Charles Young had not yet reached his 2nd birthday when Reconstruction began in 1865, and since this was a critical period for his family and other emancipated slaves, we must understand its significance and review its importance in American history.

Reconstruction was a period following the Civil War where attempts were made to resolve the problems between the Northern and Southern states and to rebuild the south and/ or restore the Union.

During Reconstruction, the first step by Congress was the establishment of the Freedman's Bureau, which was actually functioning before the war ended. This bureau was put in place to help feed, protect, and educate the newly emancipated slaves. It also helped them to find jobs, homes and to negotiate labor contracts with former slaveholders so they could become sharecroppers.

The role the bureau played in education was of primary importance because it provided schools and teachers for emancipated slaves who had been denied an education during slavery. Also, former male slaves were given voting rights.

Though Charles Young entered school during the Reconstruction era in the northern state of Ohio, the school he attended was segregated. However, at that time, both the black and white high schools in his small town were fairly equal, and they even shared some joint activities. By the time he was graduated with honors - first in his class of 1881- from the black high school of Ripley, Ohio, Reconstruction had ended four years earlier, in 1877, when the last U.S. troops withdrew from the South.

So, it is of paramount importance for us to see what caused Reconstruction to end in just twelve short years. First of all, the backlash from white southern states began in 1865 with the creation of Black Codes, which were designed to restrict all freedom of the newly emancipated slave population. These codes were an attempt to return the post-Civil War south to a defacto form of slavery. Fortunately, all Black Codes were suspended by the federal government the next year, in 1866.

Nevertheless, white southerners, who were for the most part former antebellum slave holders, were determined to regain power over all emancipated slaves, and they became particularly alarmed when the newly freed slaves joined forces with poor white southerners - who had also been oppressed - because together both of these groups had acquired a great deal of political power

For the newly emancipated slaves, this voting power helped elect 20 black men to the U.S. House of Representatives and brought about many more political advancements...including two black Senators elected from Mississippi - Hiram Revels and Blance Kelso Bruce.

To put a halt to all of these advancements by emancipated slaves and to undermine the federal government and its occupying troops, veterans of the Confederate army along with white racist, former slave holders founded in 1866...

Though President Ulysses S. Grant introduced the Civil Rights Act of 1871 to end senseless violence against helpless and defenseless freed slaves, these American secret terrorist organizations continued their violence and destructive tactics with the purpose of re-establishing white racist authority in much of a lawless South.

This was the backdrop of the racial climate within the U.S. before Charles Young's entry into West Point.

1866 - A Memphis massacre where 46 black Americans murdered and 90 homes, 12 schools and 4 churches were burned. 1866 - a New Orleans massacre where police stormed into a political meeting of blacks and whites killing 40 people, both black and white.

1868 - A Louisiana Massacre where approximately 300 black Americans were murdered on Sept. 28th.

1872 - There were 12 reported lynchings of black Americans.

1875 - A Massacre in Clinton, Mississippi where 20 black Americans were killed between Sept. 4 & 6th.

1876 - A South Carolina Race Riot directed against black Americans where President Grant sent federal troops to restore order. 1882 - There were 49 reported lynchings of black Americans.

1883 - The Civil Rights Act was overturned by the Supreme Court, stating that the 14th Amendment forbids states but not citizens from discriminating.