TOPIC 3.4: The Defeat (?) of Reconstruction

“Long Reconstruction”

LO 3.5.A Explain how the introduction of Jim Crow laws impacted African Americans after Reconstruction.

The official Reconstruction timeline usually ends in 1877. But this implies that the Reconstructionist vision of American democracy ceased to exist, or went dormant, without the backing of federal troops. Instead, we should consider a long Reconstruction—one that stretches well beyond 1877…This view allows us to follow the travails of the Black activists and ordinary citizens who kept the struggle for freedom and dignity alive…the work of Reconstruction never ended, because the goal of a multiracial democracy has never been fully realized. - Historian Dr. Peniel E. Joseph

Objectives: 

1. Students will be able to identify the claim of a secondary source.

2. Students will be able to explain that despite the end of federal support for Reconstruction, Black American activists and organization continued to fight for the success of multiracial democracy.

NOTES

After the conclusion of topics 3.1-3.4, an era of revolutionary advances in the Black liberation struggle, topic 3.5 shifts students into the era that historian Rayford Logan called “the Nadir” as the Plessy decision undercut the legal foundations for Black citizenship rights. However, Dr. Peniel Joseph’s essay is a great secondary source read to remind students that a nation can be two things at once. Dr. Joseph writes that “After 1877, freedom and repression journeyed along parallel paths. Black Americans preserved a vision of a truly free nation in an archipelago of communities and institutions.” Even though national political focus shifted elsewhere, and even though Black liberation fighters lost the support of northern Republicans, the work of Reconstruction was continuing all along, as Black communities continued to organize, resist, and continue the struggle for economic, social, and political liberation.

This is great source to review skills, content, and also introduce them to the important work of Dr. Joseph. I came across this essay through my work with the Zinn Education Project. We are in the process of creating a three day lesson on Reconstruction that will be available soon. Dr. Joseph’s essay was featured in the December 2023 issue of The Atlantic. The entire issue was focused on Reconstruction and I highly recommend getting a copy.