Native Drums

From Chains to Change: The Emancipation Proclamation and Reconstruction Era

• Savannah Grove Baptist Church • Season 1 • Episode 7

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The journey from slavery to freedom marks the most transformative period in African American history. Dr. Harry Singleton masterfully guides us through this pivotal moment, revealing how the Emancipation Proclamation launched an unprecedented era of Black advancement during Reconstruction.

Lincoln's path to signing the proclamation wasn't straightforward. Despite being remembered as the Great Emancipator, Lincoln was "forced into glory" by mounting abolitionist pressure, international criticism, and the practical challenges of western expansion. The 1860 election became a referendum on slavery, with Lincoln's victory triggering southern secession and the Civil War.

What makes this episode exceptional is Dr. Singleton's illumination of the extraordinary progress achieved during Reconstruction's brief twelve years. Black education skyrocketed—with 37 HBCUs founded and student numbers increasing five-fold. Political representation surged as Black Americans gained majorities in every southern state legislature by 1875. The constitutional amendments secured during this period—abolishing slavery, guaranteeing citizenship, and protecting voting rights—fundamentally reshaped American democracy.

The episode offers deeper context to institutions that continue shaping Black communities today. The tradition of Watch Night services began as enslaved people gathered on December 31, 1862, awaiting freedom's dawn. The Freedmen's Bureau provided critical support for newly emancipated individuals. And the HBCUs established during this period—from Howard to Morehouse to Claflin—created educational foundations that would nurture generations of Black leadership.

Dr. Singleton concludes with a powerful reminder that while holidays and observances may face political challenges, the essence of Black history remains indelible: "They can never take Black history away from our hearts, from our souls, from our minds, and from our historical DNA." Because ultimately, Black history is American history—essential for understanding our shared past and building a more just future.

Speaker 1:

Good evening everyone. I am Dr Harry Singleton and for tonight's last segment that I will do on the podcast Native Drums, I would like to talk to you about probably what's to me is the most pivotal time for African Americans in our storied history in this country. I've often described it as a roller coaster ride of ups and downs, of ebbs and flows, or, formally put, the vicissitudes of American history have visited African Americans more than any other people, and now the roller coaster is about to go up after 244 years of chattel racial slavery. I wanna close tonight with a segment on American history in which African Americans celebrated their freedom the most and then celebrated, in what I understand and consider to be their most productive, 12 years directly after slavery and what I call reconstruction. And so tonight I want to talk to you about the Emancipation Proclamation and about reconstruction. And so, coming off of the last segment, where, of course, we talked about the Fugitive Slave Act, the Underground Railroad, and we're going to hit the 1860 presidential election, the background of the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation by Abraham Lincoln is preceded only by the 1860 presidential election itself itself.

Speaker 1:

The 1860 presidential election, to me, was the most significant presidential election in American history because each of the candidates knew that if he were elected, that he had to do something about the issue of slavery. As we know, abraham Lincoln was elected. But Abraham Lincoln primarily and ultimately did not want to end slavery. He did want to stick it to the South. But his valuation of black humanity was that black humans are humans, are still inferior to white human beings and that if he had to assign, as he said on one of his campaigns, a superior status and inferior status to each of the races, he would gladly assign the superior status to whites and the inferior status to blacks. But the Emancipation Proclamation comes to us off of the heels of the 1860 presidential election and of course many historians have called the 1860 presidential election a slavery election, that the person elected, as I said, had to do something not only about slavery but had to move through executive order to end slavery. And of course we all know, with Congress's help, with the 13th Amendment which I'll mention in just a few minutes, that slavery was legally abolished.

