Episode 2: Black Reconstruction with Nathan Ryan and Debbie Southorn

This book challenges the traditional academic views of the Reconstruction era, particularly those of the Dunning School, by highlighting the significant roles and agency of African Americans during this period. Du Bois argues that the actions of freed slaves and black workers were crucial in the Civil War and the subsequent attempt to reconstruct American society. He also examines the efforts of the elite planter class to retain control and the division among the Southern working class along racial lines, which ultimately led to the disfranchisement of many blacks and poor whites.