15th Amendment
Civil Rights Act of 1865
First Reconstruction Act of 1867
Mississippi Black Codes
3. Black Codes, Violence and Legislative Response
Overview
Through the play Now's The Time and the accompanying curriculum, students will explore the Reconstruction Era through the life of Thaddeus Stevens and his colleagues as they sought to push for radical change in the making of a "new" America.
Now's The Time Lesson Plan 3: Scenes Three and Seven
Students will need a working understanding of the role of the Freedmen’s Bureau. If you have not covered this in class make sure to go over the talking points.
Purpose of Freedmen's Bureau
Act to Establish a Bureau for the Relief of Freedmen and Refugees
Function of Freedmen’s Bureau:
Settlement, education, health care, reunification of families, “40 acres and a mule”
Some talking points to consider:
- At its height the Freedmen’s Bureau employed only 900 people
- Emancipated population: 4,000,000
- What were the challenges facing these displaced people?
- Economic insecurity, lack of formal education due to laws banning educating enslaved people, racism, discrimination, violence
- Black citizens actively engaged in promoting the welfare of their communities by: Raising money and organizing to build churches and schools, holding political conventions to mobilize politically and fight for representation, building autonomy in their communities
STEVENS: You’ve read the newspaper reports – Black Codes are being enacted by one southern state after another … families sold into indentured servitude – that’s slavery by another name!
DOWNING: The police, all white, mostly Irish, brawled with a few colored soldiers who were in town for a little fun. Rumors flew, and white mobs went on a deadly rampage. There’s hardly a black man, woman or child left in the city. They’re dead, dying or have fled in terror. The newspaper reports are almost too -- vivid --to read.
OBJECTIVES:
- Students will gain an awareness of how southern whites continued to subvert the freedom granted by legislation during Reconstruction by enacting Black Codes to gain control over free-labor and social order.
- Students will examine increased violence in areas of the South targeted against Black citizens and how these racially motivated acts of terrorism mobilized Congress to act.
- Students will determine how Congress legally expanded the protection of civil rights and citizenship through legislation such as: Second Freedmen’s Bureau Act, Civil Rights Act of 1866, 14th Amendment, 15th Amendment, and the Reconstruction Act of 1867.
- Students will use primary and secondary sources to examine the event known as the Memphis “Race Riot” or the Memphis Massacre.
KEY TERMS/PEOPLE:
- 13th Amendment
- Freedmen’s Bureau
- Black Codes
- 2nd Freedmen’s Bureau Act
- Civil Rights Act of 1866
- Memphis Massacre
- Reconstruction Act of 1867
- Military Reconstruction
- Thaddeus Stevens
- William Pitt Fessenden
- George Downing
- Lyman Trumbull
- President Andrew Johnson
- Veto
PRIMARY SOURCE MATERIAL:
MS Black Codes
13th Amendment
Second Freedmen’s Bureau Act
Civil Rights Act of 1866
Reconstruction Act of 1867
14th Amendment
15th Amendment
"Johnson's Reconstruction and How It Works" Political Cartoon
Congressional Report 1866 Memphis Riot
ACTIVITY: Black Codes and Reconstruction Legislation
PART 1:
Students will read the Black Codes enacted in Mississippi and answer the following questions:
- When were Black Codes enacted?
- Who was behind the enactment of Black Codes?
- Why were Black Codes enacted?
- Who was in charge of enforcing Black Codes?
- How do the Black Codes undermine the concept of free-labor?
ACTIVITY: Whole Class Discussion and Small Group Work with Presentations
As a class, review the Black Codes enacted in Mississippi. Note that these Black Codes were the first to be instituted and considered the one of the most repressive. Ask students to reflect on why: demographics, length of Union presence, success of Black communities, etc. Once students are confident in their understanding of the motivations behind the enactment of Black Codes and their role in “restoring” previous systems of labor control and control of social order, divide students into smaller groups to read through the texts and summaries of the Second Freedmen’s Bureau Act, the Civil Rights Act of 1866, the Reconstruction Act of 1867, and the 14th Amendment. Ask students to create a presentation to explain the context of their assigned piece of legislation.