Speaker 1:

The 1860 presidential election, because of what I just said about President Lincoln and his valuation of black humanity, was also called the forced into glory election, as I term it, and of course I take this title from Ebony and Jet, former editor in chief Lerone Bennett, historian as well, who in 2000 wrote a book titled Forced into Glory, and he makes the compelling case in that book that Abraham Lincoln really didn't want to free the slaves but did want to stick it to the South, and that he was ultimately, by the circumstances of the time, both nationally and internationally, was forced into the glory that he receives historically for having ended slavery or at least starting us down the road with the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. The candidates in the 1860 presidential election Abraham Lincoln, who considered himself a moderate Republican at that time of course the Republican party was not a conservative party, but it was a more progressive party than today John Breckinridge was a Southern Democrat and was, of course, steadfastly committed to maintaining slavery at all costs. Stephen Douglas was a moderate Democrat who was also committed to ending slavery as we knew it. And then John Bell, the Constitutional Union Party that has since disbanded, in fact disbanded shortly after this election, leading us really with the two dominant parties you see today the Republican and the Democratic parties, the Republican and the Democratic parties. Lincoln, of course, wins the 1860 presidential election, running on an anti-slavery campaign and vows to Southern state legislatures and to Southern governors that, if elected, he would in fact end slavery as we knew it. And Lincoln wins the 1860 presidential election with 39 percent of the vote.

Speaker 1:

Up to that time, lincoln was the first Republican to ever win the presidency in United States history, and so, as I said a few minutes ago, the 1860 presidential winner had to answer the question of slavery, and had to answer the question forthright. That was the case for a number of reasons. I will share three with you in this particular segment. The first reason is that northern anti-slavery sentiment had arisen to a fever pitch with the development of many journals by white intellectuals hammering the moral legitimacy of slavery. It had a tremendous impact in shaping the 1850s and 60s in terms of the view of slavery and the view really of the humanity of black people, not to mention the fact that they were profound theological and religious reasons. What if? If you're a white American, that you are wrong about the evaluation of black humanity, that black humanity is not created in the image of God, like white people? And that? What if black people are created in the image of God, like white people? Then, in fact, we would be creating the highest sin for claiming adoration to a Christian God and at the same time holding fellow human beings in bondage.

Speaker 1:

The second reason why the 1860 presidential winner had to address the question of slavery was because of the federal response to the Fugitive Slave Act. The Fugitive Slave Act Up to this point, from 1850 to 1860. With the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act, the federal government was actually enlisted to use its military forces to go out and find slaves that had escaped north and return them to their slave masters in the south. And of course these constituencies, for that decade of 1850 to 60, never felt comfortable carrying out their, their governmental duties, their federal government duties, in terms of kidnapping slaves and taking them back to slavery. But of course, according to the Fugitive Slave Act, that's what they were required to do. The winner of the 1860 presidential election had to change that reality, namely because of the pressure, the mounting pressure, on the United States government to have a so-called free country and still hold a significant segment of its population in bondage.

Speaker 1:

The third reason why the 1860 presidential elections winner had to address the issue of slavery was because US expansion to Western territories was on the horizon, and this came up even in 1850, with the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act, roles between the federal government and southern governors and state legislatures, that what would be the disposition of the states once they were incorporated? As the western territories of what we now know of the United States of America had been incorporated by the various states, at this time we had 13 colonies, and of course, since we have added 37 more states as we have moved western from the eastern seaboard to the incorporation of those 37 states, and of course southern governors and state legislatures held firmly to the notion that these newly created states would in fact be slave states. It was not the case with the federal government, was not the case with most northern whites and blacks, particularly those who had escaped slavery, and certainly was not the case with the international community, particularly Western European nations who had since come out and opposed the issue of slavery. And so, as a result of that, the winner of the 1860 presidential election had to address slavery not only in terms of the incorporation of other states, but make the steadfast affirmation that those states, once they did get incorporated, were going to be free states and not slave states. And so a showdown was inevitable between the federal government and southern states and so, anticipating, after the election, that Lincoln would move to end slavery and anticipating that he would issue some type of an executive order on the question of slavery, southern states began seceding from the Union to form what we came to know as the Confederate States of America in 1861. And of course, the first state to secede from the Union December 20th 1860, just a few weeks after Abraham Lincoln was elected in the 1860 presidential election, was the state of South Carolina. South Carolina would be the first and by mid 1861, tennessee would be the last of the southern states, southern states to secede from the Union and create the Confederate States of America. South Carolina would also be the last state to return to the Union after the Civil War was over. And of course it has a storied history relative to the secession and subsequent events as we move into the Civil War.

