After the Civil War ended in 1865, Alabama went through a time of big changes called Reconstruction. The United States worked to rebuild the South and figure out how to reunite the country. It was also a time when Black Americans, who had been enslaved, gained new rights—but also faced new challenges.
One of the biggest changes was the fight for citizenship and voting rights for Black Americans. The Thirteenth Amendment (1865) ended slavery. The Fourteenth Amendment (1868) made Black Americans citizens. The Fifteenth Amendment (1870) said that Black men had the right to vote. These changes were huge steps forward.
To join the United States again, Alabama had to follow new rules. For a time, the U.S. military was in charge of Alabama. Groups like the Freedmen’s Bureau helped newly freed Black families by providing food, jobs, and schools. Alabama wrote new state constitutions in 1868 and 1875 to meet the new national laws. But not everyone wanted these changes. Alabama passed unfair laws called Black Codes to limit Black people’s freedom. Political parties also changed. The Republican Party mostly supported new rights for Black Americans, while many Democrats wanted to keep old ways. Even though Alabama was allowed back into the United States, challenges continued.
Reconstruction also brought new schools and social changes. Many Black churches and schools were started because newly freed people wanted to learn and build strong communities. Some schools trained teachers and were called normal schools. The Morrill Land Grant Act helped open new colleges. But many schools were segregated, which meant Black and white children had to go to different schools. This was unfair, but it became part of Alabama’s system.
After Reconstruction ended in the late 1870s, life became harder for Black Alabamians. New laws called Jim Crow laws forced Black and white people to stay apart in public places. Black men lost their voting rights because of unfair rules like literacy tests and poll taxes. Many Black families became sharecroppers, working on farms for little pay and few rights.
There was also violence and injustice. In 1874, the Election Day Riots scared Black voters. The convict-leasing system sent many Black men to prison camps, where they were forced to work in terrible conditions. In 1896, a court case called Plessy v. Ferguson said that keeping Black and white people separate was legal if things were “separate but equal.” But in reality, things were not equal at all.
Alabama’s history during and after Reconstruction shows how people fought for freedom and rights, but also how new challenges and unfair laws kept many people from being truly free and equal.