Some Black pioneers return to the United States after the Civil War

Some Black pioneers did return to the U.S. to fight in the Civil War and after the Civil War.
The abolition of slavery in the U.S. in 1865 made returning to their former homes seem more possible. Mifflin Gibbs returned to the U.S. late in 1869 (after the Yale Convention). In his biography he writes, “I had left politically ignoble; I was returning panoplied with the nobility of an American citizen.”
The legal framework had changed with the adoption of three new amendments to the U.S. Constitution. The 13th Amendment, ratified on December 6, 1865, abolished slavery. The 14th Amendment, ratified on July 21, 1868, granted citizenship to any person born or naturalized in the U.S. The 15th Amendment, ratified on March 30, 1870, declared that the right to vote shall not be denied on account of race, colour, or previous condition of servitude.