More Reconstruction

13th, 14th, 15th Amendments

13th
The Thirteenth amendment outlawed slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime. Involuntary servitude is forcing a person into labor that will benefit another person. 
14th
This amendment grants citizenship to those who are born in the United States and also former slaves freed after the civil war.
15th
This amendment states that any male, if they are a citizen of the United States, regardless of race, has the right to vote.

Henry McNeal Turner and black legislators
Henry McNeal Turner was born free on February 1, 1834, in South Carolina. He was very interested in being a minister throughout his childhood and when he was just 14 years old he vowed to become a pastor. When he was 19, he received his preachers license. He worked at a church in St. Louis for many years. In 1865, Turner was appointed to the Freedman's Bureau in Georgia and settled down in Macon. Shortly after this, in 1868, Turner was elected to the Georgia legislature and helped to form the republican party of Georgia. 

At this time, however, the Democratic party controlled the Georgia legislature and refused to seat Turner and the 26 other newly elected black republicans. Afterwards, the federal government protested and Turner, as well as the other black legislators were able to be seated.

Henry McNeal Turner

http://georgiainfo.galileo.usg.edu/gastudiesimages/Henry%20McNeal%20Turner.htm

Ku Klux Klan
The Ku Klux Klan was an anti-black hate group that was started in the Reconstruction Era by six white Confederate veterans in Pulaski, Tennessee. The purpose of the KKK was to restore white supremacy in the United States. 

The Klan used public violence against blacks as intimidation and they also committed many violent acts such as burning homes, lynching black people and leaving their dead bodies on the road.  The KKK was active throughout the states of the former Confederacy.

Members of the Ku Klux Klan

 http://kukluxklan.net/terrorism/ku-klux-klan-acts-of-terror

Video: Brief History on the Ku Klux Klan