Black Reconstruction In America

Abolition-democracy is a term coined by Du Bois to describe the movement to create a “true” democracy through not only the freeing of enslaved Black Americans (“abolition”) but through the right to vote (“democracy”). He argues that both abolition and suffrage are necessary for Black emancipation.

Black Codes is the term for the legislation passed throughout the former Confederate states which “virtually reenacted slavery” (405). These laws severely limited the rights of Black Americans to demand a fair wage, advocate against discriminatory workplace practices, and otherwise be treated equally under the law. Although many of these Black Codes were repealed during the Reconstruction era, they were brought back in slightly modified forms during the Jim Crow era following Reconstruction.

During the Civil War, Confederate pro-enslavement states which bordered the Union were referred to as Border States. The Border States were Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, and (later) West Virginia.