Were the African-Americans free after the Civil War?

Question

I have to get the answer to this question before tomorrow or else I will get an F on my history test. PLEEEEEZE help!!!

Answer 1

~The Emancipation Proclamation freed no one, but it was a nifty piece of meaningless political propaganda. Thousands of slaves were freed by their southern owners when they (the slaves) enlisted in the Confederate army. Others were freed when liberated by union troops, but that freedom may have been transitory as those freed slaves may well have been returned to their owners if in so doing Lincoln could have ended the war and brought the Confederate states back into the Union.

The Civil War was not about slavery and slavery was abolished not by the war but by the Reconstruction Congress, Andrew Johnson and ratification of the 13th Amendment in 1865.

As to whether or not the abolition of slavery made "African-Americans" "free" is another matter entirely and I will defer to the likes of Lyndon Johnson, Earl Warren, James Meredeth, Huey Newton, Jack and Bob Kennedy, Martin L. King, Eldridge Cleaver, Ralph Abernathy, Medgar Evers, Nathan Bedford Forrest, Lester Maddox, George Wallace and George Lincoln Rockwell to debate that.

Answer 2

The proclamation did not free any slaves in the border states, (Kentucky, Missouri, Maryland, Delaware and West Virginia), nor the southern territories under Union control. At first, it only affected slaves who had escaped to the Union side. As the Union began winning the war, an estimated 4 million slaves were freed by July of 1865. After the war, slavery still continued in Kentucky and Delaware until it was wiped out by the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment on December 6th, 1865.

Answer 3

The commonwealth of Massachusetts outlawed slavery in 1755. So there was a whole population of free blacks in New England way before the civil war.

President Lincoln signed the 'emancipation proclamation' in 1864 during the civil war, so after the war ended all the slaves were freed.

Answer 4

there is not any longer something which will be compared to freedom although the freed slaves had a complicated time dealing with freedom; after being a slave for therefore long they did not recognize what do with the hot freedom and many went back to artwork on an same plantation. Blacks, inspite of the actual shown actuality that loose had an fairly complicated time after the civil wars an many were killed basically because of their color; although lack of life as a freeman felt a lot more beneficial ideal than lack of life as a slave.

Answer 5

I hope you'r in elementary school, since this is about as basic a question as can be.

Yes, the 13th amendment freed all slaves in the U.S. in 1865. Officially, all African-Americans were free after this date. Of course, conditions didn't improve overnight, and in many cases, racist restrictions remained in place until the Civil Rights Era (the 1960s) and, some would say, still today.

Answer 6

yes with the passing of the 13th amendment. NOT the emancipation proclamation which did not free a single slave.

It said it freed slaves in states currently in rebellion, where Lincoln had no authority, leaving those in Union slave states as slaves. It also allowed those in Confederate states already occupied by Union forces to keep there slaves as well. The Proclamation does this county by county if you read it.

Answer 7

They were "free", not free. After the Civil War it became much more effective to use wage-slavery. Where people have little choice but to work everyday for subsistence wages. Most people to day are wage slaves.... A third of the world lives under $2 a day and they are mostly non-white.

Answer 8

Yes, they were freed by Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation before the end of the Civil War.

Chow!!

Answer 9

they were freed during the civil war, however it took the defeat of the Confederate states to enforce the new law, pull up the emancipation proclamation, read the dates....

Answer 10

they were legallu free but socially, economically and politically enslaved. they lacked decent housing and education, which prevented them from getting the best jobs. though they could vote during reconstruction, states soon enforced granfather clauses, poll taxes and literacy tests.