LibGuides: Reconstruction Research: Home

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Databases such as ABC-CLIO and Britannica are often a great place to start your research. These databases have content that is written for thier database specifically. There is one article for each topic, although there may be other articles closely related. These databases may also offer curated links to other outside resources.

Encyclopedia databases are great for the first stage of your research. They may help you:

Build a foundation of understanding.
Find a path for your research.
Identify important key terms, events, and people for your research.
They will also aid as you build your preliminary thesis.

All topics can be found in either ABC-CLIO or Britannica.

Encyclopedia Databases provide thorough background information on a variety of topics and are a strong resource. Choose the one that best fits your informational needs.

Some of our most popular encyclopedia databases are linked below.

ABC-CLIO: American History
Encyclopedia articles for background research and exploration in American History.
Britannica
A great online encyclopedia database for background and introductory research.

Additional Resources

Reconstruction Amendments

Masterclass Reconstruction Amenedments
From the website: "The Reconstruction Amendments—also called the Civil War Amendments—are three additions to the United States Constitution that abolished slavery, granted equal rights to formerly enslaved people, and enshrined the right to vote for people of all races. "
PBS Reconstruction Amendments
Videos from PBS discussing the Reconstruction Amendments and their legacies.
13th Amendment History.com
From History.com. This source provides a detailed exploration of the context, history, and legacy of this amendment.
14th Amendment History.com
From History.com. This source provides a detailed exploration of the context, history, and legacy of this amendment.
15th Amendment History.com
From History.com. This source provides a detailed exploration of the context, history, and legacy of this amendment.
Reconstruction Amendments
An interactive lesson from PBS about the Reconstruction Amendments.

Black Codes

Black Codes History.com
In depth article about the Black Codes, context for how they were passed, and the impact.
Black Codes
Article from the Gale Reference eBook "Race and Ethnicity in America: From Pre-contact to the Present."
Black Codes
An encyclopedia entry from National Geographic about the history of Black Codes.
Black Codes
An article from the Jim Crow Museum and Ferris University. It discusses the impact and history of Black Codes during the Reconstruction Era.
Slavery By Another Name: Black Codes and Pig Laws
A series of video clips from "Slavery By Another Name" that discuss the Black Codes and their impacts.
Mississippi Black Codes
An article from the website Black Past about the Black Codes in Mississippi during Reconstruction.

Freedmen's Bureau

Freedmen's Bureau
An extensive resource from History.com, which includes the creation, the success and failures, and the demise.
Freedmen's Bureau
From the US Senate history resources on their website.
Freedmen's Bureau
Article from the Social Welfare History Project at the Virginia Commonwealth University, which exists to preserve history about social welfare and social reform.
Freedmen's Bureau Records Intiative
This is an initiative through the National Museum of African American History and Culture at the Smithsonian. Info from the website: "The Freedmen’s Bureau Search Portal provides unprecedented opportunities for family historians and genealogists to search for their ancestors and for scholars to research a variety of topics related to slavery and Reconstruction in the Freedmen’s Bureau records. The portal makes possible for the first time the ability to research multiple sets of Freedmen’s Bureau data in one place, allowing users to search indexed data for specific names, places, and dates and transcribed data for topics, subjects, institutions, and any other words or phrases. "
"The Freedmen's Bureau" by W.E.B. Du Bois
W.E.B. Du Bois was a sociologist, historian, writer, and civil-rights activist. This article was written for The Atlantic in 1901, which will give some context from a few decades following the Reconstruction Era.
DPLA Primary Source Set: The Freedmen's Bureau
A collection of primary sources from the Digital Public Library of America.

