What did the 13th amendment do to the African Americans?

Answer 1

First, it should be noted that there was no such term as "African-Americans" back in the 1860s; black people were called "Negroes." And under the law, they were not considered free human beings until President Abraham Lincoln courageously issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. This led to the 13th amendment, which was passed by the Congress on January 31, 1865 and ratified on December 6, 1865. The 13th Amendment abolished slavery in the US, asserting that "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as punishment for crime whereof the party shall exist within the US or any place subject to their jurisdiction."

Though the 13th Amendment legally abolished chattel slavery in the US, that was not the end of it. The Republican Party was wary about what this new amendment would do: it would surely lead to an increase in prospective black voters, who might send Democrats to the House of Representatives (at the time, the south was largely dominated by Democrats). But amongst both parties, southern culture remained deeply racist and having a new amendment did not mean white legislators in the south were eager to see blacks voting or trying to gain political power. Ultimately, these concerns led both parties to come up with methods of preventing black males (at that time only black men were allowed to vote) from voting through poll taxes and literacy tests, and by the 1890s, this racism also led to a strict system of racial segregation throughout the south; segregation was upheld by the all-white Supreme Court in 1896 in the case of Plessy v. Ferguson.

But for all of the problems that black people continued to endure, in some areas of the country, being emancipated meant that the average black person was now free to chart a future course: no longer being enslaved meant a black man could leave the south, or stay there; he could marry the woman of his choice and raise a family; and above all, he could pursue education (even in segregated settings) and choose a career or a skilled trade (and be paid for their work). The end result of the Thirteenth Amendment was that it created the first generation of black doctors, lawyers, professors, dentists, scientists, and businessmen.