Awake

Reconstruction: The Second Civil War

I caught most of this documentary on PBS after I got home last night. I guess there's an "American Experience" series that PBS hosts and this was a special on the Reconstruction period, the 14 years or so following the civil war, 1863-1877. It was a very interesting look at the Reconstruction.

I was left with a distinctly different impression of that time period than I remember having when I learned about it in history classes in school. And the funny thing about that old impression I had, was that it was not an uncommon impression at all. In fact, the widespread notion that Reconstruction was a big mistake, that African-Americans weren't ready for their newfound freedom was a feeling that was generated deliberately by the politics of the day and even decades later as people sought to even reconstruct the actual history of the Reconstruction. As pointed out in this documentary, the Reconstruction was a relatively short period of time which birthed the first civil rights legislation that America had known. This first civil rights legislative movement was confronted by domestic terrorism, vigilante violence, public calls for assassinations, and the repeal of any civil rights legislation that had been entered into law in that decade following the Civil War. It would be another 100 years in what was actually the second Civil Rights movement for any civil rights legislation to stick in the law books and actually see enforcement in all the States.

It looks like it was only showing for 2 days but they (of course) have a companion Web site set up for the special and I encourage you to take a look.

American Experience | Reconstruction: The Second Civil War | PBS

Happy learning!