churches,
businesses, and
schools.
Segregation in Virginia
• During
Reconstruction,
African Americans
began to have some
power in Virginia’s
government.
• Remember, men of
ALL races could now
vote!
Segregation in Virginia
• However, these gains
were reversed when
laws were passed
that made it difficult
for African Americans
to vote and hold
office.
• These laws created
poll taxes and literacy
tests.
Segregation in Virginia
• In other words, if African Americans could
not pay the poll tax or pass the literacy
test, they were not allowed to vote or hold
office.
• The result: African Americans found it very
difficult to vote or hold public office.
• Even though black families wanted to
better themselves, segregation put up
many barriers to any hope of success!
Discrimination
• Discrimination – an unfair difference in the
treatment of people.
• In spite of the effort of blacks, many whites
continued to discriminate against them.
• Virginia, like most of the South, was
divided along racial lines.
Jim Crow Laws
• Jim Crow laws,
discriminated against
African Americans in
Virginia and other
southern states.
• These laws also
reinforced prejudices
held by white people
about black people.
Jim Crow Laws
• Under these Jim
Crow laws, African
Americans were not
allowed to:
1) Ride in the same
section of buses and
trains as whites.
2) Eat in the same
restaurants as whites.
Jim Crow Laws
3) Attend the same
public schools as
white citizens.
4) Drink from the
same water fountains
as whites.
Economic Impact of
Jim Crow Laws
• These laws had an
impact on the
economic life of
African Americans.
• It was legal for an
employer to pay black
workers less money
than white workers
were paid.