Jim Crow

Jim Crow Laws
From History.com, an article that includes historical context and discussion about many topics related to the Jim Crow Laws.
Black Codes and Jim Crow Laws
Reference article from National Geographic. From the website: "After the United States Civil War, state governments that had been part of the Confederacy tried to limit the voting rights of Black citizens and prevent contact between Black and white citizens in public places."
The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow
A series of primary sources and more from PBS. From the website: " The Jim Crow era was one of struggle -- not only for the victims of violence, discrimination, and poverty, but by those who worked to challenge (or promote) segregation in the South. Various individuals, organizations, and events played key roles in shaping the history books; equally important are the experiences of those who have lived to tell their own tales. These are the stories of Jim Crow. "
American Experience: Jim Crow South
A paper from the Smithsonian American Art Museum about Jim Crow and the legacy.
Slavery by Another Name: Jim Crow and Plessy V Ferguson
From Slavery By Another Name on PBS, this is a series of videos discussing Jim Crow Laws and Plessy V Ferguson.
The Rise of Jim Crow, 1877–1900
From the website description: "Welcome to Black Citizenship in the Age of Jim Crow. This virtual tour of New-York Historical Society’s 2018 traveling exhibit recounts the dramatic, national story of the struggle for Black equality after the end of slavery."
Jim Crow and Segregation
Primary Source Set from the Library of Congress. Includes a Teacher's Guide with historical background information.

Ku Klux Klan

Ku Klux Klan What Was the Intention of the Klan During Reconstruction?
From the database: "During the period of Reconstruction following the Civil War, the Ku Klux Klan emerged to maintain white supremacy and frighten African Americans out of exercising their constitutional rights. Was the Klan a legitimate outgrowth of white Southern opposition to Reconstruction, or did the Klan have a malicious intent? "
*Requires Infobase FactsonFile Username and Password*
Ku Klux Klan
Article from the Gale Reference eBook "Race and Ethnicity in America: From Pre-contact to the Present."
Documenting Reconstruction Violence
From the Equal Justice Initiative. This chapter in a resource about reconstruction, discusses the Ku Klux Klan and violence.
Ku Klux Klan
This article from History.com discusses the history and violence of the Ku Klux Klan during its emergence during the Reconstruction Era, and it's later revival.
Grant, Reconstruction and the KKK
Article from the American Experience on PBS. "At the time of Ulysses S. Grant's election to the presidency, white supremacists were conducting a reign of terror throughout the South. In outright defiance of the Republican-led federal government, Southern Democrats formed organizations that violently intimidated blacks and Republicans who tried to win political power."
Rise of the Ku Klux Klan Primary Sources
From the website: "In this excerpt from his book, Recollections of the Inhabitants, Localities, Superstitions, and Ku klux Outrages of the Carolinas. By a “Carpet-Bagger” Who Was Born and Lived There, Patterson described the violence he witnessed while living in South Carolina after the Civil War."

Plessy V Ferguson

Slavery by Another Name: Jim Crow and Plessy V Ferguson
From Slavery By Another Name on PBS, this is a series of videos discussing Jim Crow Laws and Plessy V Ferguson.
Plessy V Ferguson
Extensive article from History.com about the historical context and significance of Plessy V Ferguson.
National Archives Plessy V Ferguson
This is an article from the National Archives about Plessy V Ferguson with a transcript of the opinion presented by the Supreme Court Justices.
Plessy V Ferguson
Article from the American Experience about Plessy V. Ferguson and its impact.
Plessy V Ferguson 125 Years Later
From the website: "In 1896, the Supreme Court officially sanctioned “separate but equal.” Harvard Law School Professor Kenneth Mack explains what the shameful decision meant, and why it still matters in 2021."
Teaching American History: Plessy V Ferguson
Article written and organized for student research about the topic.

