Radical Reconstruction

Thaddeus Stevens understood far better than most that fully uprooting slavery meant overthrowing the South’s economic system and challenging property rights.

Elections in the late 1860s gave birth to real, if short-lived, interracial democracy—the likes of which America had never seen.

Thaddeus Stevens was a fierce opponent of the “odious” compromises in the Constitution, and of the North’s compromises after the Civil War.

The world's eyes are upon America as it struggles with racism and inequality. This is nothing new.

The backstory to the backstory of America’s mythic promise.

A new three-part PBS documentary explores the failure of Reconstruction and the Redemption of the South.

Du Bois's "Black Reconstruction in America" showed that the black freedom struggle has always been one for radical democracy.

On this episode of BackStory, Brian sits down with Ed to talk about a project of his that’s been twenty-five years in the making.

In 1867, African-Americans in Virginia stood up for their new political rights in the face of threats from their white neighbors.

White supremacists have long used fear of losing essential rights in their arguments.

Americans should build this pivotal post–Civil War era into the new politics of historical memory.

The first revolution articulated American ideals. The second enacted them.

Take a deep dive into this drawing by famed illustrator Thomas Nast.

What she doesn't get about race and the Civil War.

During Reconstruction, elites used racist appeals to silence calls for redistribution and worker empowerment.

In northern Louisiana, white supremacists slaughtered 150 African Americans, brutally thwarting their hopes for autonomy and self-governance.

A new book argues that the American right emerged out of a backlash to multiracial democracy following the Civil War.

The importance of an unambiguous report that cannot be weaponized by Trump supporters.

Leading conservative pundits today are pounding themes that were popular among opponents of Reconstruction.

Law enforcement and the urban-rural divide.