The 13th Amendment

For my visual, I made a flyer that informs people about the ratification of the 13th amendment and what the future held for African Americans after it was ratified. I included section one of the amendment to notify my audience what the amendment exactly said, in case they were not aware already. The bottom of the flyer focuses on what the future held for former slaves. I included how the black codes were in the working and how some plantation owners were still keeping their slaves, even though it was against the law.

The 13th amendment is important to the reconstruction era and African American history because it was the beginning of the road to freedom. The 13th amendment freed many people, but it didn’t free all of them. There were still stubborn masters who refused to follow the amendment and kept their slaves anyway. Some slaves even willingly chose to stay with their masters because they had no where to go if they were free. The amendment gave many people the realization that African Americans were slowly gaining their freedom. The black codes are important also because they took away simple rights that everyone should have. Each southern state made their own black codes. The 13th amendment did exactly mean they were ¨free¨ because the former slaves still faced discrimination and oppression. Even if the amendment wasn’t in its full force at this time, slavery eventually was no longer used in the United States because this. The amendment was just the first step to moving towards full freedom.

One element that might not be clear in my visual is who made the flyer. The flyer is supposed to be made by radical republicans in the north who wanted full freedom for African Americans. Another element that might not be clear is when the flyers were made. If these flyers were real and posted around towns in the north, I made them to be made a two or three weeks after the amendment was officially ratified.

Link to research, flyer, and artist statement: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1818WaGudoTc-dkRtKFYysJ9lgWjk7MoF-UsVchqewms/edit