How Should Americans Remember Reconstruction? Some Opinions

[RobertZ]

Well I hate to drag anyone away from the latest slander-fest but this link to today's NY Times features several excellent opinion pieces, such as "Account For The Pillaging of African American Freedom", "The Functional Voting Rights Act", "Pay Tribute To The Black Women Who Spoke Out", and more. Great reading -

http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate...l-right-region

[soulster]

I'll have an opinion after I get time to read the piece.

[soulster]

I do find it quite interesting that this is one period in time that America does not talk much about. Except for the rise of the industrial age, inventions that revolutionized life, we somehow jump from the Civil War to the stock market crash or WWI, and don't talk about the triumphs and tragedies of Blacks in business, politics, or the labor movement. It's not in many history books. I don;t know about today, but we sure as hell didn't learn any of it when I was in school.

WE have Memorial Day to celebrate those who gave their lives in our nations wars, but not too many people realize that it is about the Civil war dead.

[RobertZ]

I do find it quite interesting that this is one period in time that America does not talk much about. Except for the rise of the industrial age, inventions that revolutionized life, we somehow jump from the Civil War to the stock market crash or WWI, and don't talk about the triumphs and tragedies of Blacks in business, politics, or the labor movement. It's not in many history books. I don;t know about today, but we sure as hell didn't learn any of it when I was in school.

WE have Memorial Day to celebrate those who gave their lives in our nations wars, but not too many people realize that it is about the Civil war dead.

Absolutely, and up until recently I have to include myself in the unaware crowd. I think we would be in agreeance that there's an "easy" reason the Reconstruction is ignored: It's much easier to teach "The Civil War ended, the slaves were freed, and all Americans lived happily every after" than the truth, which is that the end of the war and the nominal, legal ending of slavery [[great as that was) did not assist most African Americans in their day-to-day lives. Indeed [[as I know you know...) the Voting Rights Act took a mere 100 more years [[!) and I've been reading recently that segregated proms still exist in the south.

[RobertZ]

So I've read each of the brief pieces and can safely say ... "Wow". I'm embarrassed at how much I never knew about this period in American, and specifically African-American, history.