In the spring of 1865, the United States celebrated the end of four years of Civil War. As American soldiers laid down their weapons, four million formerly enslaved Black people in the South grappled with the daunting task of building new lives as free citizens in a nation still deeply divided over race.With the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, the challeng ... Show More
Jun 2023
Reconstruction Era | The Radical Revolution | 2
In December 1865, the first postwar Congress convened in Washington, D.C. With Black Southerners still facing rampant violence and discrimination, the Republican majority blocked the former Confederate states from rejoining the Union.Determined to protect Black rights and curb th ... Show More
42 m
Jun 2023
Reconstruction Era | Impeachment | 3
In the spring of 1867, over President Andrew Johnson’s veto, the Republican-controlled Congress passed the Reconstruction Acts, putting the U.S. Army in control of the South and giving Black Southerners expanded political rights. For the first time they organized and attended pol ... Show More
42m 2s
Jun 2023
Reconstruction Era | The Bloody Chasm | 4
In 1870, the ratification of the 15th Amendment enshrined Black men’s right to vote in the Constitution. Senator Hiram Revels became the first Black man to serve in Congress. Across the South, Black men were elected to office in unprecedented numbers.But soon, the Ku Klux Klan mo ... Show More
41m 29s
May 2022
Reconstruction I: Secession on Trial
May 10, 1865. Jefferson Davis is awakened by gunshots. The president of the defeated and disbanded Confederate States of America is on the run, and today, federal troops finally catch him. His arrest puts the face of the Confederacy behind bars. But it also creates a problem for ... Show More
36m 24s
Jun 2021
Juneteenth and the Constitution
On June 19, 1865, Union soldiers, led by Major General Gordon Granger, arrived in Galveston, Texas, with news that the Civil War had ended and that the enslaved were now free. President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation had been issued over two years earlier, and the South had ... Show More
57m 15s
Feb 2024
The Short, Happy Life of Abraham Lincoln: His Final Days
On this episode of Our American Stories, the Civil War was over, the city of Washington was in celebration and President Lincoln's life was about to take a happy and hopeful turn. His short, happy life was thwarted by John Wilkes Booth. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanst ... Show More
10m 49s
Nov 2019
The Black Congressmen of Reconstruction: Death of Representation
During the 1870s, more than a dozen African American men, many of whom had been born into slavery, were elected to the U.S. Congress. These political pioneers symbolized the sky high hopes of millions of former slaves during the years right after the Civil War. It was a period th ... Show More
44m 31s
Jul 2022
203. American Civil War: Aftermath & Legacy (Part 4)
In the final episode of this 'American Civil War' series, Tom, Dominic and historian Adam Smith look at the end of the conflict, the subsequent assassination of Abraham Lincoln and how the war is viewed in modern day America.
Join The Rest Is History Club for ad-free listening t ... Show More
49m 12s