# How were southern whites oppressed during Reconstruction? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 4, 2022, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-southern-whites-oppressed-during-reconstruction/972722 "2022-10-04T21:00:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![fedman1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e495f1/32.png) [@fedman1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fedman1)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2022, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-southern-whites-oppressed-during-reconstruction/972722/21 "2022-10-07T12:58:19Z")
nice Sherlock Holmes reference 😊 ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2022, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-southern-whites-oppressed-during-reconstruction/972722/22 "2022-10-07T13:19:21Z")
It is an old trusim that when you’re accustomed to privilege, equality seems like oppression. ---
**Author:** ![jjakucyk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3d9bf3/32.png) [@jjakucyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjakucyk)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2022, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-southern-whites-oppressed-during-reconstruction/972722/23 "2022-10-07T13:33:29Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > While the North winning was a good thing, the history I learned was negative on those from the North who came to the South and silent on Blacks being elected to public office. I do recall in middle and high school in the 1990s learning about reconstruction, but it seems like it was a pretty quick glossing over. Not much more than “after the war many Black people were elected to offices but southern Whites enacted Jim Crow laws to force them out and disenfranchise voters.” That’s better than nothing but it feels like something we only spent minutes on at best. This also made me think of something an acquaintance of mine said. She’s about 10 years my senior and is from Alabama. She said that they called the American Civil War “The War of Northern Aggression”. I don’t know if that was a primary school, high school, or college level thing, but the term itself only dates to the 1950s. Still, it shows how pervasive and influential little tweaks to history can be. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2022, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-southern-whites-oppressed-during-reconstruction/972722/24 "2022-10-09T01:20:43Z")
It’s probably safe to say southern white _women_ faced oppression in the mid-1860s, and really had to fear being robbed, beaten or raped. But that isn’t specific to reconstruction. ~Max ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2022, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-southern-whites-oppressed-during-reconstruction/972722/25 "2022-10-17T03:45:30Z")
Oh no you did not just present the old pretext for KKK terrorism, seriously?! ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2022, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-southern-whites-oppressed-during-reconstruction/972722/26 "2022-10-17T03:57:09Z")
On that note: > [@Max\_S](#): > > It’s probably safe to say southern white _women_ faced oppression in the mid-1860s … …from whom? ---
**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2022, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-southern-whites-oppressed-during-reconstruction/972722/27 "2022-10-17T14:55:19Z")
From everyone? Their husbands, fathers, the state, etc. Couldn’t vote, couldn’t hold property, couldn’t be seen out in public. If they had a child while unwed, they would become social pariahs. The list goes on. ~Max ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2022, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-southern-whites-oppressed-during-reconstruction/972722/28 "2022-10-17T14:57:24Z")
I figured that’s what you meant, but it’s such a non-sequitur. Northern white women also faced that, as did southern and northern Black women. Seems completely irrelevant to this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2022, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-southern-whites-oppressed-during-reconstruction/972722/29 "2022-10-17T15:04:32Z")
Admittedly not my best post. ~Max ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2022, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-southern-whites-oppressed-during-reconstruction/972722/30 "2022-10-17T16:28:07Z")
> [@Max\_S](#): > > couldn’t be seen out in public I’m not sure about the Antebellum South but from what I’ve read of most places, in history, the usual paradigm was that if a girl/woman wanted to go somewhere, she needed to be accompanied by a male relative (brother, father, etc.) or (more commonly) by an older, married woman - often the mother. Being seen was alright, I think the fear was that they’d be kidnapped and sexually assaulted if not protected. ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2022, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-southern-whites-oppressed-during-reconstruction/972722/31 "2022-10-17T16:40:09Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > I think the fear was that they’d be kidnapped and sexually assaulted if not protected. I think the fear was that they’d become known for having “loose morals” and so be harder to marry off on favorable terms (for the father) or harm the family (husband’s) reputation. If there is a historical practice advertised as being for the benefit of women, you can be fairly confident it was actually for the benefit of the patriarchs (not necessarily all men of any stripe, mind you, just the ones with power and influence in a given society). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-southern-whites-oppressed-during-reconstruction/972722.md?page=1)