Final answer:
African Americans in the South significantly impacted the Confederacy's war efforts by leaving plantations and joining the Union Army, depleting Confederate resources and bolstering the Union cause.
Step-by-step explanation:
economy that was integral to the Confederate war effort but also contributed significantly to the Union's military power. As the presence of Union troops increased in the South, enslaved individuals began to leave plantations en masse, creating a logistical challenge for the Confederacy and a strategic advantage for the Union.
Empowered by the Emancipation Proclamation, close to 200,000 black men, including former slaves, distinguished themselves in all-black Union Army regiments. Their participation highlighted the necessity of addressing slavery and prompted Lincoln to ensure the freedom of all slaves was central to the war's purpose. This shift in the Union's war goals and the depletion of the South's labor force weakened the Confederate States' ability to fight effectively.
At the war's conclusion, while America confronted various post-war challenges, there was a clear acknowledgment that the contributions of African Americans had been instrumental in redefining the ideals of freedom and equality in the nation. However, the fight for equality and the integration of freedmen into society was still an ongoing struggle, marked by new forms of systemic oppression, such as vagrancy laws and the convict-lease system.