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Reconstruction: America After the Civil War
Reconstruction | Hour 2 Preview
Post-Civil War America was a new world. For African Americans living in the former Confederacy, Reconstruction was what historian W. E. B. Du Bois once described as their “brief moment in the sun.” But support for the social, economic, and political gains they achieved didn’t last long. A controversial presidential election in 1876 deals Reconstruction a grievous blow.
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55:28
Racist imagery saturated popular culture and Southern propaganda manipulated the story.
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55:53
The aftermath of the Civil War was bewildering, exhilarating . . . and terrifying.