Students should be able to answer the following questions:
- When was this bill/act/amendment written?
- Who is considered the author of the bill/act/amendment?
- What are the key provisions of the legislation and how do they respond to the Black Codes or reports of increasing violence?
- Who supported the effort to pass this legislation?
- Who opposed the effort to pass this legislation?
- What were the significant amendments or changes of language to this bill/act/amendment?
- After the Congress passed this piece of legislation, what was the response in the South?
ACTIVITY: The Scourge of Violence: The Memphis Massacre:
CONTENT WARNING:
The accounts of the Memphis Massacre are intense and include sensitive subject matter. There are graphic and detailed descriptions of racially motivated violence that includes abuse, death, sexual assault, racism, racial slurs, etc.
Connecting to the Script:
In Scene 7 of Now's The Time, Downing, Stevens and Fessenden talk about the news reports coming out of Memphis regarding the event known as The Memphis Massacre. Downing urges Stevens to convene a Congressional inquiry and both Stevens and Fessenden agree to send investigators. Those investigators draft the Congressional Report on the Memphis Massacre.
As a class, watch or perform the first half of Scene 7. Introduce the topic of the Memphis Massacre to the students. Then, students will read various eye witness accounts of the Congressional Report on the Memphis Massacre. Assign specific accounts to small groups of students and ask them to summarize the account and to provide their analysis of the account for the class.
- What is the name of the witness?
- Provide a description of the witness: Age, race, gender, occupation, etc.
- What was their experience?
- Who did they feel was at fault?
EXTENSION ACTIVITY: Podcast
Students will work in small groups to research an event that occurred during Reconstruction in response to Black Codes, new federal legislation or reports of racially motivated violence that occured in the South OR the North during Reconstruction. Students will then work together to write a script for a short podcast utilizing both primary and secondary sources that they uncovered while completing the research. Students should include reflections on how the event was perceived in the past versus how it has been interpreted throughout history and in the present day. How is this event remembered or commemorated today? If not, why?
STUDENTS will need to FACT CHECK their script and get instructor approval!!! Give students the opportunity to record and edit their podcasts and make them available for the whole class to engage with in order to gain a greater awareness of these events and their historical context and significance.
EXTENSION ACTIVITY: The Past Informs The Present
While the Reconstruction Era saw some of the most radical legislation in our nation's history with the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments, the enactment of black codes, violence and lack of political will to enforce laws that protected Black citizens culminated in the rise of Jim Crow. From the end of Reconstruction to the mid 1960s, Jim Crow laws and attitudes dominated the South and left Black citizens disenfranchised from the political system and the victims of the racially motivated terror and extreme violence. These deep scars are still experienced today.
Ask students to identify a moment in recent history when these issues have come to light and have them reflect on the following questions:
- How do these moments compare to the events during Reconstruction?
- Where has progress been made and where do we as a society and a nation need to focus our attention to address racially motivated discrimination and find lasting and comprehensive solutions?
- What impact has learning about Reconstruction made on how you view the present?
Now's The Time Script: Scenes Three and Seven
NOW’S THE TIME written by Jean Bordewich
SCENE THREE – THE ACCIDENTAL PRESIDENT
Date: 1865
Location: The Members’ Restaurant in the U.S. Capitol
Characters: Stevens, Fessenden, Downing, Ensemble (others in restaurant)
Senator Fessenden and Congressman Stevens are sitting at a table in the busy, crowded restaurant, which is bustling with a raucous mid-day crowd of Congressmen and Senators; tables covered in white tablecloths groaning with platters of wild game, oysters, and meat; the room redolent with whisky, cigars and sweat. Stevens is irate, talking loudly and nonstop. Fessenden thrusts and parries Stevens’s voluble verbal volleys and aggressive gesticulations. Fessenden is nursing a cup of tea, Stevens a glass of beer.