Andrew Johnson Impeachment

Johnson Impeachment Punishment for Violating the Constitution, or Politically Motivated?
From the Database: "Is President Andrew Johnson's firing Secretary of War Edwin Stanton—in alleged violation of the Tenure of Office Act (which declares that a president cannot remove officials without the consent of Congress)—an impeachable offense? Or is Johnson a victim of political opponents seeking to remove him from office by any means they can find? "
*Requires Infobase FactsonFile Username and Password*
The Fight Over Andrew Johnson’s Impeachment Was a Fight for the Future of the United States
This is an article from The Smithsonian about the history of Johnson's impeachment and trial.
Impeachment Trial of President Andrew Johnson, 1868
From the US Senate website. This includes a history of the impeachment and specific details of the trial (including the chronology and articles of impeachment).
Library of Congress Research Guide on Impeachment
Brief article, but links to other potential resources.
Impeachment
A 19min podcast from NPR about Johnson's Impeachment. From the website: "When Andrew Johnson became president in 1865, the United States was in the midst of one of its most volatile chapters. The country was divided after fighting a bloody civil war and had just experienced the first presidential assassination. We look at how these factors led to the first presidential impeachment in American history."
The Impeachment of Andrew Johnson
From Equal Justice Initiative, an article about Andrew Johnson's Impeachment from a resource about Black history in the US.
The Impeachment of Andrew Johnson
A collection of primary sources from Harper's Weekly. "From the leading weekly newspaper of its time, HarpWeek presents exclusive online access to Harper's Weekly coverage of the historic 1868 Johnson Impeachment — with over 200 excerpts from 1865-1869 — selected specifically for this site."

Reconstruction Plans

Reconstruction Moderate vs. 'Radical' Plans for Reintegrating the South
From the Database: "In the aftermath of the Civil War (1861-65), should the U.S. government follow a course of Reconstruction favored by Radical Republicans, which would punish the South and which would involve strong federal intervention to overhaul the political and social structure of the South and ensure that the freed slaves would be granted full equality with whites? Or should it adhere to more lenient policies that did not seek to punish the South but rather to heal the nation, and which would limit the federal government's role in reshaping the South? "
*Requires Username and Password for Infobase FactsonFile*
Reconstruction Timeline
A timeline of the acts, debates, and proposals for the Reconstruction from American Experience on PBS.
Reconstruction and Black Political Activism
History of reconstruction plans from the perspective of African American political activism. From History and Art Archives from the House fo Representatives.
Reconstruction History.ccom
Article that explores the implementation of various reconstruction plans.
The Civil War: The Senate's Story Joint Committee of Fifteen on Reconstruction
From the US Senate archives. " After carefully documenting postwar social, political, and economic conditions in the Southern states—particularly for freedmen—the Joint Committee of Fifteen drafted the Fourteenth Amendment and the Reconstruction Act of 1867, two bills that served as the foundation for congressional Reconstruction."
Wade-Davis Bill (1864)
From the National Archives: "At the end of the Civil War, this bill created a framework for Reconstruction and the re-admittance of the Confederate states to the Union."
The White House and Reconstruction
An article from the White House Historical Association about Lincoln's plan for Reconstruction.

Sharecropping

Sharecropping History.com
An article from History.com about Sharecropping, discusses 40 acres and a mule, black code, and cotton.
Sharecropping and Changes in the Southern Economy
From PBS American Experience: "Historians discuss labor relations between former slaves and former masters after the Civil War."
Sharecropping, Black Land Acquisition, and White Supremacy (1868-1900)
From Duke Sanford Word Food Policy Center. This article discusses the effects of Sharecropping and Black Codes on the disenfranchisement of Black citizen access to wealth and democracy.
History of Sharecropping
A Timeline of Sharecropping from the Institute of Texan Cultures "The history of sharecropping is a product of forced removals and genocide of indigenous people, settler colonialism, and slavery. Sharecropping was a farming system developed as a solution to the sudden need for housing and jobs to Freed(wo)men due to the Civil War."
Slavery By Another Name: Sharecropping
From the PBS Documentary Slavery by Another Name, this link includes video clips exploring sharecropping following the Civil War.
Sharecroppers
Article from the Gale Reference eBook "Race and Ethnicity in America: From Pre-contact to the Present."
Sharecropping
Article from the Gale Reference eBook "Encyclopedia of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era"

Civil Rights Acts

Civil Rights During Reconstruction
A Q&A with historians on American Experience from PBS about civil rights during the Reconstruction Era.
Reconstructing Citizenship
A detailed article from the Smithsonian about actions during the Reconstruction era regarding citizenship and rights for African Americans.
African American Odyssey
A collection about the history of African Americans' quest for full citizenship from Slavery through the Civil Rights from the Library of Congress.
US Senate: the Enforcement Acts
A short discussion of the Enforcement Acts from the US Senate archives.
The Enforcement Act of 1870 (1870-1871)
An article from Black Past about the Enforcement Acts during reconstruction.
The Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871
From the historical records of the US House of Representatives. This brief article discusses how these acts were passed.
Looking Back at the Ku Klux Klan Act.
From the National Constitution Center: "The Ku Klux Klan Act may be a law from the Reconstruction era, but it still relevant today as a way to address modern civil rights violations."
Landmark Legislation: Civil Rights Act of 1875
Short article from the US Senate archives.

