Congress

• Radical Republicans, led by Thaddeus Stevens and Charles Sumner, were helped by Congress to establish the Freedmen’s Bureau in March 1865.
• The Freedmen’s Bureau provided food, shelter, hospitals and education. It set up two universities but it’s 900 agents were subject to violence and intimidation by white southerners.
• A Joint Congressional Committee of Fifteen was established in December 1865 which pushed through the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments. It also sanctioned military support for Reconstruction measures in the south; federal force would not be used again in this way until 50s.
• First Enforcement Act 1870 - banned discrimination based race or previous condition of servitude.
• Third Enforcement Act 1871 - also known as KKK Act, made it a federal offence for a group to conspire to deprive citizens of their rights.
• Civil Rights Act 1875 - all citizens entitled to equal enjoyment of facilities such as inns, theatres and places of public amusement.
• The murder of leader Medgar Evers in June 1962 forced civil rights to the forefront of national politics.
• Immigration Act 1965 - ended immigration quotas based on national origin, race, religion or colour.
• After ND was launched, the Postmaster General invited the ‘Black Brains Trust’ to confer with him on appointments. From 1933 to 1936, 32 AA were appointed to administrative, executive and technical positions in the Federal Emergency Relief Administration alone, compared with 7 AA in such positions in whole of gov in last 12 years.
• FERA granted $281,000 in scholarships to AA schools and colleges.
• FERA employed 300 black scholars to gather information from former slaves for posterity.