During Reconstruction from 1865 to 1877, freed African Americans built new lives after emancipation by exploring what freedom meant and needing land and voting rights. However, President Johnson's opposition to Congress led to conflicts over laws discriminating against blacks. Radical Reconstruction saw African Americans gain political power in the South through the Republican party, but Southern Democrats later "redeemed" the South through violence and intimidation, ending the progress of Reconstruction.

1. Reconstructing the Nation
1865–1877

2. HIST 1301 Mini-Lectures on YouTube
Click Here for the Wk 14 Mini-Lecture Playlist

3. The Beginnings of Reconstruction

6. African Americans Build New Lives After
Emancipation

7. Freedpeople Explore the Meaning of
Freedom

9. Freedpeople Need Votes and Land

12. Eric Foner on 1866 and the Birth of Civil Rights

13. The Drama of Reconstruction Unfolds

14. President Johnson Versus Congress

16. Conflict Over The Black Codes

18. Radical Reconstruction

21. Radical Reconstruction (Cont.)

23. African Americans Become a Force in
Southern Politics

25. Republican Party Activism in the South

29. Gary Gallagher on the "Lost Cause"

30. The End of Reconstruction

31. Southern Democrats and the Klan
“Redeem” the South

32. Southern Democrats and the Klan
“Redeem” the South

33. Southern Democrats and the Klan
“Redeem” the South

35. The Final Assault on Reconstruction

38. Hayes v. Tilden & the End of Reconstruction

40. Additional Resources:
David Bight's Lectures
Civil War and Reconstruction Course
Yale University

41. 19. To Appomattox and Beyond: The End of the War
and a Search for Meanings

42. 20. Wartime Reconstruction: Imagining the
Aftermath and a Second American Republic

43. 21. Andrew Johnson and the Radicals: A Contest
over the Meaning of Reconstruction

44. 22. Constitutional Crisis and Impeachment of a
President

45. 23. Black Reconstruction in the South: The
Freedpeople and the Economics of Land and Labor

46. 24. Retreat from Reconstruction: The Grant Era and
Paths to "Southern Redemption"

47. 25. The "End" of Reconstruction: Disputed Election
of 1876, and the "Compromise of 1877"

48. 26. Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American
Memory

49. 27. Legacies of the Civil War