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Emancipation Proclamation Issued
Frees slaves in states in rebellion and authorizes the enlistment of black troops. -
Lincoln reelected president
Abraham Lincoln elected for his second term in the midst of the civil war. -
The Freedmen's Bureau Established.
Congress established the Freedmen's Bureau to provide assistance to former slaves. Bureau agents negotiated labor contracts and settled disputes between black and white Southerners. -
Lee surrenders.
Robert E. Lee surrenders to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomatox Court House. Joseph E. Johnston's surrender in North Carolina on April 18 effectively ends the Civil War. -
President Abraham Lincoln assassinated.
President Lincoln assassinated in Ford's Theatre. Vice President Andrew Johnson steps into office. -
13th Amendment ratified.
Abolishes slavery in the United States. -
Black Codes enacted.
Southern states enact laws restricting rights of African Americans. -
Civil Rights Act of 1866
Confers citizenship on African Americans and guarantees equal rights. -
Memphis Race Riot
White civilians and police kill 46 African Americans and destroy 90 houses, schools, and four churches in Memphis, Tennessee. -
Ku Klux Klan
A secret organization to intimidate African Americans and restore white rule is founded in Pulaski, Tennessee. -
President Johnson's Impeachment Trial
By one vote, the U.S. Senate fails to remove the president from office. -
Fourteenth Amendment ratified.
Guarantees due process and equal protection under the law to African Americans. -
Ulysses S. Grant elected President.
The former Union general becomes the 18th president. -
Fifteenth Amendment ratified.
Extends the vote to all male citizens regardless of racer or previous condition of servitude. -
Forty-second Congress.
Five black members in the House of Representatives: Benjamin S. Turner of Alabama; Josiah T. Walls of Florida; and Robert Brown Elliot, Joseph H. Rainey and Robert Carlos DeLarge of South Carolina. -
Freedmen's Bureau abolished.
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Democrats control the Forty-third Congress
For the first time since before the Civil War, Democrats control both houses of Congress. Robert Smalls, black hero of the Civil War, elected to Congress as representative of South Carolina. Blanche K. Bruce elected to U. S. Senate. -
Civil Rights Act of 1875 enacted by Congress.
Guarantees equal rights to African Americans in public accomodations and jury service. Ruled unconstitutional in 1883. -
Disputed Presidential election
Republicans challenged the validity of the voting in Souh Carolina, Florida, and Louisiana. -
Rutherford B. Hayes inaugurated President.
Electoral Commissoin awards disputed electoral votes tot he republican candidate. -
Reconstruction ends.
President Rutherford Hayes withdraws federal troops from the South protecting the Civil Rights of African Americans.