Before the civil war, President Abraham …show more content…
The views on the slavery had split the country into two groups: the confederacy and the union. The confederacy consisted of 11 states that seceded from the other states within the United states, in hopes of establishing a nation of their own in order to protect the institution of slavery. Initially, the confederacy consisted of South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, Florida, Texas, Alabama. But once the civil war began, Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina decided to secede as well. There was also Border states that were considered part of the Union even though they still had slaves. These states (Delaware, Maryland, Missouri, and Kentucky) had much internal fighting and pressure coming from Washington DC. Once the civil war began, the north had an advantage due to its large amount of soldiers compared to the south. In contrast, the southern …show more content…
To begin on the path to true independence, the newly freed people worked to build their own communities where they could have their own best interest politically, socially, and economically. When the resistance was too great in some communities, many freed people decided to move to new cities. Some who left would eventually come back to seek work, while others stayed in predominately black cities and connect with family members that had been lost during the slave trade. To keep faith during these hard times, many African Americans focused on building up their churches, schools, and families. The building of churches was of utmost importance because this was a social institution that was fully controlled by African Americans, since denominations had split, resulting in churches split by race. It was at this time that blacks also focused on the importance of education and established black colleges such as the Tougaloo, Hampton, Fisk, that still exist as historically black colleges and Universities today. Since slavery had come to an end, African Americans had the opportunity to fall into their proper gender roles, where men became the heads of their household and women continued to work. The goal now was to be self-sufficient farmers, but