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Black legislators behind the title "The Future of Reconstruction Studies."

The Future of Reconstruction Studies

This online forum sponsored by the Journal of the Civil War Era features 9 essays and a roundtable on the future of Reconstruction Studies.
by Eric Foner, Nancy Bercaw, Fitzhugh Brundage, Thomas J. Brown, Mark A. Noll, Thomas C. Holt, Lisa Tetrault, Martha S. Jones, Kidada E. Williams, Salamishah Tillet, Adrienne Petty, Luke E. Harlow, Elliott West, David M. Prior, Beverly Bond, Jennifer W. Taylor via Muster on August 1, 2017
Allegorical lithograph entitled "Reconstruction," by J. L. Giles in 1867.
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Why the Second American Revolution Deserves as Much Attention as the First

The first revolution articulated American ideals. The second enacted them.
by Gregory P. Downs via Made By History on July 19, 2017

Aaron Alpeoria Bradley and Black Power during Reconstruction

Black power, and the causes it supports, began long before the official Black Power movement.
by Keri Leigh Merritt via Black Perspectives on June 21, 2017
National Park Service ranger presented with Senate resolution for new monument.

Monumental Effort: Historians and the Creation of the National Monument to Reconstruction

Two historians weigh in on President Obama's move to designate a national monument to Reconstruction in South Carolina.
by Kate Masur, Gregory P. Downs, Kritika Agarwal via Perspectives on History on January 24, 2017

Killing Reconstruction

During Reconstruction, elites used racist appeals to silence calls for redistribution and worker empowerment.
by Heather Cox Richardson via Jacobin on August 19, 2015

There's No National Site Devoted to Reconstruction—Yet

The National Parks Service, which preserves many Civil War sites, is finally looking for a way to mark the struggles that defined its legacy.
by Gregory P. Downs, Kate Masur via The Atlantic on April 29, 2015

The Unlikely Paths of Grant and Lee

The two men met at Appomattox. The loser would become a role model, the victor an embarrassment.
by Jamelle Bouie via Slate on April 9, 2015

Mapping Occupation: Force, Freedom, and the Army in Reconstruction

A detailed look at when and where the U.S. Army was able to enforce the new rule of law in the years following the Civil War.
by Gregory P. Downs, Scott Nesbit via Mapping Occupation on March 1, 2015
Political cartoon of Freedman's Bureau agent separating angry whites from defensive freedmen.

The Freedmen's Bureau

“No sooner had Northern armies touched Southern soil than this old question, newly guised, sprang from the earth: What shall be done with slaves?”
by W.E.B. Du Bois via The Atlantic on March 1, 1901

The Johnson Party

An 1866 essay presents Andrew Johnson as "the virtual leader of the Southern reactionary party."
by E. P. Whipple via The Atlantic on September 1, 1866
General Ulysses S. Grant receiving Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox.
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Appomattox Exposes the Dangers of Myths Replacing History

Historians have revealed that the story Americans long learned about the end of the Civil War was a myth.
by Elizabeth R. Varon via Made By History on April 9, 2025
Arrested demonstrators of the University of California Free Speech Movement during their trial in Berkeley, California, 1965.

America Needs a New Free Speech Movement

Donald Trump is showing us what an unaccountable class of corporate decision-makers looks like—and it looks like a lot of fear, and a terrible loss of freedom.
by Zephyr Teachout via The Nation on March 19, 2025
Slave auction in the United States.

How a Group of 19th-Century Historians Helped Relativize the Violent Legacy of Slavery

On the scholarship and intellectual legacies of Ulrich Bonnell Phillips, William Dunning and other academics.
by Scott Spillman via Literary Hub on March 10, 2025
A family of formerly enslaved people outside their house in Fredericksburg, Virginia, circa 1862–1865.

The Missing Persons of Reconstruction

Enslaved families were regularly separated​. A new history chronicles the tenacious efforts of the emancipated to be reunited​ with their loved ones.
by Joshua D. Rothman via The New Republic on February 26, 2025
Thaddeus Stevens
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Thaddeus Stevens and the Power of the Purse

The Radical Republican oversaw federal spending at the dawn of Reconstruction. How did his support for Black equality affect his leadership in the House?
by Cecily Nelson Zander via HNN on February 25, 2025
Frances Thompson holding an umbrella.

