![]() ![]() We learned little to nothing about the Reconstruction Amendments, the Freedman’s Bureau, and the racial violence that plagued the country for nearly 100 years following the Civil War.įor many of us, the reason the story ends there is because America is still uncomfortable with its past, and that includes discussing Reconstruction. For most of us, that is where the story ended. Many Americans are taught in grade school that the Union Army won the Civil War and President Abraham Lincoln ended slavery. In light of the events that have unfolded over this past weekend, I find myself wondering now more than ever, what would have happened if Reconstruction didn’t fail? Or, I should say, if the United States did not fail African Americans? If Reconstruction succeeded, if African Americans were granted rights deserved to them as human beings, if the United States would have held up their end of the bargain-would we still experience racial violence at the alarming numbers we do today? Would, in the midst of a global pandemic, we still turn on the TV and see yet another unarmed African American killed at the hands of the police? What If It Had Succeeded?Īs a white public historian who has spent years trying to understand what makes people hate, there is one thing I always go back to: what if Reconstruction succeeded in the United States? ![]() OPINION: Reconstruction Failed in the United States.
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