Video reaction post

 The end of slavery marked not liberation, but the beginning of new forms of oppression for Black Americans. After Lincoln's assassination at Ford's Theatre by John Wilkes Booth, a Confederate sympathizer enraged by the president's support for Black rights, the nation lost its greatest advocate for racial equality. Under President Johnson, Black Codes immediately began restricting the freedoms of formerly enslaved people, demonstrating that Lincoln's death would impact generations to come.

Reconstruction era

Sharecropping emerged as slavery under another name, trapping Black families in perpetual debt. Landowners divided plantations and offered Black families land in exchange for half their crops plus housing. However, sharecroppers had to purchase their own equipment, creating insurmountable debt to white plantation owners. Combined with poll taxes that stripped voting rights, sharecropping maintained white supremacy by keeping Black people tied to the same plantations where they had been enslaved.

Despite these obstacles, Black political participation briefly flourished during Reconstruction. The 15th Amendment guaranteed voting rights regardless of race, leading to skyrocketing Black voter registration. More than 2,000 Black Americans held office, including 16 congressmen. However, Jim Crow laws and literacy tests effectively ended this progress, virtually eliminating Black officeholders.

Reconstruction era

Against this backdrop of oppression emerged leaders like Booker T. Washington, himself born into slavery. Teaching himself to read and working as a janitor to fund his education, Washington founded an educational institution and became an adviser to Presidents Roosevelt and Taft, the first Black leader invited to dine at the White House.

The Great Migration (1916-1970) represented Black America's response to Southern oppression. Six million African Americans fled northward and westward, escaping forced segregation and violence. Though they faced housing discrimination and segregated neighborhoods in cities, most never returned South, choosing factory work and urban life over the plantation system that had enslaved their ancestors.

AI disclosure: After taking notes on the videos my peers made. I used Claude AI to smooth the text and format it in a readable way. I then added photos, links, and captions.