Frances Thompson Survived a Race Massacre and Bravely Testified to Congress. Then She Was Slandered.

A Black transgender woman’s testimony helped ratify the 14th Amendment. Then conservatives began attacking her identity.
by Chelsea Bailey via CNN on February 16, 2025
A drawing of Confederate soldiers on horseback violently forcing Black people to walk south.

After Confederate Forces Took Their Children, These Black Mothers Fought to Reunite Their Families

Confederates kidnapped free Black people to sell into slavery. After the war, two women sought help from high places to track down their lost loved ones.
by Robert K. D. Colby via Smithsonian on February 6, 2025
Print depicting a teacher and students at a freedmen's school in Vicksburg.

Why America’s First Department of Education Didn’t Last

Created in 1867, the short-lived office was mired in the ongoing American strife after the Civil War.
by Petula Dvorak via Retropolis on February 4, 2025
A collage of the United States Constitution, seal, and a hand holding two small American flags.

The Attack on Birthright Citizenship Is a Big Test for the Constitution

Does the text mean what it plainly says?
by Adam Serwer via The Atlantic on January 22, 2025
Tents in Resurrection City in Washington D.C., a protest encampment on the National Mall.

The Poverty of Homeownership

On both sides of the color line, to own one’s home remains synonymous with freedom—even as real estate has proven itself to be relentlessly unequal.
by David Helps via Public Books on December 4, 2024
Ulysses S. Grant finishing his memoir shortly before he died.

Grant vs. the Klan

New books reconsider how Ulysses S. Grant became a forceful defender of the rights of African Americans after the Civil War.
by David S. Reynolds via New York Review of Books on September 26, 2024
Movie poster of The Birth of a Nation depicting a Ku Klux Klan member as a knight.

How the Work of Thomas Dixon Shaped White America’s Racist Fantasies

On the literary and cinematic legacy of white supremacy in the United States.
by Joel Edward Goza via Literary Hub on September 23, 2024
Illustration of Frances Thompson, bordered by smoke from green candles, and a purple flower.

How a Disabled Black Trans Woman Left Her Mark on 19th-Century Memphis

For a brief moment in history, Frances Thompson was Memphis’ biggest scandal. Her life paints a different picture of our civil rights legacy.
by Justin A. Davis via The Emancipator on June 13, 2024
A Black female welder circa 1930s-1940s.

A Sweeping History of the Black Working Class

By focusing on the Black working class and its long history, Blair LM Kelley’s book, "Black Folk," helps tell the larger story of American democracy.
by Robert Greene II via The Nation on June 12, 2024
Nell Irvin Painter.

Nell Irvin Painter’s Chronicles of Freedom

A new career-spanning book offers a portrait of Painter’s career as a historian, essayist, and most recently visual artist.
by Elias Rodriques via The Nation on May 7, 2024
"Temple of Liberty" immigration policy cartoon

How the Federal Government Came to Control Immigration Policy and Why It Matters

The newly empowered federal state created during Reconstruction could restrict immigration much more comprehensively than any state—as Chinese laborers soon discovered.
by Kevin Kenny via Muster on April 2, 2024
Spectators and witnesses at the trial for a case involving an automobile accident, Oxford, North Carolina, 1939.

A ‘Wary Faith’ in the Courts

A groundbreaking new book demonstrates that even during the days of slavery, African Americans knew a lot more about legal principles than has been imagined.
by Eric Foner via New York Review of Books on March 14, 2024
Thaddeus Stevens

Why America Is Just Now Learning to Love Thaddeus Stevens, the 'Best-Hated Man' in U.S. History

The Pennsylvanian was one of America’s greatest heroes. Why hasn’t he gotten his due?
by Tracy Schorn via Smithsonian on November 30, 2023
Former U.S. President Donald Trump prepares to speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference CPAC held at the Hilton Anatole on Aug. 6, 2022 in Dallas.
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What Civil War History Says About Attempts to Use the Insurrection Clause to Keep Trump From Office

Debates about handling Confederates reveal that the 14th Amendment bars unrepentant insurrectionists from office.
by Elizabeth R. Varon via Made By History on November 15, 2023
U.S. Capitol building

Searching for the Perfect Republic

On the 14th amendment – and if it might stop Trump.
by Eric Foner, Ted Widmer via The Guardian on November 15, 2023
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