Five myths about Reconstruction

America is about to celebrate the 100th anniversary of reconstruction. It is an era when African Americans enjoyed full citizenship and political rights during a short period of time after the civil war. Because African Americans (of which 200 thousand) participated in the war, it was difficult for them to deny the right of equality. However, unlike the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, few historical sites tell us what happened during the restoration. They can do: There is a history of rebuilding in every house in the plantation, which is often attractive, but these heritage was frozen until about 1859. They talk about elegance and strength, and rebuilding is an era when power is challenged. In addition, as W. E. B. Dubois 80 years ago mentioned in "Rebuilding the Negro", "You can not learn to rebuild without the frankness of the fact that you are generally lying." Here are five common errors that Americans can still say themselves during this formation.

From 1890 to 1940, when world events and immigration began to reform the national racial discrimination and racial discrimination, this view became a major part of public opinion. Meanwhile, historians see it as the low point of racial relations, whites Americans become incredible.

Reconstruction is an important turning point in American history - the period of democratic commitment. But the defeated White Elite terror prevented them from seeking to stick to the southern "yes". The story of the missing reconstruction is extraordinary experiments at the grassroots level multiethnic democracy at the present time - land reform, public school, expanded voting rights, and a more equal level. In order to teach the more comprehensive history of reconstruction, we shared James Loewen's article "5 myths on reconstruction" and then shared Bill Bigelow's course "Rebuild South: Role Play". If you have used this course, we would like to hear from you. We will send you a brief history of the reconstruction free of charge.

As I taught more and discussed more topics on this topic with students, I clearly understood that rebuilding has been concealed in the "myths" of the 21st century. These are not exactly the same as the myths produced by Dunning School which began around 1900, but the idea of ​​Deng Ning style incorporates the vague civil rights belief that failure of reconstruction is to sigh I will. "Civil war is a dramatic and radical moment in the history of the American, this is the idealistic era when American democracy is tried, conserved and expanded.In contrast, reconstruction is far away This is a moment of compromise: The era of pragmatism This is a striking strike and the time when the injured labor union is tethered. "