After the Civil War, the black people enjoyed many privileges that their ancestors could only dream of. They could own their own company, attend school and even vote. This were things they didn’t even imagine would happen, not in the nearest future, it was too surreal. At first it was like a dream come true, but things weren't as good as it first seemed.

Although the improvements were great, the southern life for blacks was far from perfect. People invented the so called Black Codes. These codes made a limit for the opportunities as a black person. The Black Codes placed taxes on free blacks, made it hard for a black person to own his/ her own land and guns, and even made some children be apprenticed by the old slave masters. Therefore, slavery still continued, but it wasn't in such big scale. It was during this time the anti- black groups like the Ku Klux Klan was founded. By 1896, the situation was extremely bad. For those who havent heard about Ku Klux Klan, this society wanted slaves. They were against the free slaves and black people in general. To show the world what they ment, they killed, torured and "terrorised" black families. To sceare them they could for example burn a cross on their lawn.

Although the slavery was abolished and the society had gotten a bit better, the blacks and the whites relationship was still hateful. The blacks were treated as dirt and had to do do as the white man said. They had to sit on seperate banches, on seperate toilets and even sit in the back of the busses. A very famous black lady once took the bus. She sat in the front and when a white man asked her to move, she refused. America reacted and it was a big step in the right direction. She wouldnt move for the white man and some people had to carry her away.

After the war, the bitterness between the North and South was as obvious. It couldnt get worse. Few Confederate leaders were imprisoned and only the commander of the Andersville prison camp was executed in the following of the war. The North had sustained immense damage. Entire cities lay in ruins. The situation was extra tense because the North abolished the South to have slaves. It was easy for them to say, the southern people thought; they didn’t survive on large plantations and farming. The North had factories and developing money. The government was central and strong, while the southern society was in small villages and they depended on slavery.

Today, slavery isnt such a big topic as it used to be, but it still exist. Todays slavery is for example menneskehandel into the global sex-industy. Also we know aboat people who work and live in factories wich they can not leave, with very low pay- if any.

Conclusion

The conclusinon is that the society definitively got better after the Civil War. If there hadn´t been any war, we dont know how far slavery would have gotten today. We dont know if the situation would be worse or better. We dont know if slavery still would exist! Although the war itself wasn´t a good thing, it surely was a great step in the right direction. We belive that a civil war was necessary to get an end of slavery. We´ll never know that for sure, but we can try to imagine life today if there would be no war. Well slavery still exist, but it is illegal an not in such big scale as it used to.

The society got better, but it needed time to heal. The post -Civil War was horrible for many slaves, but not as horrible as it would be if there hadn´t been any battle. They could marry who they wanted and by the law, they were free and had the same rights as the white man. But there still were many people who were against the black mans freedom and wanted to make their lives a living hell. The society slowly, but surely got better and better.