Posted in Civil Rights Acts

1866 Civil Rights Act Deep Dive: The Citizenship Clause Established that Those Born in U.S. Are Citizens

This week I am taking a close look at the 1866 Civil Rights Act. This was our first Federal civil rights act barring many forms…

Continue Reading 1866 Civil Rights Act Deep Dive: The Citizenship Clause Established that Those Born in U.S. Are Citizens
Posted in Native Americans

Reconstruction of Native Americans After the Civil War

Alexandra Stern is a doctoral candidate in American History at Stanford University doing research on Native Americans during the Civil War and Reconstruction. She is…

Continue Reading Reconstruction of Native Americans After the Civil War
Posted in End of War

The Grand Review of the Union Army at the End of the Civil War

A friendly librarian, Edana from Patchogue on Long Island, sent me along this page from the Library of Congress on the Grand Review in Washington…

Continue Reading The Grand Review of the Union Army at the End of the Civil War
Posted in Civil Rights Acts

Why the Civil Rights Act of 1866 is a Big Deal

On March 13, 1866 the House of Representatives passed the First Civil Rights bill. It had been passed by the Senate in February. Imagine that….

Continue Reading Why the Civil Rights Act of 1866 is a Big Deal
Posted in Ku Klux Klan Videos White Supremacy

Video Lecture: The Rise of the Southern Conservative Response to Reconstruction and the Klu Klux Klan

Professor Robert Kenzer of the University of Richmond gives a lecture on the “rise of the Southern conservative response and the Klu Klux Klan.” Very…

Continue Reading Video Lecture: The Rise of the Southern Conservative Response to Reconstruction and the Klu Klux Klan
Posted in Reparations Videos

Calls for Reparative Justice for Slavery Began Soon After the End of the Civil War

The hearing this week in the House of Representatives on reparations for slavery was perhaps the most widely reported on event of the Reconstruction Sesquicentenial….

Continue Reading Calls for Reparative Justice for Slavery Began Soon After the End of the Civil War
Posted in Freedmen's Bureau

Documenting the Start of the Freedmen’s Bureau: “An Act to establish a Bureau…”

Although black refugees began arriving in Union camps as early as the summer of 1861 and Emancipation for 3/4 of all slaves had been declared…

Continue Reading Documenting the Start of the Freedmen’s Bureau: “An Act to establish a Bureau…”
Posted in Memory of Reconstruction Videos

Video Lectures: “The Road from Appomattox: Political Violence, Military Conflict, and National Reunion”

On February 20, 2016 the Library of Virginia hosted The Road From Appomattox Symposium. C-SPAN posted some of the lectures, so I thought a post…

Continue Reading Video Lectures: “The Road from Appomattox: Political Violence, Military Conflict, and National Reunion”
Posted in Andrew Johnson

When Pres. Johnson Ended the Civil War in 1866 He Began a New War With the Radical Republicans

You may believe that the Civil War ended in 1865 at Appomattox, but not according to Andrew Johnson. On April 2, 1866 Andrew Johnson issued…

Continue Reading When Pres. Johnson Ended the Civil War in 1866 He Began a New War With the Radical Republicans
Posted in Videos

Videos on Reconstruction from Facing History and Ourselves

Facing History and Ourselves offers a free series of seven 15 minute videos focusing on Reconstruction. You can visit the website here: https://www.facinghistory.org/reconstruction-era/video-series The first…

Continue Reading Videos on Reconstruction from Facing History and Ourselves