The Civil Rights Act of 1866
This is the full text of the Civil Rights Act of 1866, which made freedpeople citizens.
Congress Debates the Fourteenth Amendment
Quotations from the 1866 congressional debate over the Fourteenth Amendment help students clarify what the amendment says and its significance.
Conquered (en español)
In Spanish, in an 1865 journal entry, Southerner Kate Stone mourns the Confederacy’s defeat.
Election Day in Clinton, Mississippi (1875)
Eugene Welborne describes the attacks and intimidations on Black voters on Election Day in 1875.
Election Day in Clinton, Mississippi (1875) (en español)
In Spanish, Eugene Welborne describes the attacks and intimidations on Black voters on Election Day in 1875.
Election Violence in Mississippi (1875)
Robert Gleeds, an African American candidate for sheriff in Lowndes County, Mississippi, describes the violence that occurred on the eve of the 1875 election.
Election Violence in Mississippi (en español)
In Spanish, Robert Gleeds, an African American candidate for sheriff in Lowndes County, Mississippi, describes the violence that occurred on the eve of the 1875 election.
The First South Carolina Legislature
This image shows 63 members of South Carolina’s 1868 state legislature, the first state legislature with a Black majority.
The First South Carolina Legislature (en español)
This image, captioned in Spanish, shows 63 members of South Carolina’s 1968 state legislature, the first state legislature with a Black majority.
The Fourteenth Amendment
This is the full text of the fourteenth amendment to the US Constitution, which granted citizenship to “all persons born or naturalized in the United States,” including former slaves recently freed.