- Review and identify relevant information on the linked PBS American Experience site, Reconstruction The Second Civil War
- This link will direct you to the full transcript of the Wade-Davis Bill.Links to an external site. What does it suggest about the prevailing Reconstruction sentiments in Congress?
- Read the section in Chapter 17 which discusses the Black Codes, and the linked site on the Black Codes.Links to an external site.
- Read the linked document, a selection from The Ills of the South, Download The Ills of the South, written by Charles H. Okten, a Mississippi Baptist preacher, and schoolteacher, in which he describes conditions for Black Americans under the sharecropping and crop-lien system.
After you have completed your readings, post your response to ONE of the following questions:
- Were the Black Codes another form of slavery?
- Based on Okten’s statements, discuss how the sharecropping/crop lien system created a vicious cycle. Was this system simply another version of slavery? Why or why not.
- Consider the following statement: “The persistence of racism in both the North and the South lay at the heart of Reconstruction’s failure.” Agree or disagree, and explain your position.
300 WORD MINIMUM
