May 21, 1881: Blanche K. Bruce Became Register of the Treasury
Blanche K. Bruce became Register of the Treasury, which placed his name on all U.S. currency.
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Period: 1877–1899
Industrial Revolution: 1877 – 1899
June 7, 1892: Homer Plessy Arrested for Violating Louisiana’s Separate Car Act
Homer Plessy was arrested for violating Louisiana’s Separate Car Act.
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July 6, 1892: Homestead Strike
Spies from the Pinkerton Detective Agency and striking steelworkers engaged in a major battle as part of the Homestead Strike.
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July 22, 1877: St. Louis Rail Strike
Rail workers and residents of St. Louis, Missouri briefly took over the city as part of the wider Great Railroad Strike of 1877.
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Aug. 5, 1896: Polk County Massacre
White workers murdered Black workers in Arkansas who were coming to work on the railways.
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Sept. 2, 1885: Rock Springs Massacre
White coal miners in Rock Springs, Wyoming, brutally attacked Chinese workers.
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Nov. 14, 1889: Nellie Bly Embarks on Travel Around the World
Pioneering journalist Nellie Bly began a successful attempt to travel around the world in less than 80 days.
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Jan. 30, 1884: Couple Reunited During Reconstruction
During the Reconstruction Era, people emancipated from slavery searched for their loved ones throughout the United States and Canada. They often used "last seen" ads. This is one case of successful reunification.
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Dark Sky Rising: Reconstruction and the Dawn of Jim Crow
Book — Non-fiction. By Henry Louis Gates Jr. with Tonya Bolden. 2019. 240 pages.
Readers trace the rise and fall of racial equity during Reconstruction as increasingly violent white supremacy and new forms of oppression take hold at the turn of the 20th century.
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Readers trace the rise and fall of racial equity during Reconstruction as increasingly violent white supremacy and new forms of oppression take hold at the turn of the 20th century.
April 9, 1898: Paul Robeson Born
Paul Robeson was one of the most important figures of the 20th century. He was a “renaissance man” — an acclaimed athlete, actor, singer, cultural scholar, author, lawyer, and internationally-renowned political activist.
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The Untold History of the United States: Young Readers Editions, Vols 1 (1898-1945) & 2 (1945-1962)
Book — Non-fiction. By Oliver Stone and Peter Kuznick. Adapted by Susan Campbell Bartoletti and Eric S. Singer. Vol 1. 2014. 400 pages. Vol 2. 2019. 320 pages.
These are two volumes of illustrated histories, adapted for students from a documentary book and film of the same name.
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These are two volumes of illustrated histories, adapted for students from a documentary book and film of the same name.
Carter Reads the Newspaper
Picture book. By Deborah Hopkinson. Illustrated by Don Tate. 2019. 36 pages.
This picture book chronicles the young life of Dr. Carter G. Woodson, an Appalachian-born Harvard scholar and advocate for African American history. He founded Negro History Week in 1926 (which grew into Black History Month), the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), and the Journal of Negro History.
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This picture book chronicles the young life of Dr. Carter G. Woodson, an Appalachian-born Harvard scholar and advocate for African American history. He founded Negro History Week in 1926 (which grew into Black History Month), the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), and the Journal of Negro History.
Feb. 22, 1898: White Mob Lynches Frazier Baker and Daughter Julia
Frazier Baker, first Black postmaster in South Carolina, and his baby daughter were shot and killed when they attempted to flee their burning home.
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July 4, 1876: Suffragists Crash Centennial Celebration at Independence Hall
Members of the National Woman Suffrage Association crashed the Centennial Celebration at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to present the “Declaration of the Rights of Women.”
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Monumental: Oscar Dunn and His Radical Fight in Reconstruction Louisiana
Book — Non-fiction. By Brian K. Mitchell, Barrington S. Edwards, and Nick Weldon. 2021. 256 pages.
This Reconstruction history graphic novel tells the story of Oscar James Dunn, a New Orleanian who became the first Black lieutenant governor and acting governor in the United States.
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This Reconstruction history graphic novel tells the story of Oscar James Dunn, a New Orleanian who became the first Black lieutenant governor and acting governor in the United States.
To ‘Joy My Freedom: Southern Black Women’s Lives and Labors After the Civil War
Book — Non-fiction. By Tera W. Hunter. 1998.
An examination of post-Civil War lives of African American women, focusing on their labor organizing, leisure, hope, and struggle.
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An examination of post-Civil War lives of African American women, focusing on their labor organizing, leisure, hope, and struggle.
July 19, 1881: Atlanta Washerwomen’s Strike
Black women in Atlanta who washed clothes for a living organized an effective Reconstruction era strike — with clear demands, strategic timing, and door-to-door canvassing.
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When Black Lives Mattered: Why Teach Reconstruction
By Adam Sanchez
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Every day seems to bring new horrors as the U.S. president’s racist rhetoric and policies have provided an increasingly encouraging environment for attacks on Black people and other communities of color. The acquittal of yet another police officer accused of murdering a Black man in St. Louis, the raging battle across the country over whether symbols of slavery should be removed from public spaces, and the formation of a “Commission on Election Integrity” to further suppress voting by people of color are just a few of the recent reminders that racism is as American as apple pie. In moments like these, it’s worth remembering a time in U.S. history when Black lives mattered.
Black Reconstruction in America
Book — Non-fiction. By W. E. B. Du Bois. Edited by Eric Foner and Henry Louis Gates. 2021. 1097 pages.
Originally published in 1935, Du Bois’ Black Reconstruction was the first book to challenge the prevailing racist historical narrative of the era and in sharp, incisive prose, tell the story of the Civil War and Reconstruction from the perspective of African Americans.
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Originally published in 1935, Du Bois’ Black Reconstruction was the first book to challenge the prevailing racist historical narrative of the era and in sharp, incisive prose, tell the story of the Civil War and Reconstruction from the perspective of African Americans.
House of Purple Cedar
Book — Fiction. By Tim Tingle. 2014. 326 pages.
A young girl's story of growing up in Indian Territory in pre-statehood Oklahoma.
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A young girl's story of growing up in Indian Territory in pre-statehood Oklahoma.
Nov. 1, 1890: Mississippi Constitution
Mississippi adopted a state constitution with poll tax and literacy tests to roll back the gains of the Reconstruction era.
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Nov. 8, 1892: Massive Labor Strike in New Orleans
Thirty thousand factory and dock workers staged the 1892 New Orleans general strike.
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Gangsters of Capitalism: Smedley Butler, the Marines, and the Making and Breaking of America’s Empire
Book — Non-fiction. By Jonathan M. Katz. 2022. 432 pages.
This book traces a path from the first wave of U.S. overseas expansionism to the rise of fascism in the 1930s to the crises of democracy in our own time.
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This book traces a path from the first wave of U.S. overseas expansionism to the rise of fascism in the 1930s to the crises of democracy in our own time.
Dec. 1, 1865: Shaw University Established
Shaw University was established as a co-ed campus with support from private donors and the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands. It is the second oldest HBCU in the South.
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