Eye for an Eye: The Role of Armed Resistance ... - Freedom Archives

Black people . The Black experience during the Civil War certainly aided the
continuation of armed Black resistance .
Reconstruction and Armed Black Resistance
Newly emancipated Blacks realized the necessity of arms in protecting
their freedom. With Union, particularly Black Union, forces to protect them,
Black folks had to form armed groups in response to white vigilante terrorism .
After Andrew Johnson removed Union troops from the South, ex-Confederate
forces attempted to regain power by force and intimidation . Mobilized through the
Democratic Party , white planters wished to prevent Black political participation
and land redistribution to the freedpersons . In 1866 white supremacists inspired
riots in Memphis, Charleston, and New Orleans, attempting to defeat Republican
opponents and terrorize the Black population back into submission . The predomi-
nately Republican Congress, sensing Johnson was too lenient in managing the
former Confederates, enacted the Reconstruction Act of 1867 . The Reconstruction
Act put the former Confederacy under martial law, dividing the South into five
military districts . Twenty thousand Federal soldiers were assigned to enforce the
martial law. To bolster this force, local citizens loyal to the Union were allowed to
form militias . This provided an opportunity for Blacks to organize themselves into
armed groups to protect their newly won freedom . Throughout the South, Black
people formed militias to protect their lives and liberty in the face of white su-
premacist terror. In some cases Black people formed armed groups even prior to
the Reconstruction Acts . Often, Civil War veterans formed the nucleus of these
Black civilian armies . Once the Reconstruction Act was adopted, the majority of