Chapter 15 of Voices of Freedom basically starts at the beginning of the reconstruction era after the civil war. Even though it was predicted that everyone would know live in harmony it was actually the opposite. Freed slaves were announced free but were still treated like slaves and white people did not seem to change. But during the reconstruction congress passed the black codes which arrested blacks who did not have jobs and sell them to farmers to serve their sentence picking cotton or basically everything a slave would do. Blacks were upset and the black codes were eventually withdrawn but they were still upset with the way they were being treated. In the state of South Carolina some freedman bought some land on a island where they could be happy in harmony. Then there are some complaints about how men think they are more dominant than women and whites are better then blacks making conflict everywhere. Then with the male and female conflict in the marriage, divorce was introduced as long as certain requirements were met by the situation. The rest of the chapter continues with inserts of how poorly the blacks were mistreated and that everyone's civil status would need to be equal so that there can be peace.
As I read chapter 15, some of what I read was just terrible for blacks. But I think the reason why blacks were not treated like free men was because everyone else was not use to them being free and able to do whatever they want as bad as that sounds. But the reason why blacks were still mistreated was because the south was filled with ignorant people who still despised blacks and as long as others in the north too. But it would take time for this reconstruction process to fully go into effect and reach its goal of social equality and for everyone to work together as one nation and not divided into the north, south, and the blacks.
