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Names and Freedom
Historians Douglas Egerton and Leon Litwack explain the process of freedpeople adopting new surnames.
A Nucleus of Ordinary Men
Consider the role that secrecy and fear play in mob violence with W. E. B. Du Bois’ analysis of the Ku Klux Klan’s power.
Presidential Reconstruction
Investigate aspects of President Andrew Johnson’s plans for Reconstruction that outlined how to bring former Confederate citizens and states back into the Union.
Reconstructing Mississippi
Learn about the accomplishments of the first interracial legislature in Mississippi from the account of John Roy Lynch, a freedman who served in the state’s House of Representatives.
The Reconstruction Acts of 1867
This reading examines measures of the Reconstruction Acts of 1867, which enacted the plan that became known as Radical Reconstruction.
A Right to the Land
Freedman Bayley Wyatt advocates for freedpeople's rights to their land at a public meeting.
The Role of Carpetbaggers
Alexander White, a white congressman from Alabama, describes the role that “carpetbaggers” and “scalawags” played in Reconstruction politics.
Savannah Freedpeople Express Their Aspirations for Freedom
Read an excerpt from the transcript of the Savannah Colloquy, a meeting between Union officials and Savannah’s Black community in January 1865. This reading is available in Spanish.
Sharecropping Contract
In this sharecropping contract, farmer Thomas J. Ross agrees to employ Freedmen to plant and raise a crop on his Rosstown Plantation in Shelby County, Tennessee.
South Carolina Freedpeople Demand Education
Read an excerpt of the resolution passed at an 1865 convention of freedmen in South Carolina that demanded, among other rights, education.
Speech by President Lincoln: Second Inaugural Address
This is the full text of President Lincoln's second inaugural address, which took place March 4, 1865.