Abstract
In American History Reconstruction was a period of great change. The abolition of slavery forced the South to create a free labor system. How did this new focus affect African-Americans? Were they to become equal participants in a free labor society or once again a subordinate labor class? Historians have argued about the ambiguities of racial oppression. Many concluded that the main fear was social equality; whites refused to accept blacks as anything other than second class. This was not entirely incorrect, but what else was at stake? If blacks were denied opportunities to advance in society what was left for them? By being denied certain avenues African-Americans were forced into a position of subservient labor for white employers. During the years of Presidential Reconstruction, 1865 – 1867, black suffrage was vigorously opposed by a majority of Southern whites. Even with the passage of the fifteenth amendment whites used intimidation to curb black voting. Lack of capital and fear of retribution also made it difficult to buy land and become economically independent. These issues along with social segregation created a second class black community that had few alternatives, but to work for whites as they had done in the past. This indeed is not the complete answer to the race relations question, but it does show that denial of rights, whether by law or violence, and lack of economic independence can create an environment that will promote a subordinate labor class.
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