a short history of reconstruction 1863 1877

The shameful Jim Crow period which followed lasted for nearly a century, until the Civil Rights movement in the 1960’s, and there are many elements of the struggle described here around racism and voter suppression that are still highly relevant in 2022. Scholarly, essential reading for the period of 1863-1877 in America, a time of extraordinary liberal progress, but which was met with inevitable backlash and thus an “unfinished revolution,” as author Eric Foner puts it. In short, an incredibly important and depressingly still timely read. I DON'T WANT TO HEAR ABOUT RACE EVER AGAIN.'Īhem. To get to a point where, rather than just taking a break to refill our cups, we say 'WE HAVE DONE ENOUGH. About the limited capacity of ALL OF US to stay engaged with a crisis long term.

About an entire political party that is all too willing to associate itself with a belief in the illegitimacy of government itself. About leaders who talk about 'very fine people' in crowds of violent white supremacists, refusing to denounce their violence. Of course all of it would be less painful to read if it didn't still have so much to say about today.

The folks in DC who got tired of hearing about the Klan every week, 'We passed the 15th amendment! They should vote themselves out of the problem!' It's really not just the fuckheads out there putting on the white hoods, but the Governors and legislators saying 'but look how much they (the KKK) do for their communities!' And the moderates saying the Enforcement laws were uncalled for, that the problems of the South should be fixed by the South. Especially toward the end when Republicans' best intentions started falling apart and shifted to hopelessness or victim blaming instead. Its only drawback is just that the period is SO DAMN DEPRESSING. This definitely felt like the definitive work on the subject that we were looking for - thorough but focused, careful and methodical.

A short history of reconstruction 1863 1877