n land. By 1865 the Freedmans Bureau distributed land from abandoned plantations to 10,000 black families, but when the original white owners returned they wanted their land back and most of it was returned. Even though blacks were working, most of them still remained in poverty. They worked shorter days and women and children were less likely to work like they did in the past as slaves. Black families were struggling to rebuild family structures. Many traveled through the south searching for lost relatives. Many black women worked for wages as domestic servants to make the extra money their family needed to live. Blacks werent still completely free. They were doing jobs they had done before, but now they were receiving compensation in ways for their services.White supremacy groups posed a major threat on the blacks free way of life. The Klu Klux Klan, which began in 1865 in Tennessee, murdered many blacks whose only crime was the desire to vote. The Klan would inflict vengeance on colored citizens by breaking into their homes in the dead of night, dragging them out of their beds, torture them in inhuman ways and most instances murder them mainly for their political affiliations. Each member of the Klan must furnish himself with a pistol, gown, and a signal instrument which was part of the Klans constitution and bylaws each member abided by.Blacks may have been told that they were receiving their freedom after the Civil War, but in all reality they had just as many, if not even more obstacles to face as when they were slaves. They had to deal with issues that had never affected them before. The fact that most blacks were not educated did not help their situation at all. They had to compete with educated white people for jobs and without any training in anything but servitude they did not have a high chance of getting the job. Before slavery was abolished, blacks may have not have been treated as human beings, but they were treated r...
