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HIST 119: The Civil War and Reconstruction Era, 1845-1877

Lecture 23 - Black Reconstruction in the South: The Freedpeople
and the Economics of Land and Labor
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Overview:

Professor Blight begins this lecture in Washington, where the passage of the first Reconstruction Act by Congressional Republicans radically altered the direction of Reconstruction. The Act invalidated the reconstituted Southern legislatures, establishing five military districts in the South and insisting upon black suffrage as a condition to readmission. The eventful year 1868 saw the impeachment of one president (Andrew Johnson) and the election of another (Ulysses S. Grant). Meanwhile, southern African Americans struggle to reap the promises of freedom in the face of economic disempowerment and a committed campaign of white supremacist violence.

Reading assignment:

Eric Foner, A Short History of Reconstruction, 1863-1877, chapters 5-10, pp. 82-216

William Gienapp, Civil War and Reconstruction: A Documentary Collection, part 3, pp. 317-376

Class lecture:

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