Theft was frequent; arson was the accepted means of revenge on white people; and murder became common in the brawls of the city Negro quarters.

The laxness of the marriage relation worked special hardship on the women and children in so many cases deserted by the head of the family.
Out of the social anarchy of reconstruction the Negroes emerged with numerous organizations of their own which may have been imitations of the Union League, the Lincoln Brotherhood, and the various church organizations.

These societies were composed entirely of blacks and have continued with prolific reproduction to the present day.

They were characterized by high names, gorgeous regalia, and frequent parades.
"The Brothers and Sisters of Pleasure and Prosperity" and the "United Order of African Ladies and Gentlemen" played a large, and on the whole useful, part in Negro social life, teaching lessons of thrift, insurance, cooperation, and mutual aid.
The reconstructionists were not able in 1867-68 to carry through Congress any provision for the social equality of the races, but in the reconstructed states, the equal rights issue was alive throughout the period.

Legislation giving to the Negro equal rights in hotels, places of amusements, and common carriers, was first enacted in Louisiana and South Carolina.