What do you this of my essay (short!)?

The topic was: Did the period of reconstruction leave a positive or negative legacy for African Americans? It needs to be 5 paragraphs but I can't find anything else to put! So let me know what you think!



The reconstruction period granted African Americans the freedom, but it certainly did not grant them the privileges that come from being a free man living in the United States. They were denied many jobs because of poor skills. Many were traumatized by groups such as the Ku Klux Klan. Literacy tests were put in place by former Confederates who didn't want blacks to get the vote despite the Fifteenth Amendment. The South also imposed Black Codes, which furthered the low status of blacks. Did the period of Reconstruction leave a positive or negative legacy for African Americans? In my opinion, the Reconstruction period had more of a negative effect than a positive but some aspects of the Reconstruction were a success.



Reconstruction was successful, yet only, in a few ways. By passing the Thirteenth Amendment, Congress was finally able to end slavery. Some were anxious and couldn’t bring themselves to leave their plantations due to the fact that most of them were illiterate and didn’t know where to go while others took advantage of their freedom and left. The North continued adopting bills like the Freedmen’s Bureau, the Civil Rights Bill, and the Fourteenth Amendment, which was vetoed by President Johnson, but overrode by Congress. This was a great success during Reconstruction because it provided slaves with many different opportunities. The Freedmen’s Bureau extended the amount of activities for former slaves, such as helping them build schools so they receive an education and making sure they earned an equal pay at their jobs. In 1866, Fourteenth Amendment was passed, declaring African Americans the rights of citizens. The Fifteenth Amendment took this to the next level by granting African American males the right to vote.



Meanwhile, Southern state conventions were being held to try and limit their freedom by adopting the “Black Codes.” The “Black Codes” took away the rights of African Americans, putting slavery under a new name. The South had depended on slavery for decades and they couldn’t let of it. Discrimination groups like the “Ku Klux Klan” were created to try and keep former slaves from enjoying their rights. Little was done to stop the KKK because most white Southerners refused to testify in court against those who attacked African Americans. Another problem for former slaves was the fact that they couldn’t find jobs, or even a place to stay – this was due to the lack of money. Conditions for African Americans had not improved, and it may even have worsened.



Reconstruction officially ended when the Compromise of 1877 was passed because President Hayes promised that the federal government would no longer try to reshape the South or intervene to protect the rights of Southern African Americans. As Reconstruction ended, racism and segregation towards African Americans like the Jim Crow Laws set in. Though Reconstruction should mostly be considered as negative, some components were positive. An attempt to give equality to African Americans was made, while slavery was completely destroyed. Reconstruction should not be labeled as “failure” or “success” because some intentions of it were fulfilled, while other aspects of the Union remained the same.What do you this of my essay (short!)?
Aside from some grammatical and syntactical errors, plus a typo or two, it's not badly written. The problem that you're running into is the casual organzation does not allow you to develop ideas. You're approaching the paragraphs as if they were opportunities to list a bunch of facts. They're not--they're opportunities to develop ideas, and if you approach them in that way, you'll be able to write more paragraphs.



For instance, one major idea you have here is the interplay between

Federal Emancipation and the practical realities of what to do with the freedom that was given. You could begin one paragraph by talking about what the federal government was trying to do initially, and then a follow-up paragraph about its achievements. Then, in the paragraph after that, you can talk about some of the limitations of legislation that merely removed restrictions, and the measures taken in the south to thwart the realization of the federal plans. So, in other words, I think you can write three paragraphs just about emancipation alone--the first about the aims of federal emancipation, the second about its achievements, the third about the response in the south (and possibly the counter-response of the feds, unless you want to treat that in a fourth paragraph).



And that's only the political stuff--you can go on and write about the social ramifications of Reconstruction, including the rise of the KKK--do you think the rise of that organization can be directly attributed to any of the practices of the Reconstruction?



Moreover, I notice that a lot of the things you mention you don't even really describe. You can talk about the Civil Rights Bill and the Freedmen's Bureau, talking about what they were and what they were meant to do, and whether they each achieved their aims. You start to do that when you talk about the Black Codes--but you stop at just a generalization. Talk about what those codes were, what rights were being taken away, and how they were opposed.



And what WAS Reconstruction anyway? Who called it that? And in what way was the south supposed to be reconstructed?



There's a lot more you can say--you just need the organization to say it.



BTW, I assign projects and papers and exams. Does that mean you want to torture me? LMAO!