Digital collection. Collections as data and machine learning project examining Jim Crow and racially-based legislation signed into law in North Carolina between Reconstruction and the Civil Rights Movement.
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During Reconstruction, Delaware’s Convention of Colored People gathered in Dover to discuss and demand state provisions to educate their children.
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Elias Thomson, an African American who lived in Spartanburg, South Carolina, bravely shared testimony detailing violence inflicted against him because he voted for the Republican ticket in the local election.
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Juneteenth — June 19th, also known as Emancipation Day — is one of the commemorations of people seizing their freedom from slavery in the United States. Yet, if the right wing has its way, it will be illegal to teach students about Juneteenth.
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Edward Alexander Bouchet graduated from Yale University as the sixth person to receive a Ph.D. in physics in the United States.
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Book — Non-fiction. By Kidada E. Williams. 2024. 384 pages.
An account of the brutal white supremacist violence and terror that formerly enslaved people were faced with during Reconstruction.
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Book — Non-fiction. By E. James West. 2022. 328 pages.
This biography examines the life of historian and activist Lerone Bennett Jr. and his influence on African American culture and history.
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This month we released a printed edition of our national report, Erasing the Black Freedom Struggle: How State Standards Fail to Teach the Truth About Reconstruction. Thanks to the generous support of a donor, we can mail copies of the report to teacher educators, state and school district policymakers, and staff at historical societies.
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Teaching Activity. By Mimi Eisen and Ursula Wolfe-Rocca. 47 pages.
A follow-up lesson to “Reconstructing the South,” using primary source documents to reveal key outcomes of the Reconstruction era.
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Book — Non-fiction. By Thulani Davis. 2022. 464 pages.
The author traces how people newly freed from bondage created political organizations and connections that mobilized communities across the South during Reconstruction, building on a long tradition of organizing against all odds.
Teaching Activity by Thulani Davis
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Teaching Activity. By Adam Sanchez. 2022. Rethinking Schools.
A lesson that help students understand, imagine, and celebrate the Reconstruction period as the first era of Black power in the United States.
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Eatonville, Florida is the oldest Black-incorporated municipality in the United States, incorporated toward the end of the Reconstruction era.
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Robert Williams and other Black grocers wrote a letter to the Florida Freedmen’s Bureau calling for an end to high taxes levied against them to support former Confederates.
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Princeville, North Carolina originated as a resettlement community for freed people and became the oldest incorporated city chartered by African Americans in the United States.
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One of the most prominent Black officeholders in Florida during the Reconstruction era, Jonathan Clarkson Gibbs held the positions of Secretary of State and Superintendent of Public Instruction.
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Article. By Ana Rosado, Gideon Cohn-Postar, and Mimi Eisen. 2022. 44 pages.
The report includes assessments of education standards in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, along with findings and recommendations for how to improve instruction on Reconstruction.
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Book — Non-fiction. By Erica Armstrong Dunbar, with Candace Buford. 2023. 288 pages.
A biography of Susie King Taylor, a nurse, teacher, and freedom fighter.
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Determined to prevent the development of the local forest, Londoners protested to “Save The Forest” in an early instance of mass organizing for land conservation.
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During his 33 years, Abraham Galloway accomplished more than most. An abolitionist, a freedom fighter, a spy, a politician, Galloway rose to prominence during the Civil War and Reconstruction, leaving a legacy of Black leadership and resistance to white supremacy and white violence.
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Book — Non-fiction. By Justene Hill Edwards. 2024. 336 pages.
Following the Civil War, tens of thousands of the formerly enslaved deposited millions of dollars into the Freedman’s Bank, but their trust was betrayed when the Freedman’s Bank collapsed within the decade.
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Picture book. By Shana Keller and illustrated by Laura Freeman. 2024. 40 pages.
Helps introduce young readers to the history of African American family members desperately trying to find their children, spouses, siblings, parents, and other loved ones during Reconstruction.
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Picture book. By Lesa Cline-Ransome, illustrated by James E. Ransome. 2024. 40 pages.
Shows how one enslaved man, secretly named Teach, helps others learn to read and write wherever he can.
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Book — Non-fiction. By Eve L. Ewing. 2025. 400 pages.
An examination of how the U.S. school system helps maintain racial inequality and social hierarchies.
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Hiram Revels was sworn into office as senator from Mississippi, becoming the first African American to serve in the U.S. Senate.
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W. E. B. Du Bois, sociologist, historian, Pan-Africanist, author, and editor, was one of the most important scholars of the 20th century.
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