2. “MEANING OF FREEDOM” THESIS
• During Southern Reconstruction,
emancipated African Americans rejected
white authority by striving for social,
economic, and political freedom through
unification and improvement of black
communities while aspiring to acquire
property and control over their own labor,
and political equality and involvement.
3. SUB-THESIS: FAMILY
• African Americans were unified and
liberated in their aspirations to social
independence through establishing new
familial roles, migrating to developing black
communities, and rejecting obedience to
their previous white oppressors.