Finally watching #ReconstructionPBS. The very fact that I was born a citizen is due to the black freedom struggle and its white allies in the 1860s. Every American should know the story of Thaddeus Stevens, a true hero:
neh.gov/humanities/201…
neh.gov/humanities/201…
By the end of 1867, 80% of black men in the South could vote. Former slaves worked with poor whites to build schools, giving the nation a blueprint for a multiracial democracy. Of course, Andrew Johnson bitterly opposed this.
After white slave power attempted to reinstall its members in Congress; enacted Black Codes; and committed massacres against Blacks, there might not have been enough support for the 14th Amendment, adopted July 1868.
No other New World slave society had enacted equal citizenship, equal protection under the law, and male suffrage within 5 years of the end of slavery: Prof. John Stauffer of Harvard.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
