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….
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…
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….
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…
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…
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…
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…
Resource: Bios of Virginia’s Black Reconstruction Era Legislators
A new database of Black Legislators from Reconstruction Era Virginia is available. You can read about it here. You can find short bios of the…
Video: Professor Jonathan Holloway of Yale University on African Americans from Emancipation to Reconstruction
Over the coming months I hope to give you access to video talks on Reconstruction by some of the experts in the field. If you…
Kommemorating the Klan’s Birthplace With a Backwards Plaque in Pulaski, Tn,
Six Confederate veterans created the Ku Klux Klan on December 24, 1865, in Pulaski, Tennessee. Or maybe they didn’t. Much about the early months of…