Forever Free: The Story of Emancipation and ReconstructionFrom one of our most distinguished historians comes a groundbreaking new examination of the myths and realities of the period after the Civil War. Drawing on a wide range of long-neglected documents, Eric Foner places a new emphasis on black experiences and roles during the era. We see African Americans as active agents in overthrowing slavery, in shaping Reconstruction, and creating a legacy long obscured and misunderstood. He compellingly refutes long-standing misconceptions of Reconstruction, and shows how the failures of the time sowed the seeds of the Civil Rights struggles of the 1950s and 60s. Richly illustrated and movingly written, this is an illuminating and essential addition to our understanding of this momentous era. |
Contents
The Peculiar Institution | 3 |
Forever Free | 41 |
The Meanings of Freedom | 76 |
An American Crisis | 107 |
The Tocsin of Freedom | 128 |
The Facts of Reconstruction | 159 |
The Abandonment of Reconstruction | 189 |
The Unfinished Revolution | 225 |
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abolitionist African Americans Amendment American Social History army became called cause century cities citizens civil rights Civil War colored Confederate Congress Constitution continued conventions Court Democrats Douglass early economic effort election emancipation entire equal established experience federal forces former slaves freedom freedpeople helped House Illustrated insisted institutions issue Johnson labor land later leaders Library Lincoln lived Louisiana majority March Mississippi Negro never Newspaper North northern offered owners party Photographs plantation planter political popular president Press Prints race racial Radical Reconstruction remained reported represented Republican schools Senate served slavery Social History Project society soldiers South Carolina southern struggle suffrage thousand throughout tion took Union United University violence Virginia visual vote women wrote York