Speaker 1:

Of course, as we move into the start of the Civil War in which the two sides could not come to an agreement over slavery. And of course, let me make clear on this podcast that the Civil War, despite what you have been hearing lately from politicians about a variety of reasons other than slavery as to why the war was fought, it was fought primarily, if not exclusively, for the right to determine the nature of states in terms of their status as they were incorporated, whether slave or free. The Civil War was fought steadfastly because of the issue of slavery, primarily if not exclusively. And so, as Union troops began in the spring of 1861, moving down in the Southern states after having the directive to end slavery and, of course, the South resisting those demands from the federal government, the Union army begins its offensive in the South and the first shots of the Civil War are fired in Fort Sumter, just above Charleston, south Carolina, the state of South Carolina, prominent again at the start of the Civil War on April 12, 1861. And so the Confederate States quickly forms a constitution, its own currency, although never recognized by the federal government, by the United States government, it nonetheless proceeded as if it was a separate state. And so we had a group of white political separatists fighting against the United States of America over the issue of slavery. And so we're now into what would be the bloodiest theater of war in the history of America.

Speaker 1:

And so, in the midst of this fighting through 1861 and into the fall and the summer of 1862, president Lincoln is working on an executive order, it becomes Proclamation 95. And we now know it today as the Emancipation Proclamation. President Lincoln issues the executive order made official from a governmental standpoint on January 1, 1863, but he let southern states know 100 days prior to that, september 22nd 1862, that in 100 days you have to release the slaves that you have or you'll find yourself, in violation of federal law, ally for African Americans. Even as we moved out of slavery into the 20th century and, of course, up to the civil rights movement, the federal government has for the most part been an ally of African Americans as we have sought to change our lot in American life from slave to free and from bond, from slave to free and from bond to citizen. And so, on September 22nd 1862, lincoln gave southern states 100 days. The executive order was issued on January 1, 1863.

Speaker 1:

And of course, for those of you familiar with it, on December 31st 1862, states slaves gathered in their churches, on their plantations in 1862. And of course, gathered at around 1130 pm, 1145 pm on the night of December 31st 1862, and started the tradition of our watch night services that they were watching the night of slavery leave and the daybreak of freedom enter. And so we start this tradition of watch nights, observance in the life of the black church. We're at eleven, fifty five. The lights would be turned out in the church and of course we would pray into midnight or into the new year and then turn the lights back on to symbolize moving from the darkness of bondage to the light of freedom, an observance that's still practiced by many black churches, particularly southern black churches, on New Year's Eve today.

Speaker 1:

And so Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation, effective January 1, 1863. The intent, clearly from Lincoln was to abolish slavery on United States soil altogether, and so in many ways he was throwing down the federal government gauntlet to the Confederate States of America that this executive order will be realized and take effect, even if we have to go to war, which we are currently in the midst of, at that time to bring into realization that the realization of slavery's end will happen, and it will happen during my presidency. As it regards the proclamation, slaves were now considered free, if number one, they escaped to a free state. This is taking direct aim at the Fugitive Slave Act. Of course, the federal government was required to go and find slaves who had run away and return them to their owner. That slave masses could go to the north looking for their slaves and that they found them, were able legally to bring them back to the plantation to resume their enslavement. As it regards the Emancipation Proclamation, this effectively ends that aspect of slavery and of the Fugitive Slave Act. Once the slave escaped to a free state, they were considered free and no longer a slave and could not be brought back into the institution of slavery. And two slaves could now get behind Union lines as they were making their way into southern states and join the advancing Union soldiers in their efforts to bring about freedom for the rest of the slaves in southern states.