STEVENS
Johnson is a disaster!
FESSENDEN
Andy was –
STEVENS
--Andy is -- a traitor! You’ve read the newspaper reports – Black Codes are being enacted by one southern state after another…. families sold into indentured servitude—that’s slavery by another name! Forbidding freedmen from owning property or pursuing their trade. Black men, women and children merely accused of stealing a bale of cotton or a horse or even food – can be hanged! Meanwhile, whites murder blacks in cold blood and get off scot-free--
FESSENDEN
--Thaddeus!
STEVENS
--Johnson hasn’t lifted a finger to help. Instead he’s ordered Union troops in the South to stand down! “Let the locals handle things. It’s a civil matter,” he says. It’s shocking!--
FESSENDEN
--Are you finished?
STEVENS
--The freedmen are pouring off the old plantations by the tens of thousands. Where are they to go? Johnson will dismantle the Freedmen’s Bureau – which you and I fought hard for -- – just when the freedmen need it most. And that’s just the beginning of what he will do—
With precise movements, Fessenden dabs his lips with his linen napkin and takes a drink, coolly ignoring Stevens.
FESSENDEN
My, that is excellent tea. Floral.
STEVENS
--Don’t try to shut me up, Pitt! We must stand together against Johnson!
Downing enters.
FESSENDEN
I’m not trying to shut you up -- I’m trying to bring you back to reality! Are you quite through?
Sensing the growing tension, Downing smoothly approaches the table and speaks to Fessenden in his most charming and genial manner.
DOWNING
You have a discerning palate, Senator.
FESSENDEN
Oolong?
DOWNING
Indeed, a fine Chinese Oolong.
STEVENS
Pitt, this is Mr. George Downing, the new proprietor of our restaurant.
Fessenden stands and courteously shakes Downing’s hand.
FESSENDEN
Congressman Dixon told me he had persuaded the best restaurateur in Rhode Island to run our dining room, though I don’t know why he’d want his home state to lose you.
DOWNING
The idea was mine. I wanted to be close to great men, such as you, to persuade you to bend the course of events for the benefit of my race. Thank you for all you have done for the Union and the freedmen.
FESSENDEN
Indeed, more remains to be done.
Fessenden sits but Downing remains standing.
DOWNING
I understand abolition runs deep in your family.
FESSENDEN
My father instilled it in all of us. My brothers and I embraced it, and our children did, too. Three of my sons fought for the Union.
STEVENS
His eldest, Samuel, died in the Second Battle of Bull Run.
DOWNING
My deepest condolences.
Beat. Fessenden looks away.
STEVENS
(To Fessenden) Mr. Downing was instrumental in recruiting men for the colored troops-- but only after the governor guaranteed in writing they would receive fair and equal treatment. And he worked with Mr. Frederick Douglass against the Fugitive Slave Law.
FESSENDEN
I’m surprised our paths have not crossed before.
DOWNING
I am pleased the time has finally come. Mr. Douglass is the eloquent public voice of our work. As a businessman, I have applied myself to organizing and fundraising. But now the fight for equality has shifted from the battlefield to Congress.
FESSENDEN
We have no black representatives here yet – though I trust Reconstruction will change that. Our cause will benefit from your counsel.
DOWNING
I am eager to offer that. Now I will leave you gentlemen to resume your argument, but not on an empty stomach.
STEVENS
(to Fessenden)
You don’t want to miss the beef and oyster pie, Pitt. Mr. Downing’s family is the biggest in the oyster business. I’m having that.
DOWNING
What shall I ask the waiter to bring you, Senator?
FESSENDEN
Just another pot of this excellent tea.
STEVENS
(rolling his eyes)
Not your stomach problems again, Pitt. You need to eat!
FESSENDEN
(to Downing)
I’ll try your fine oysters another time.
Downing nods and exits. Fessenden refocuses on Stevens.
