American Experience - Reconstruction: The Second Civil War

What one would expect from PBS one gets, i. e., a "balanced" view that understands the trauma of yes the white folks too, their properties devastated, their power eviscerated, their resentments as real as anyone else's. It also shows that "Black Republican" control (metaphorically and literally) was actually, in many ways, the most uh "progressive" political agenda until the New Deal of the 1930s: free schools (public schools at all, in some southern states, for white or black), public aid for the indigent, free medical care, voting rights.Not everything worked out well, but then it never does, no matter what "race" is in charge; but there was a definite attempt to "recover" the South and "integrate" the former slaves into it. There was just too much bitterness on the southern white side -- plus fears of "racial mixing" and yes of "racial revenge."There's a descendant of one B. W. Marston, a Louisiana planter and likely murderer of a northern "carpetbagger" (who was really attempting to become a "new southerner" and had married into a local planter family) who seems initially "even handed" about assessing his family's past, but in his final comments it becomes quite clear he supports everything his great grandfather did in order to reclaim racial and political control. James Marston's young face takes on a dark glint and his eyes brighten as he says his ancestor "did what he had to do."Don't know much about Reconstruction? This is a fine way to learn without hefting some great big book. If this vital era in US history interests you at all (and it should, particularly today) this PBS "American Experience" episode is a very good place to start -- or "end," as you'll learn a lot...

This was an outstanding film. I was amazed to find that many of the reviewers knew very little about African-American history. At the age of nine I rebuffed a statement by my fourth grade teacher who told me to shut up and sit down. From that time on (1949) I realized I wasn't going to get much of an education in the New York public schools. I have been studying African-American and Third World History eversince -- which is about 64 years. I can only say that in most public schools, ignorance abounds. Anyone who can with a straight face say that Lincoln really cared about the fate of the Negro, doesn't know his/her history. Lincoln said that if he could preserve the Union without freeing the slaves, he would. That is quite a statement for a man whose mother was a Melungeon (a free woman of color--black. Check out the DVD "Hidden Colors") I am always tempted to burst out, either into tears or laughter when I see people standing beneath Lincoln's statue as if he cared what happened to slaves. The North/South fought each other to preserve their financial interests. To make matters worse, slavery continued after 1865 for another 80 years, using the penal system (it still does in some states) Let's get real here.Any thinking person would buy this film, review it and also purchase the DVD, "Slavery by Another name," and shake awake their neurons because they are obviously fast asleep. After 64 years of research, living abroad 30 of them, conducting observations and interviews with colonized people in the Third World (Africa, Australia and many other countries where there are indigenous people of color, I returned to America in 1993 and wondered when everyone had fallen asleep or whether there was something in the water. In 1963 when I left, people were well aware of their history. Today they all seem to be in 'fairy floss' land. Get the films, get the books, get cracking!!!Bonita Evans, Ph.D.

A very interesting presentation on a very dark chapter in our nation's history. It covers the period of US history from the end of the Civil War up until approximately the 1880's, when the Northern-supported Republican state governments in the former Confederate states were gradually replaced with white Democratic governments. It is surprisingly even-handed in its treatment of the hypocrisy that existed on both sides. For instance, while the Northern states were insisting on full voting rights for African-Americans in the South, only a few of them allowed blacks in their states the same privileges. It was effective also in presenting the impacts of Reconstruction on the lives of ordinary people, by profiling several of them (both black and white). Unfortunately, some of the emotions that were stirred up during this period still persist. In New Orleans, near where I live, there was a recent interest in removing or at least downgrading the monuments and street names based on Confederate leaders such as Robert E. Lee. The city found that they would have to keep the identities of companies that were bidding to do the work secret, because some of them were receiving death threats! I can definitely recommend this to anyone with an interest in American history.

Like it for teaching the next generation history.

This is a very informative documentary, I would very much recommend buying this!!! Harold Cooper 06/05/2022

Reconstruction was a hard and sorrowful piece of history. This film is about a Great Betrayal and the enormous failure of good will and justice. It is naturally hard to watch and hard to bear, but is an excellent piece of work and important.. So much hope for justice and peace and the triumph of American Idealism, and such defeat, cruelty, injustice, and pain in the end! It's almost unbearable to watch the quick dissolution of all the good hopes of the Abolitionists, of all the good intentions. Black Citizens set about building their own farms and being part of American society, gathering family members together and struggling for the education that they had been denied. But all of their works and efforts were thwarted by corrupt politicians and former Confederates who had not really stopped fighting the Civil War. U.S. Grant tried to keep the peace and support justice for Black Americans, but he realized that the country was not with him, and that the only way to assure civil rights for Black Americans was to keep an army of occupation in the South. Neither North nor South was prepared to go that route, and so a hundred years of struggle for justice began. It's a painful piece of history, but a very important part to know. If you are interested in the stories of monuments to Civil War generals and soldiers, this film will clarify the issues.

The Show Reconstruction shows why black people's hope for freedom after the Civil War were dashed and continued to suffer from oppression for more than a century.

Great Story !!

good stuff would recommend it