Reconstruction

The 1868 presidential election through the eyes of a Southern white woman.

During Reconstruction, true citizenship finally seemed in reach for black Americans. Then their dreams were dismantled.

The ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment marked a turning point in U.S. history. Yet 150 years later, its promises remain unfulfilled.

Lies about history long protected lynching.

The new Slate Academy finds the seeds of our present politics in the period after the Civil War.

How the classic film helped promote a Reconstruction myth that was central to the maintenance of Jim Crow.

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

This online forum sponsored by the Journal of the Civil War Era features 9 essays and a roundtable on the future of Reconstruction Studies.

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

Black power, and the causes it supports, began long before the official Black Power movement.

Two historians weigh in on President Obama's move to designate a national monument to Reconstruction in South Carolina.

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

The National Parks Service, which preserves many Civil War sites, is finally looking for a way to mark the struggles that defined its legacy.

The two men met at Appomattox. The loser would become a role model, the victor an embarrassment.

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.

“No sooner had Northern armies touched Southern soil than this old question, newly guised, sprang from the earth: What shall be done with slaves?”

An 1866 essay presents Andrew Johnson as "the virtual leader of the Southern reactionary party."

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.

The Pennsylvanian was one of America’s greatest heroes. Why hasn’t he gotten his due?

Debates about handling Confederates reveal that the 14th Amendment bars unrepentant insurrectionists from office.