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.