The Importance of the Reconstruction Period in American History

An Overlooked Era that Recontextualizes the Modern Black Struggle in America

Abstract

In America, the two main Black historical events taught in schools are the Civil War and the emancipation of slaves (1861-1865) and the Civil Rights Movement, Jim Crow, and Black activism (1954-1969). Both events are connected by the Black fight for freedom and equality in the face of white supremacy, racism, and disenfranchisement. However, they are often taught as isolated events, which creates a false perspective that Black activism and discriminatory laws like Jim Crow started in the 1950s, when in reality, by studying the period after slavery, the Reconstruction period, we can see how the creation of both started immediately after slavery ended. This recontextualizes how long the Black struggle for equality has been in America by showing that Jim Crow and the Black activist movement had been happening for decades before the Civil Rights Movement. Understanding how the Reconstruction era contributed to the creation of the Black activism community and discriminatory laws and practices like Jim Crow also makes it easier to identify their iterations in the present day. Knowledge of Reconstruction leads to a more complete understanding of U.S. history and the African American struggle for equality by showing that Black activism and injustices against Black people have never been confined to a singular historical moment, while allowing the themes of Emancipation and the Civil Rights Movement to be connected to paint a fuller picture of the longevity of the fight for equality; making it an incredibly important time period in American history that is criminally overlooked.