Essay --

Before the Civil War ended, President Lincoln signed for the Emancipation Proclamation to be passed. When the Emancipation Proclamation was passed on January 1, 1863, it was a step toward freedom for African Americans. Although the proclamation freed few, and did not apply to â€Å"slaves in border states fighting on the side of the union,† it sent a message. Lincoln was sending a strong message, not only to the United States of America, but to the world, that the Civil War was no longer being fought to preserve the Union, but was being fought to end slavery (Ask Jones which citation from extra paper). African Americans described the proclamation as the â€Å"document for freedom,† it was hope. The Emancipation Proclamation, while it did not free the slaves, it was a road way toward the thirteenth amendment. In 1865 when President Lincoln was still in office, the Civil War ended, and left the South in shambles. The war left no option except the need to rebuild the Sout h. This was the beginning of reconstruction. Reconstruction originally began under President Lincoln, until April 15, 1865, when he was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth, then President Andrew Johnson took over, and reconstruction took a turn for the worst. Under the short reign of Lincoln, blacks were able to reunite their families, receive land and work for themselves, as well as get an education, and establish black churches. When Johnson took office, after Lincoln’s assassination, reconstruction began to shift for the blacks; it no longer held the same meaning. Their land was taken, and their freedom to work for themselves began to diminish, slowly reconstruction began to return to the idea of slavery. Economics At the war’s end Congress established the Freedmen’s Burea... ...ural music, provide charity and support to those in need and developed the black political leaders. The black church was the beginning of the establishment of the black community, and the most important part of the black church: it was free of white supervision. Blacks struggled to save to build their churches, and often founded Baptist and Methodists churches. One of their most prominent churches was the African Methodist Episcopal (AME). Churches in the black community were a form of ranking. The Presbyterian, Congregational, and Episcopal churches were attended mostly by the â€Å"upper-class† blacks, such as the blacks that had been free prior to the civil war. Poorer blacks, found the â€Å"upper-class† black churches unappealing. Besides churches, blacks understood that they must learn to read, or they were not free. To blacks freedom and education were inseparable.