Malcolm Gladwell is the host of a new podcast series on Reconstruction. Called Reconstruction: The Unfinished Promise, the podcast explores Reconstruction in short episodes. If you have listened to Gladwell’s other efforts, he combines expert historical opinion with modern sound effects and voice overs by actors recreating scenes from the story.
The first episode (which is called Episode 2 on Apple Podcasts) starts with the end of the Civil War and the actions of three men. One is Frederick Douglass organizing former slaves to struggle for citizenship. The next is Andrew Johnson, newly empowered as president who is fixed on punishing Blacks for calling for recognition. The third is Carl Schurz, the German revolutionary who is sent to the South to report on race relations for President Johnson.
Gladwell says no one remembers Carl Schurz, but I am sure my readers do!
Gladwell uses two expert historians on this journey to 1865, David Blight, one of the premier historians on the Civil War and Reconstruction, and Manisha Sinha whose recent book on Reconstruction drew attention back to the subject.
There is also a short “Prologue” with former President Barack Obama:
Follow Reconstruction Blog on Social Media: