description About

When the Civil War ended, Reconstruction held much promise for free black men and women. But as the North gradually withdrew support for black aspirations for land, civil and political rights, and legal due process, Southern whites passed laws that segregated and disfranchised African Americans, and reinforced them through violence and terror. By 1876 Reconstruction was over, and new black leaders responded, such as activist/separatist Benjamin "Pap" Singleton, anti-lynching crusader Ida B. Wells, and Booker T. Washington.