Speaker 1:

In Southern states and, more particular, to that end, the proclamation also allowed generals in the Union Army to commission slaves to serve in the Union Army and of course, as you might suspect, this infuriated Southern leaders, infuriated Southern governors, it infuriated state legislatures in the South and of course it infuriated southern governors. It infuriated state legislatures in the South and of course it infuriated generals in the Confederate Army to be able to commission slaves. And this was very significant for African Americans because it was part of the humanizing process that the nation was finally recognizing even though it was a war being fought to recognize their full humanity, that commissioning former slaves in the Union Army to fight for their freedom was humanizing for the African-American cause and went a long way in African-Americans, and particularly northern whites, no longer looking at African-Americans as inferior human beings who were not capable and should and did not deserve to be considered citizens in American life. And so, on April 9th 1865, after close to four years of fighting, almost three years from the date that it started, april 12th 1861, general Robert E Lee, the general of the Confederate Army, surrenders to Ulysses S Grant, the general of the Union Army, at Appomattox, virginia, officially on April 9th, after the offensive in Appomattox. And of course, on May 26th, just a little over a month later, 1865, the Civil War officially ends. And of course, when it officially ends, 638,000 casualties, 638,000 American citizens lose their lives in this war. It is still to today the bloodiest theater of war in American history. 638,000 people and of course, on May 26, black soldiers that had been commissioned for the Union Army are going to start to do military maneuvers in Charleston, south Carolina. And of course that lays the foundation for what we now know as Memorial Day weekend. It was started as a celebration of black military union soldiers in Charleston, south Carolina, to celebrate the end of slavery and the unconditional surrender of the Confederacy. And, of course, seeing that they had lost the war but still considered themselves to be, to some degree, americans, you're going to see those same southern states begin to come back to the Union that they succeeded from four years earlier.

Speaker 1:

The Civil War ends and, of course, slavery is on the brink of ending as we know it. And so what does that mean? 1865, abraham Lincoln is assassinated, but the spirit of Lincoln lives on as we move forward in America. And, of course, it brings us to the next 12 years 1865 to 1877, what I consider to be the most productive years in American life for the advancement of African Americans, making their adjustment and the transition from being slaves to living as free, meaningful and purposive human beings, building communities and building institutions. And so the Reconstruction era was not enough to just end slavery. It had to be a process by which the former slaves could now be transitioned into the fullness of American life. And so the Reconstruction era begins.

Speaker 1:

And, of course, so that there would not be any type of offensive by Southern whites to try to re-enslave Africans after they had been freed, the 13th Amendment, more so than the Emancipation Proclamation, in my opinion, ended slavery by making slavery unlawful December the 18th, 1865, ratified by Congress. And this was probably the most significant amendment, because now we were saying officially as an American government if you continue to hold slaves, regardless of your race, we're going to put you in jail, we're going to imprison you for and fine you for continuing to do so. And it went a long way in ending the institution of slavery as we know it. The 13th Amendment reads neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except this punishment for a crime where the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States or any place subject to their jurisdiction, and so, in that sense, slavery nor involuntary servitude would be an acceptable form of relationship between any group of human beings in American life.

Speaker 1:

The next thing you had to do was to guarantee the citizenship or the right to due process, particularly in the courts, because of course, if you can recall, slavery was legal, and so we've always had this. You know, two steps forward, one step back encounter with the laws of this country wherein our enslavement was legal, and when we tried to run away from the plantation to shine light on its abominable nature, then we were considered criminals for having broken the law. And so it was imperative for Congress to also, in Washington, pass a citizenship amendment granting us due process and, more particularly from a court standpoint, to make sure that we were treated fairly in the courts and that our children would get the best public education that the government can offer. And of course, in just one decade, from 1860 to 1870, as the 14th Amendment comes to us on July the 9th, 1868, the number of black children receiving formal education went from 25,000 in 1860 to get this 149,580 in 1870. In just a decade, the number of black kids receiving formal education, the sons and daughters of former slaves, increased by five-fold in just one decade.

Speaker 1:

As it relates to that 14th amendment, it reads all persons born, are naturalized in the united states and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States in the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States, nor shall any state deprive any citizen of life, liberty or property without due process of law, nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. And so what should jump out at you is the reference to any state making sure that it hamstrung southern states if they were in any way shape form, thinking about creating a new form of slavery moving forward. And so we have the 14th Amendment, or due process, and then, of course, the 15th Amendment, the right to vote, that you can't be a citizen in a society of free elections, where government officials are elected by the people, and not have an amendment to secure the right to vote. And, of course, on February 3rd, 1870, the 15th Amendment was ratified by Congress.

