What Changed After Emancipation?

Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation had little real effect when it was first issued in 1862. It only freed the slaves in those states over which the Union no longer had any power. It took the successful invasion of the south and the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to end the institution of slavery once and for all. Once that was done, however, how much changed?

To a certain extent, little changed after emancipation. For a time, most of the freed slaves continued to work on plantations. Often, they continued to work the same plantations they had worked their whole lives. Where else were they going to go? The former slaves had no money and no education and no work experience other than what they had done as slaves, usually agriculture. Because only some of the former slaves were able to acquire land after the Civil War, they had no choice but to work as hired hands on plantations or work as sharecroppers. This had the effect of putting them along side poor whites, however, which showed a distinct difference from the pre-war South.

Many, however, refused to work on plantations anymore and those who did seldom worked as hard as they had when they were slaves. Understandably, they demanded to be treated as workers, not slaves. To replace the cheap, hard working labor force they had enjoyed before the war, many plantation owners turned to indentured servants, many from Asia. These workers did not produce as much as slaves had either, and the practice was eventually abandoned.

Free slaves were subject to discrimination, both by individuals and by institutions, all over the country, but especially in the South. Despite Constitutional amendments which were supposed to guarantee the rights of free slaves and their decedents, the Southern states often found creative ways around the law. For example, many states had poll taxes and poll reading tests for the express purpose of discouraging poor blacks from voting. It was not until the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s that African Americans really enjoyed the rights that they were supposedly given at the end of the Civil War.

Given the persecution they faced in the South, it is not surprising that many blacks moved North or West. One marked difference from before the Civil War was their right to move about the country as they pleased. Another difference was their increased opportunities for education. Teaching slaves to read had been illegal in many Southern states before the war, but after the war, education was a way that some poor blacks could improve their lives and the lives of their children.