I’ve read extensively about Reconstruction over the years, but I still find this period in American history difficult to wrap my head around and even more challenging to teach.
What are one or two things about the history of Reconstruction that you would like to better understand or that you find confusing?
I don't think this is your area of interest, Kevin, but can you recommend someone who discusses how and why the Lost Cause narrative pretty much took over the perception of Reconstruction in popular culture? I have the impression Gone With the Wind set the dominant view.
When I first started studying Reconstruction in 2003, Daniel R. Weinfeld told me that I had to look at Reconstruction in each state undergoing the process. Because states were released from Federal oversight at different times, and each state had its own internal disputes over Reconstruction I found that valuable advice, but also one that created a huge additional research burden.
He is absolutely right. Researching and writing about William Mahone and the Readjusters in Virginia forced me to rethink everything I thought I knew about the history of Reconstruction.
Discuss what caused Republicans to abandon Reconstruction. Also discuss Southerners that were sympathetic and supportive of Reconstruction like Gen. Longstreet
Historian Elizabeth Varon is working on a biography about James Longstreet, but I highly recommend this presentation that directly addresses your question.
Your other question about Republicans and Reconstruction is very difficult to address in the form of a comment. A great place to start is Eric Foner's book, A SHORT HISTORY OF RECONSTRUCTION.
I agree that Reconstruction was for too long taught as a tragic era with discourse taken directly from Lost Cause accounts: Northerners labeled carpetbaggers and white southerners who cooperated with them scalawags, ie, traitors to the southern cause. I used to use the transcripts of the KKK hearings in class.
Hi Jane. Thanks for the comment. Indeed, the transcripts from the hearings make for some harrowing reading and are ideal for classroom use to illustrate the violence that took place during Reconstruction.
Gosh, this is slightly ahead of the Reconstruction Era, but here goes: After reading Carl Schurz"s "Report on the Condition of the South" and his first hand account of what he saw, many Black bodies floating down rivers, Black bodies laying on the side of roads and then reading first hand accounts of ex-slaves of Blacks being murdered rather than set free --- I believe there was an attempt of genocide against Blacks and not in an abstract way. I believe the average person suspects large scale murders of Blacks during that period, but I really think that it was attempted genocide, maybe not planned or thought out, but genocide non-the-less. Why aren't there books on this?
Thousands of African Americans were murdered in the postwar period, but I think we need to be very careful about applying terms like "genocide" to describe what took place and why. There is an extensive body of scholarship on Reconstruction violence. A great place to start in Stephen V. Ash's book A MASSACRE IN MEMPHIS.
Just to be clear, I don't mean to minimize the violence that took place, but referring to it as genocide won't get us very far to understanding this difficult history. Thanks, Gary.
Also I'd recommend Kidada William's They Gave Left Great Marks Upon Me for an examination of violence against Black citizens during Reconstruction and just after.
I want the students to better understand the unbelievable achievements of the black community in building churches and schools, increasing literacy, building a university network, and struggling to vote. American heroes and those stories are important to share.
Hi Marc. Great to hear from you. I completely agree. As you well know, the history of Reconstruction was long taught as a "tragic era" for white Americans. African Americans were supposedly unprepared for freedom and especially for taking on the responsibilities of citizenship. Movies like "Birth of a Nation" and even scholarly books portrayed Black politicians as corrupt and lazy.
In addition, there is the violence of the period that is absolutely essential to teach, but often overshadows the achievements of African Americans along the lines that you reference above.
I don't think this is your area of interest, Kevin, but can you recommend someone who discusses how and why the Lost Cause narrative pretty much took over the perception of Reconstruction in popular culture? I have the impression Gone With the Wind set the dominant view.
Bruce E. Baker's book WHAT RECONSTRUCTION MEANT is definitely worth reading.
https://www.upress.virginia.edu/title/1488
When I first started studying Reconstruction in 2003, Daniel R. Weinfeld told me that I had to look at Reconstruction in each state undergoing the process. Because states were released from Federal oversight at different times, and each state had its own internal disputes over Reconstruction I found that valuable advice, but also one that created a huge additional research burden.
He is absolutely right. Researching and writing about William Mahone and the Readjusters in Virginia forced me to rethink everything I thought I knew about the history of Reconstruction.
Discuss what caused Republicans to abandon Reconstruction. Also discuss Southerners that were sympathetic and supportive of Reconstruction like Gen. Longstreet
Historian Elizabeth Varon is working on a biography about James Longstreet, but I highly recommend this presentation that directly addresses your question.
https://www.c-span.org/video/?443263-2/james-longstreet-reconstruction
Your other question about Republicans and Reconstruction is very difficult to address in the form of a comment. A great place to start is Eric Foner's book, A SHORT HISTORY OF RECONSTRUCTION.
https://www.amazon.com/History-Reconstruction-Updated-Perennial-Classics/dp/0062370863/ref=pd_lpo_3?pd_rd_i=0062370863&psc=1
A Longstreet biography from that author is one I look forward to reading! Thanks for that news.
I agree that Reconstruction was for too long taught as a tragic era with discourse taken directly from Lost Cause accounts: Northerners labeled carpetbaggers and white southerners who cooperated with them scalawags, ie, traitors to the southern cause. I used to use the transcripts of the KKK hearings in class.
Hi Jane. Thanks for the comment. Indeed, the transcripts from the hearings make for some harrowing reading and are ideal for classroom use to illustrate the violence that took place during Reconstruction.
http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/metabook?id=insurrection1872
Gosh, this is slightly ahead of the Reconstruction Era, but here goes: After reading Carl Schurz"s "Report on the Condition of the South" and his first hand account of what he saw, many Black bodies floating down rivers, Black bodies laying on the side of roads and then reading first hand accounts of ex-slaves of Blacks being murdered rather than set free --- I believe there was an attempt of genocide against Blacks and not in an abstract way. I believe the average person suspects large scale murders of Blacks during that period, but I really think that it was attempted genocide, maybe not planned or thought out, but genocide non-the-less. Why aren't there books on this?
Thousands of African Americans were murdered in the postwar period, but I think we need to be very careful about applying terms like "genocide" to describe what took place and why. There is an extensive body of scholarship on Reconstruction violence. A great place to start in Stephen V. Ash's book A MASSACRE IN MEMPHIS.
https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780809068302/amassacreinmemphis
A more challenging study is Hannah Rosen's book TERROR IN THE HEART OF FREEDOM.
https://uncpress.org/book/9780807858820/terror-in-the-heart-of-freedom/
Thanks, I'll try to calm my thoughts regarding the word "genocide". But still..........
Just to be clear, I don't mean to minimize the violence that took place, but referring to it as genocide won't get us very far to understanding this difficult history. Thanks, Gary.
Also I'd recommend Kidada William's They Gave Left Great Marks Upon Me for an examination of violence against Black citizens during Reconstruction and just after.
Just ordered it on amazon --- thanks!
Thanks, Chris. I need to check this out.
https://nyupress.org/9780814795361/they-left-great-marks-on-me/
I want the students to better understand the unbelievable achievements of the black community in building churches and schools, increasing literacy, building a university network, and struggling to vote. American heroes and those stories are important to share.
Yes, including the many who were elected to political office.
Hi Marc. Great to hear from you. I completely agree. As you well know, the history of Reconstruction was long taught as a "tragic era" for white Americans. African Americans were supposedly unprepared for freedom and especially for taking on the responsibilities of citizenship. Movies like "Birth of a Nation" and even scholarly books portrayed Black politicians as corrupt and lazy.
In addition, there is the violence of the period that is absolutely essential to teach, but often overshadows the achievements of African Americans along the lines that you reference above.