FESSENDEN
About Johnson. Remember he was steadfast, a bulwark for the Union during the war--
STEVENS
(cutting Fessenden off -- and their tempo picks up)
-- Hopelessly stubborn and--
FESSENDEN
--And the only Southern Senator to stick with the Union. Give him that!
STEVENS
Pig-headed!--
FESSENDEN
--Courageous as Lincoln’s military governor of Tennessee--
STEVENS
--A mule!
FESSENDEN
Lincoln didn’t think he could win the border states without him, and he was probably right!
STEVENS
It was all ambition for Andy. He never had a Republican heart.
Beat.
FESSENDEN
He’s always cordial to me personally.
STEVENS
That’s irrelevant.
FESSENDEN
Perhaps. But I also respect him, grudgingly.
STEVENS
Grudges! He’s all grudges and self-pity. He’s as filled with hate for the black man as--
FESSENDEN
--As you are for the rebels!
STEVENS
It’s not the same! The freedmen are innocent, while the insurrectionists are guilty of the most abominable crimes!
FESSENDEN
Calm down. He’s president now----
STEVENS
--an accidental one! You’ve heard his slogan - “The Constitution as it is, the Union as it was!” It’s appalling!
FESSENDEN
We need to give him a chance, work with him, guide him, bring him along with us on our path to Reconstruction—
STEVENS
--That donkey will never accept the bridle.
FESSENDEN
And neither will you! Your headlong rush to judgment is as much a danger as he is.
STEVENS
Surely you see where he’s headed.
FESSENDEN
There are rules and standards for how things are to be done, even in politics. I think we should follow them.
STEVENS
I did. I wrote after his inauguration asking him to suspend any presidential actions on Reconstruction until Congress was back in session. I never heard from him. He’s determined to ignore Congress altogether!
FESSENDEN
Congress? Or just you?
STEVENS
Johnson’s intent to usurp the entire Congress is very clear.
Stevens shows Fessenden a sheaf of papers.
STEVENS (Con’t.)
Here! I’ve drafted a set of impeachment articles.
Fessenden is clearly taken aback. He looks around to see who might be listening to Stevens’s shocking declaration.
FESSENDEN
Impeachment? Congress has never impeached a president.
STEVENS
Surely you aren’t bowing down to that tyrant!
FESSENDEN
Don’t insult me. I’ve stood up to worse than him and you know it!
STEVENS
Look, Johnson poses a mortal threat to Reconstruction. We owe it to the Union soldiers and their families to see the job through.
Fessenden’s temper rises as Stevens continues to push him.
FESSENDEN
I have never wavered on what I know is right. You can’t deny that. We’ve worked together tirelessly, you in the House, me in the Senate. We financed the war, raised our troops, wrote the civil rights bill --- and passed one Reconstruction bill after another. Even when I felt your tactics were heavy-handed, I went along out of principle.
Fessenden gestures aggressively at Stevens.
But now you’ve gone too far!
STEVENS
Andy doesn’t believe he has to obey those laws that you and I pushed through Congress. He’s a cancer that must be cut out before it’s too late.
FESSENDEN
He’s only been in office a few months. Stop rushing things.
Stevens shakes the papers at him.
STEVENS
Impeachment cannot wait any longer!
Stevens slams the papers down on the table, but Fessenden knows he has the upper hand.
FESSENDEN
You don’t have the votes. Not even in committee.
STEVENS
No.
Fessenden places his napkin on the table.
FESSENDEN
So…let’s not rush to condemn Andy.
Fessenden pushes back his chair and stands, signaling the meeting is over.
FESSENDEN (Con’t.)
He’s not completely unreasonable.
Blackout.
SCENE SEVEN – THE FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT
Date: June 1866, mid-afternoon
Location: The Members’ restaurant in the U.S. Capitol
Characters: Stevens, Downing, Fessenden, Ensemble.
