Many Americans like to imagine the history of their nation as one of continual progress. While acknowledging that not all persons and groups enjoyed equal rights at all times, Americans often take it for granted that American history moves in only one direction: toward greater rights, greater freedom, and greater equality. This perspective makes it difficult for many Americans to understand the Reconstruction period and to place it in a broader historical narrative. The problem they face is that African Americans from roughly 1867 to 1875 enjoyed far more political influence and equal rights than they ever had before, or ever would again until the end of the modern Civil Rights Movement almost a century later. The fact that a group could be stripped of rights it once enjoyed is difficult for many Americans to accept, and so they often retreat into a false narrative, in which African Americans never gained any rights at all, and were abandoned to their fate as soon as slavery ended. In this model, the infamous Black Codes—which were in effect for less than a year—take center stage, and the various gains of Reconstruction get ignored.Get Professional Help with Your Research Essay Paper Today From Our Student Essay Service!!
Resources: Review the following resources about the differences between primary and secondary sources:
- BeamLibrary. (2009, September 23). Primary, secondary, tertiary sources . [Video file]. Retrieved fromhttp://youtu.be/L5DdedR_iF8
- Review the How to Research Primary Sources and How to Research Secondary Sources in the Ashford Writing Center located in the Learning Resources tab in the left navigation bar.
When responding to the questions, draw from at least ONE of the following primary sources and specifically cite them in your post:
- Bruce, B. K. (1876, March 31). Speech in the Senate. Retrieved fromhttp://www.let.rug.nl/usa/documents/1876-1900/blanche-k-bruce-speech-in-the-senate-march-31-1876.php
- Johnson, J. R. (1865, Aug. 4). Northern teacher to the Freedmen’s Bureau commissioner. Land and Labor, 1865, pp. 699-700. Retrieved from http://www.freedmen.umd.edu/J Johnson.htm
- The Ku-Klux. (1871, April 1). Harper’s Weekly, p. 281. Retrieved fromhttp://education.harpweek.com/KKKHearings/Article23.htm
- United States Congress. (1866, April 9). Civil Rights Act. Retrieved fromhttp://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/exhibits/reconstruction/section4/section4_civrightsact1.html
- Kunhardt, P., Kunhardt, P., III, and Steiner, N. (Producers). (2002). What is freedom?. [Series Episode] from P. Kinhardt & S. Sheppard (Executive Producers) Freedom: A History of US. United States: PBS. Retrieved from http://digital.films.com/OnDemandEmbed.aspx?Token=44253&aid=18596&Plt=FOD&loid=0&w=640&h=480&ref=
- Pollard, S. (Producer & Director). (2012). Slavery by another name. [Documentary]. United States: Twin Cities Public Television, Inc. Retrieved from http://video.pbs.org/video/2176766758/
Instructions: After reviewing your Instructor’s Guidance and completing the weekly reading assignments (including those in the resource section below), please post a substantive discussion post of at least 200 words that analyzes the period of Reconstruction using the following questions as the basis of your analysis:
- Were the goals of Radical Reconstruction feasible ones?
- Is it possible to transform a society drastically by government action, or might attempts to do so prove counterproductive?
- Would a more gradualist approach to extending rights to and establishing freedom for African Americans have been more successful?
- What would be the costs and dangers of such an approach?