Eric Foner’s “A Short History of Reconstruction” is an updated, abridged edition of “Reconstruction: America’s Unfinished Revolution.” This book redefines how the Reconstruction Era is viewed, in ways historians have not done before. Foner chronologically starts with the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 to validate his statement that “Reconstruction was not only a specific time period, but also the beginning of an extended historical process: the adjustment of American society to the end of slavery.” Starting his novel with this allows him to stress “the Proclamation’s importance in uniting…grass-roots black activity and the newly empowered national state” and state that this period is the beginning of “the adjustment of American society to
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He gives us an exquisitely multifaceted and grand mixture of primary sources and a dialogue that recreates the predominant aims and failures of Reconstruction. I learned so much on the topic of Reconstruction, just from this well-written book. The significance of Foner’s “A Short History of Reconstruction” is that it showed people all sides of the Reconstruction Era. It showed that past historians were biased in their reviews of it. He provided us with not only detailed facts, but also primary sources and evidence to back up all claims he made of the era. It’s important to know how the African American people struggled, and how Reconstruction actually failed.
Slavery, Reconstruction, and the Jim Crowe eras still have a huge effect on people today. Racism is a still a modern day problem, and these eras are still studied every day. I think it is important to continue research and help people understand the hate that existed and what African American people went through. I think there should be more studies on who began the change for the African American people. Did people always feel sympathy for them? Were there movements before they were free? Who was the first to acknowledge that there was a problem? I feel as though this isn’t discussed
He gives us an exquisitely multifaceted and grand mixture of primary sources and a dialogue that recreates the predominant aims and failures of Reconstruction. I learned so much on the topic of Reconstruction, just from this well-written book. The significance of Foner’s “A Short History of Reconstruction” is that it showed people all sides of the Reconstruction Era. It showed that past historians were biased in their reviews of it. He provided us with not only detailed facts, but also primary sources and evidence to back up all claims he made of the era. It’s important to know how the African American people struggled, and how Reconstruction actually failed.
Slavery, Reconstruction, and the Jim Crowe eras still have a huge effect on people today. Racism is a still a modern day problem, and these eras are still studied every day. I think it is important to continue research and help people understand the hate that existed and what African American people went through. I think there should be more studies on who began the change for the African American people. Did people always feel sympathy for them? Were there movements before they were free? Who was the first to acknowledge that there was a problem? I feel as though this isn’t discussed