Skip to content

14th Amendment Ratified

The fourteenth amendment to the U.S. Constitution is ratified. It gives all native born and naturalized persons citizenship and gives blacks equal protection under the law.

Fourth Reconstruction Act Passes

Congress passes a fourth Reconstruction Act.

Johnson Impeached

President Johnson is impeached by the House of Representatives. He avoids removal from office by a narrow vote in the Senate.

States Readmitted to Union

South Carolina, North Carolina, and Georgia, followed by Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, and Louisiana, are readmitted to the Union and allowed representation in Congress.

Black Majority Elected in South Carolina

In South Carolina the first and only American legislature made up of a black majority is elected. The ratio of black to white representatives is 87:40.

African-American Representatives Expelled from Legislature

African-American representatives are expelled from the Georgia legislature. It takes them a year to gain re-admittance.

African Americans Killed in Massacre

In Louisiana, 200-300 African Americans are killed in the Opelousas Massacre.

Black Voters Granted Franchise

White voters in Iowa pass a referendum granting the franchise to black voters.

Ku Klux Klan Becomes Terrorist Organization

The Klu Klux Klan evolves into a hooded terrorist organization known to its members as The Invisible Empire of the South. An early influential Klan Grand Wizard is Nathan Bedford Forrest, who was a Confederate general during the Civil War.

Black Americans Not Truly Free, But Granted Right to Vote

Some experts have argued that Reconstruction laid the foundation for the organization of new segregated institutions, white supremacist ideologies, legal rationalizations, extra-legal violence and everyday racial terror – further widening the racial divide among blacks and whites. Others have pointed out that the end of the war left black Americans free but their status undetermined, with the passing of codes to prevent black people from being truly free. But eventually, under the 14th amendment, African American men were granted the right to vote.

Back To Top