Stevens is seated at a table in the lightly populated restaurant. Downing approaches with a newspaper tucked under his arm. Stevens points for Downing to sit down at the table. Downing hesitates, remembering it’s not customary for him to do so, then does.
STEVENS
I’m waiting for Senator Fessenden, but until he arrives ---
Downing pulls out the newspaper.
DOWNING
--Have you heard the news from Memphis?!
STEVENS
A little.
DOWNING
Senseless carnage against an entire community that was powerless to defend itself.
STEVENS
What do you know from your sources?
DOWNING
The police, all white, mostly Irish, brawled with a few colored soldiers who were in town for a little fun. Rumors flew, and white mobs went on a deadly rampage. There’s hardly a black man, woman or child left in the city. They’re dead, dying or have fled in terror. The newspaper reports are almost too -- vivid --to read. Like this one:
Downing reads a newspaper article aloud.
“Dead bodies of Negroes were found here and there in the streets. The violence during the night had been altogether committed by the whites. Indeed, it is said firemen set some of the houses on fire and that numbers of the police joined the rioters. They burned the schools and attacked the teachers-- “A colored girl named Rachel Hatchell, a scholar…who was running out of a burning house… was hunted down, shot and thrown into the fire. Her body lay in the ashes … burned to a crisp, except her head and shoulders. Someone had kindly thrown a shawl over this horrid spectacle.”
Stevens pounds his fist on the table.
STEVENS
This cannot go unanswered by Congress!
DOWNING
Convene a Congressional inquiry -- now, while the evidence is fresh. Find out who committed these crimes. Discover which local authorities refused to stop it – and punish them all!
STEVENS
I’ll send my committee’s investigators to Memphis tomorrow. We’ve got to get to the bottom of what happened.
DOWNING
Something also has to be done about Johnson. Federal troops belatedly ended the massacre, but he’s pulling them out. Every Black person in the South could be murdered and he would not care!
STEVENS
I want him impeached!
DOWNING
Even that’s not enough. You must put the right to vote for black Americans into the Constitution. Iron-clad. And soon. Then my people can run for office and elect people who will protect us.
STEVENS
Johnson’s fighting the new Constitutional amendment with everything he’s got, and ---
Downing spots Fessenden entering the dining room.
DOWNING
-- (sotto voce) Senator Fessenden is on his way to the table.
Downing stands.
STEVENS (Con’t.)
--And even the Senate is dragging its heels on black suffrage.
Fessenden arrives at the table.
FESSENDEN
Hello, Mr. Downing. A glass of your fresh summer lemonade for me, please.
DOWNING
Good day, Senator.
STEVENS
I trust you will explain to Mr. Downing and me why the Senate is holding up the constitutional amendment – at a time when black families are being hunted down, murdered and even burned out of their homes.
DOWNING
Please don’t tell us the Senate is wavering on black suffrage!
FESSENDEN
We will do the best we can under the circumstances.
Fessenden sits down
DOWNING
The circumstances, Senator, are getting worse by the day for my people. Union troops were held back while local police joined in the killing. 46 blacks and 2 whites are dead. 91 homes and every school and church in the black community were burned to the ground.
FESSENDEN
My God.
STEVENS
I’m sending my committee there tomorrow.
FESSENDEN
I’ll dispatch Senate investigators with yours, Thaddeus. We need all the facts.
DOWNING
(to both Stevens and Fessenden)
Respectfully, facts aren’t enough. For you, these are horrible statistics. For me, it’s much more. Three of the murdered soldiers are men I recruited for the Black Union regiments. I knew them and I loved them.
FESSENDEN
Please accept my condolences, Mr. Downing, and extend sympathy to the families – from the entire Congress.
DOWNING
We don’t need condolences. We need change!
FESSENDEN
Their murders are unforgivable. We must stop the violence!
DOWNING
The way to stop the violence is to amend the Constitution and guarantee us the vote.
FESSENDEN
I am here to discuss exactly that with Mr. Stevens. But I haven’t much time. The Congressman and I need to talk.
DOWNING
I understand.