Speaker 1:

And just one decade just as with black kids getting formal education in 1860, not surprisingly, there were zero black registered voters In this country. In just one decade, 1870, there was between 700 and 800,000 registered black voters. Just in one decade, we gained 700 to 800,000. Registered voters and of course this 14th and 15th Amendment is going to be challenged gained 700 to 800,000 registered voters. And of course, this 14th and 15th amendment is gonna be challenged when we move into the 1960s, the civil rights era, with the Selma campaign for voting rights. And Chet Thurgood Marshall is going to thoroughly use the 14th amendment the citizenship clause and is going to use the 15th amendment the right to vote to get the Voting Rights Act passed by then-President Lyndon Johnson, who ends up nominating him to the Supreme Court. The 15th Amendment reads the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color or previous condition of servitude. It was because of the strength of this 15th Amendment that the Voting Rights Act was passed.

Speaker 1:

Not only that, because of the numbers of black people in the South, now ex-slaves, in some cases outnumbering whites by four to one in certain counties, if you can wrap your mind around this, there was a black majority of elected officials in every state legislature, every southern state legislature. Later, by 1875, and so by the time we get 10 years into, we get 10 years into reconstruction for all southern states, there was a black majority in every state legislature and that's, that's nothing short of miraculous, 10 years up from the end of the civil war. To make sure that these processes went smoothly in terms of mainstreaming, and make sure that these processes went smoothly in terms of mainstreaming and transitioning the former slaves into life as free people, congress places union troops in the South to protect them from Southern whites who are still hurting from the end of the Civil War and could want to revise or devise some scheme to take us back to some form of bondage. The whole notion of states' rights, of individual states, to choose the laws of their approval or the laws of their choosing, is essentially ended and the federal government is running southern states, at least until the racial prejudice that had come to characterize slavery so much had abated. Congress also starts the freedmen's bureau station, set up in what became major cities in the south to make sure that the former slaves had everything they need to transition to life as free people giving furniture, giving them cooking materials and utensils, giving them blankets, giving them what they needed, wood for fire to make the adjustment to living as free citizens. And they have these bureaus set up in major places in the South to distribute to the new free slaves, to distribute to the new free slaves, africans, as they begin their transition and of course some got it and some didn't 40 acres and a mule to start plowing their fields and to grow their own vegetables and to be landowners. This would become a significant issue in post-reconstruction as southern states begin to again engage in backlash tendencies to take land from black farmers and from black people and set up tenant farming and sharecropping as we move into post-reconstruction. But 40 acres and a mule was a promise from the federal government. Some families, former slaves, got it and some didn't.

Speaker 1:

And of course, not only do we see the increase of the number of black kids attending formal education, formal schools, but you're going to see the emergence of historically black colleges and universities. You're going to see the emergence of historically black colleges and universities. You're going to see, in this period, unprecedented period, unprecedented growth for historically black colleges and universities. The first hbcu, of course, as we know, is now cheney state university, known then as the institute for colored youth in 1837. Yeah, colored was the term we were using in 1837. And of course, it was founded by white philanthropist Richard Humphreys, which we see with the founding of a lot of HBCUs, and even named after white philanthropists, as Benedict College in Columbia, south Carolina, is named after Bathsheba Benedict, a white philanthropist who wanted to get formal education for the former slaves. And of course, that area at Benedict College was once a slave plantation and so for 500 years the land in which Benedict College sits has been either one of two things it's been a slave plantation and it has been a college, and so um, um. So we see many HBCU started by white philanthropists who wanted to get formal training at the college level for the former slaves.

Speaker 1:

