Reconstruction

• 
• SOURCE: Made By History at The Washington Post
  9/11/2020
  

  The Election from Our Past that Blares a Warning for 2020

  by Richard Kreitner

  The election of 1876 threatened to return the country to civil war. The compromise that prevented that outcome may have been worse. 

• 
• SOURCE: The New Yorker
  9/6/2020
  

  Our Long, Forgotten History of Election-Related Violence

  by Jelani Cobb

  A weather forecast is not a prediction of the inevitable. We are not doomed to witness a catastrophic tempest this fall, but anyone who is paying attention knows that the winds have begun to pick up. 

• 
• SOURCE: The Atlantic
  9/8/2020
  

  For the First Time, America May Have an Anti-Racist Majority

  by Adam Serwer

  Atlantic writer Adam Serwer argues that people who want to understand this year should look not to 1968, but to 1868, when a moment of potential for establishing interracial democracy through government intervention seemed possible. 

• 
• 9/6/2020
  

  Americans Have Feared Another Civil War Since the End of the Last One

  by Richard Kreitner

  The ink was hardly dry on Lee's surrender at Appomattox before Andrew Johnson's conciliation toward the former Confederacy clashed with the unfulfilled goals of freed slaves and radical Republicans to threaten further violence. These fault lines have been hidden but never healed in the restored American union.

• 
• SOURCE: New York Times
  8/28/2020
  

  The Massacre That Emboldened White Supremacists

  by William Briggs and Jon Krakauer

  The Colfax Massacre, sparked by white supremacists' refusal to accept a state election result, set in motion a series of legal rulings that made it virtually impossible for the federal government to prosecute civil rights violations by private citizens, ensuring that mob violence and racial oppression would continue. 

• 
• SOURCE: The New Yorker
  8/21/2020
  

  What Happens if Donald Trump Fights the Election Results?

  In 1876 norms governing fair elections broke down beyond the ability of the courts to resolve. The partisan deadlock that ensued was resolved with political dealmaking that relegated Black Americans to second-class citizenship for a century. Anyone who fears a repeat of the 2000 election had better prepare for a repeat of 1876.

• 
• SOURCE: The Hill
  8/21/2020
  

  Historian Eric Foner: Broken Promises Of Reconstruction Relevant To Today's Racial Justice Movement

  "Our society has never allowed African Americans to accumulate money and assets the way white families have,” Foner said.

• 
• SOURCE: The Guardian
  8/23/2020
  

  A Disputed Election, a Constitutional Crisis, Polarization… Welcome to 1876

  Eric Foner: Rather than 2000, look to the election of 1876 to see what could happen if one party refuses to accept an election result. 

• 
• SOURCE: Black Perspectives
  8/18/2020
  

  How Racist Ideas Shaped the Era of Reconstruction

  A review of Henry Louis Gates Jr.'s new book "Stony the Road: Reconstruction, White Supremacy, and the Rise of Jim Crow."

• 
• SOURCE: Made By History at The Washington Post
  8/13/2020
  

  Stacey Abrams Could Have as Much Impact on 2020 as Kamala Harris

  by Liette Gidlow

  Stacy Abrams's work to protect voting rights and ballot access may be a decisive factor in the 2020 election. 

• 
• SOURCE: The Atlantic
  8/7/2020
  

  The Nation’s First Civil-Rights Law Needs to Be Fixed

  Congress can amend the nation's first civil rights law to make explicit that it protects against both intentional discrimination and policies that perpetuate racial inequality. 

• 
• SOURCE: The New Yorker
  7/23/2020
  

  J.F.K.’s “Profiles in Courage” Has a Racism Problem. What Should We Do About It?

  by Nicholas Lemann

  The Senators chosen by John F. Kennedy as "Profiles in Courage" would not fare well if their actions were evaluated today. 

• 
• SOURCE: Ideastream
  7/16/2020
  

  Historian Eric Foner Disputes ‘Fake History’ Of Reconstruction Era

  Foner has dedicated much his career to correcting this mistaken notion Reconstruction was a failure through his work as an academic as well as by authoring numerous books. A professor emeritus of history at Columbia University, Foner is this year’s Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards Lifetime Achievement winner.

• 
• SOURCE: New York Times
  6/26/2020
  

  Beyond ‘White Fragility’: If you Want to Let Freedom Ring, Hammer on Economic Injustice.

  by Jamelle Bouie

  The histories of Reconstruction by W.E.B. Du Bois and Eric Foner, as well as the later speeches and writings of Martin Luther King, Jr. demonstrate that the cause of racial justice has never been separable from closing the vast economic gulf between owners and workers in America. 

• 
• SOURCE: Washington Post
  6/26/2020
  

  Racist Violence in Wilmington’s Past Echoes in Police Officer Recordings Today

  by Crystal R. Sanders

  Wilmington, North Carolina police officers who spoke eagerly about the chance to kill black protesters evoke the history of a violent white supremacist coup against the city's biracial government during Reconstruction.

• 
• 6/28/2020
  

  “A Very Different Story”: Marian Sims and Reconstruction

  by David B. Parker

  Marian Sims's 1942 historical novel Beyond Surrender was not nearly as popular as Gone with the Wind. But it reminds us today of a history that might have been--both during Reconstruction and in the popular portrayal of the period.

• 
• SOURCE: Commonweal
  6/23/2020
  

  American Oligarchy: ‘How the South Won the Civil War’

  A review of Heather Cox Richardson's book How the South Won the Civil War.

• 
• SOURCE: The Conversation
  6/16/2020
  

  US Congress could Use Reconstruction-Era Civil Rights Powers to Protect Black Lives Today

  by Richard Johnson

  The U.S. House of Representatives could use a provision of the 14th Amendment to strip congressional representation from states that suppress the voting rights of black residents. 

• 
• SOURCE: FiveThirtyEight
  6/9/2020
  

  1968 Isn’t The Only Parallel For This Political Moment

  Black Americans have a long history of fighting for racial justice — and the system has a long history of failing them.

• 
• SOURCE: WAMU
  6/5/2020
  

  Historian Eric Foner On The ‘Unresolved Legacy Of Reconstruction’ (Audio)

  In a very prescient interview from 2006, Foner argues that the failed promises of Reconstruction reverberate today.