were they really free?

The effect of the Reconstruction made it seem as if the slaves were set free? but were they? Sure they weren't considered slaves any longer , they could go to school , and do other things but they were very limited on what they can do but not on what they can not do . It seems as if that whole thing of setting the slaves free was kind of a joke because if you think about it where are free slaves supposed to go ? how are they going to get income to buy things that they need to survive? and most importantly many of the slaves had no education and were illiterate so what else did they know besides cleaning and doing yard work? And even after the slaves where free it was still the same on how they where viewed and treated by white people. just because they weren't consider slaves any longer  doesn't mean that white people didn't have the same attitude towards blacks. African Americans still weren't allowed to purchase or rent land, and marry whites.  In addition , majority of blacks ended up staying on white landowners lands and work there under unfair conditions that the landowners decided. so i honestly think that there really isn't any difference between before the Reconstruction and after.