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Reconstruction was the time after the Civil War when the U.S. tried to rebuild and reunite the country. West Virginia's experience was different from other Southern states because it had become a Union state during the war. Like border states such as Kentucky and Maryland, West Virginia avoided the harshest Reconstruction policies but still faced tension between Union and Confederate supporters. Instead of outsiders, local leaders pushed for changes like public schools, fairer taxes, and ending the old Virginia-controlled court system. To protect the new state, former Confederates were blocked from voting unless they swore loyalty to the Union. These rules helped Republicans stay in power but didn’t lead to real progress for African Americans, who remained second-class citizens. By 1870, voting restrictions were lifted, and Democrats regained power. While some Reconstruction efforts faded, West Virginia kept reforms like public schools and the secret ballot, and began to shift toward a more industrial future.
The Freedmen’s Bureau was the first U.S. social welfare agency, created to help formerly enslaved people and refugees after the Civil War. In West Virginia, it operated from 1866 to 1868, mainly in Jefferson and Berkeley counties, with a headquart...
Storer College was founded in 1867 in Harpers Ferry to educate freed slaves after the Civil War. Supported by the Freedmen’s Bureau and donor John Storer, it was one of the first integrated and coeducational schools for African Americans in West V...
Early Black education in West Virginia grew through a mix of self-help, support from the Freedmen’s Bureau, missionary groups, and public officials. The first Black school, Sumner School, opened in Parkersburg in 1862. By 1868, Black schools exist...
West Virginia’s first constitution in 1863 created a free public school system controlled by local districts. In most rural areas, students attended one-room schoolhouses with all grades in the same classroom. By 1870, over 2,400 teachers worked i...
Many West Virginia colleges started as normal schools, which trained teachers. The state began planning a teacher training system in 1865, and by 1872, six normal schools had been created in Huntington (Marshall), Fairmont, West Liberty, Glenville...
After the Civil War, former Confederates in West Virginia couldn’t vote, and Black voting rights were uncertain. In 1871, the Flick Amendment—named after politician William H. H. Flick—was passed to give voting rights to both groups, even though t...
After the Civil War, former Confederates in West Virginia couldn't vote or hold office. In 1870, they helped elect a Democratic-Conservative government that wanted to replace the 1863 "Yankee" constitution. They disliked things such as free public...
Henry Gassaway Davis started as a farmhand and worked for the B&O Railroad, where he noticed the wealth of forestlands in what would become West Virginia. He used his savings to buy land cheaply and left the railroad in 1858 to focus on busine...