Election of 1876 and Compromise of 1877

1876 Presidential Election: Was Hayes or Tilden the Rightful Winner?
From Infobase Issues and Controversies in American History. "Did Republican Rutherford B. Hayes rightfully win the presidential election of 1876 with a slender one-vote majority in the Electoral College? Or did Hayes and his supporters steal the election from Democrat Samuel J. Tilden, who won a majority of the popular vote and perhaps the electoral vote as well? "
*Requires the Facts on File Infobase Username and Password*
HarpWeek | Hayes Vs Tilden: The Electoral Controversy of 1876-1877
From the Website: "HarpWeek has created this website, primarily from the pages of Harper's Weekly as a public service to familiarize students and the general public with the historical events of the Electoral College controversy of 1876-1877. The organization of the site allows users to follow events day by day, to acquire a more in-depth understanding by reading the overview, and to gain insight into the press's coverage by looking at the numerous period cartoons, along with corresponding explanations of their historical meaning. "
Disputed Election of 1876
From the Rutherford B Hayes Presidential Library. The main page is an overview, but explore the left side bar for more information, such as a map, FAQs, Haye's acceptance speech, and articles about how we view this election today.
Compromise of 1877
Article from History.com that explores the 1876 election, the details of the compromise, and the effects it had on ending Reconstruction.
1876 The American Presidency
This site looks at the statistics from presidential elections by state. You can see the number of votes and the percentages for each state.
Disputed Election of 1876
Article from the Miller Center at UVA: "In the presidential election of 1876, Democrat Samuel Tilden ran against Republican Rutherford B. Hayes. At the end of election day, no clear winner emerged because the outcomes in South Carolina, Florida, and Louisiana were unclear. Both parties claimed victory in those states, but Republican-controlled “returning” boards would determine the official electoral votes."

Below are some primary source collections that have a number of images associated with the Reconstruction Era.

DPLA Primary Source Sets Civil War and Reconstruction
Digital Public Library Primary Source Sets. These are collections of images from the Civil War and Reconstruction time periods.
Library of Congress: African American Odyssey
A digital collection of images from the Library Of Congress, about the African American quest for citizenship following the emancipation proclamation.
Reconstruction: American's Story America's Library
A collection of stories accompanied by images of primary documents about the Reconstruction era.

Many of our databases also have great images for your use in this project. Check out some of the following:

ABC-CLIO: American History
Encyclopedia articles for background research and exploration in American History.
Gale US History In Context
A curated collection of resources about US history.

Dive Deeper

Explore Deeper

Use the following sources to explore in more depth. These are great sources when you know a little bit about your topic, and can use more specific key words.

Gale US History In Context
A curated collection of resources about US history.
Facts on File: Issues and Controversies in History
Explore controversies from American and World history.

Race and Ethnicity in America [4 Volumes] by Russell M. Lawson (Editor); Benjamin A. Lawson (Editor)
ISBN: 9781440850967
Publication Date: 2019-10-11
This set provides an overview of the history of racial and ethnic relations in America, from pre-contact to the present. It contextualizes the experiences and contributions of minorities within American politics, society, and culture; includes all people and ethnic groups that experienced minority status.
Civil War and Reconstruction: Handbook to Life in America by Rodney P. Carlisle
ISBN: 9781438116914
Publication Date: 2009-01-01
Explores the history between 1860 and 1876, about the social, political and economic impacts of the Civil War and Reconstruction.

Reconstruction in America: Racial Violence after the Civil War, 1865-1876
This is an extensive resource from the Equal Justice Initiative, which includes a number of chapters that discuss racial violence in the years following emancipation.