Thirty seven HBCUs founded during Reconstruction unprecedented that we would have this many, which is why I call this era such a pivotal era for black people. This meaning, which is why I call this era such a pivotal era for black people, just quickly, as I run them off to you by their contemporary name, you're probably familiar with them, but all of these 37 HBCUs founded during the 12-year period of Reconstruction Bowie State University in Maryland, clark, atlanta University, shaw University in North Carolina, virginia Union University, edward Waters University, fisk University, lincoln University in Missouri, rust College, alabama State University, barber, scotia College, fayetteville State University, howard University, johnson C Smith University, morehouse College, morgan State University, morehouse College, morgan State University, st Augustine's College, talladega University, hampton University, claflin University, dillard University, simmons College, tougaloo College, allen University, benedict College, alcorn State University, paul Quinn College, the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, bennett College, wiley College, alabama, a&m Houston, tillotson University, knoxville College, meharry Medical College, prairie View A&M University, stillman College, jackson State University and Philander Smith University in Arkansas All 37 of these schools founded during Reconstruction. As it relates to HBCUs founded during Reconstruction in South Carolina, the first one, and of course its alum take great pride and pleasure in letting the whole state know that it was the first HBCU in the state of South Carolina Claflin College, now Claflin University, in Orangeburg, south Carolina, in 1869, now under the auspices of the United Methodist Church. Allen University in Columbia, south Carolina. In 1870, under the auspices of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and in fact the college is named after its principal founder, richard Allen, who founded the denomination in 1816. And of course, right across the street, benedict College under the auspices of the American Baptist Home Mission Society and now, of course, the Baptist Education and Missionary Convention of South Carolina, also founded in 1870. Other South Carolina HBCUs Friendship College, some of you may be familiar with that, founded in Rock Hill, south Carolina, in 1981, due to financial reasons, under the auspices of the Baptist Church Friendship College, of course, known for the Friendship Nine in 1961.

Speaker 1:

Nine young men who sat in at a segregated lunch counter in Rock Hill, south Carolina, refused to get bail when they were taken to jail, to stay in jail, then serve their 30 day sentence, so it could bring national attention to Rock Hill, south Carolina. And of course they were represented in court by an attorney at that time, ernest Finney, many of you may be familiar with. Ernest Finney goes on, of course, to be the first black state Supreme Court justice in the state of South Carolina. Clinton College, also in Rock Hill, clinton Junior College, now founded in 1894 under the auspices of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, south Carolina State University in Orangeburg in 1896. It has the distinction of being the only public HBCU in the state. Voorhees College in Denmark under the Episcopal Church auspices in 1897. Denmark Tech comes in Denmark as well in 1947. And, of course, morris College, the other HBCU in the state that comes to us in 1908 and located in Sumter, south Carolina.

Speaker 1:

And so this 12-year span is the most significant span, in my judgment, in the history of America for African Americans, that it is during these 12 years that African Americans lay a foundation in terms of its religious and its educational institutions that will shape the way African Americans have not only shaped their community, but also in the way in which they not only shaped their community but also in the way in which they have shaped their world and the nation as well. And so I leave you with this interesting tidbit, particularly in this day and time. It has been my pleasure to serve you, as I see my duty as a scholar, as a historian, a theologian, to serve my community, serve, serve my nation, serve my world and serve my God. It has been my pleasure to serve you in this podcast. And keep in mind that Black History Month may be removed as a federal holiday by this current administration, federal holiday by this current administration, but they can never take black history away from our hearts, from our souls, from our minds and from our social and our historical DNA. That our DNA is the DNA of this country, for black history is American history.

Speaker 1:

And just because another segment of the population is uncomfortable hearing about black history, don't think for a second that we are no less uncomfortable experiencing racial bigotry in its most assiduous forms and have declared before ourselves and before our God to not remain silent about it and stand firm and represent a God who said that we were created in freedom and that it is for freedom that we have been created.

Speaker 1:

Stand firm and never again submit yourselves to a yoke of slavery. That we serve a God who came in Jesus, who said I came to set at Liberty those who are oppressed and that the Spirit is upon me to preach that liberating gospel to all human beings, to look out primarily for the exploited and the marginalized, to make the first, last and the last verse. That is our fervent Hope, that is our fervent faith. That is our fervent faith and that is our fervent prayer. I am Dr Harry Singleton and, on behalf of the Native Drums podcast and Savannah Grove Baptist Church, I bid you a farewell and hope that these segments have been not only informative, that these segments have been not only informative, but they've also been enlightening and also raised the conscience of each of you relative to our next move forward, as we continue to bring truth to power to a nation that's running from a dialogue that is essential for its future and is essential for its destiny. I am Dr Harry Singleton. Good night, may God bless you and may God continue to bless this world.