Downing backs away.
DOWNING (Con’t.)
Someone will bring your lemonade, Senator. What kind of tea would you like, Congressman?
STEVENS
Gunpowder. And make it strong.
FESSENDEN
The Senate won’t pass the amendment with your language.
STEVENS
Specifically ---
FESSENDEN
The section requires voting rights for every black man before a rebel state can return to Congress. We’ve—
STEVENS
--You’ve watered that down--
FESSENDEN
--We’ve drafted a compromise.
STEVENS
Didn’t you hear Mr. Downing? We cannot compromise on this.
FESSENDEN
I have lined up the votes for passage in the Senate by excluding suffrage and keeping the amendment race-neutral.
STEVENS
Nothing is race neutral! Our whole society revolves around race and the whites’ hatred of the black man!
FESSENDEN
The amendment grants citizenship to every person born here or naturalized. Everyone knows that includes former slaves, but the language is not explicitly about race.
STEVENS
You should remind your wavering Republican colleagues that our party needs black voters in the South to win the next election.
Fessenden places the draft of the 14th amendment on the table and points to the text.
FESSENDEN
Here. Let’s review what is included. Section One – Citizenship and equal protection under all the laws, federal and state.
STEVENS
You mean life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness – if you’re white.
FESSENDEN
Damnit, Thad! You know that was hard for me to get. Even some Senators in our own party hate it.
STEVENS
And the president’s veto?
FESSENDEN
The amendment will bypass him. We wrote language to send the amendment directly to the states for ratification. I believe no rebel state should be allowed back into the Union – or given a representative in Congress – until it adopts the amendment. The rebels won’t like that, but I believe it’s essential.
Stevens scans Fessenden’s text.
FESSENDEN (Con’t.)
Your version was trying to do too much in a single Constitutional amendment.
STEVENS
Voting – for black men only, not even women – is too much ?
FESSENDEN
Right now, for my Senate colleagues, yes.
STEVENS
And Memphis? Isn’t the Senate outraged?!
FESSENDEN
Not outraged enough to force black suffrage on the states.
STEVENS
In our joint committee, you and I investigated more than 100 reports -- on the ground -- of savagery -- whippings, torture, murder – against black Americans across the South. We concluded that allowing ex-Confederates to rule in their former states is a policy of madness and folly. And that was before Memphis. You chaired that committee.
FESSENDEN
I wrote the report.
STEVENS
But---
FESSENDEN
--But conditions are volatile. Senators don’t want to inflame things further right now. You know what’s going on. Republicans are united in ending slavery, even using our troops to protect the suffering people in the South. And we support their desire to vote. But it’s hard to overcome the belief – rooted in the Constitution -- that the federal government should leave control of the voting franchise to the states.
STEVENS
That is why we must change the constitution, with this amendment. All black men vote -- for starters. Then women.
FESSENDEN
Senators are saying, “If we force that on the South, what could the federal government force on our own states?” You know many northern states don’t let blacks vote either. And women voting – forget it – most women don’t even support that. I’m warning you – an amendment that’s too extreme will split our Republican caucus right down the middle. Let’s agree on language that’s less provocative --
STEVENS
--Weaker--
FESSENDEN
Not weaker. Less contentious. More durable. Something we can build on. Something that can pass.
Beat. Stevens picks up the draft amendment.
STEVENS
Will this hold our party together?
FESSENDEN
Take what we can get now – citizenship, equal protection under all the laws. It’s a lot. We can push suffrage later. Now is not the time for that!
Stevens contemplates the text.
STEVENS
I’m an old man. I haven’t much time left. In that, I am in sympathy with the Black man. Without real political and economic power, he hasn’t much time left either.
Stevens leans close to Fessenden
STEVENS (Con’t.)
Voting rights. Guaranteed. Now.
Beat.
FESSENDEN
If the House doesn’t accept the Senate version, the entire amendment is dead.
Blackout.
Now's The Time Video Lesson Three