Please take a moment to consider how your reading, this documentary and/or our class discussion explores how the Reconstruction Era was a failure of peace and a failure of community.
How does this knowledge of the Reconstruction Era challenge, affirm or change your understanding of American Culture/History, African American Culture/History or/and your community?
This documentary on the Reconstruction Era changed my understanding of American History. In history class the post civil war era is not something commonly discussed. It is as if we are meant to believe that after the abolishment of slavery and the civil war slaves were free to go about their lives as if slavery never existed. However, that was not the case. Now I see that this was a foolish thing to believe. Because slavery was so instilled in American history and culture, it was something that took years to stop. Prior to the abolishment of slavery, slavery was a fundamental part of the southern economy. After the civil war the south became poverty-stricken. White Southerners attempted to re-establish dominance through violence, intimidation and discrimination.
ReplyDeleteThis film affirms my understanding of African American history in that it reiterated and expressed the oppression that continued even after the Emancipation Proclamation was passed. However, my knowledge/view on American history as it pertains to the Reconstruction Era has completely shifted. I previously had little to no understanding of the extent of violence that plagued the nation after the Civil War. I gained a better understanding of the climate of the nation after war, which when I think about it, makes sense that there was still tension and unrest after the war between the Union and Confederate.
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