#30DayEducationChallenge Day 3

Today we're reading about the Reconstruction period via The Equal Justice Initiative in  a collection called "Reconstruction in America: Racial Violence after the Civil War 1865-1877". This is something I remember doing flash cards about in 10th grade, but I honestly cannot remember what we learned about it in school. The reality, like everything else we've discussed so far, is incredibly violent and reads like a horror story.

This quote from the intro had me thinking about the whole reason we're here:

"Our collective ignorance of what happened immediately after the Civil War has contributed to misinformed stereotypes and misguided false narratives about who is honorable and who is not and has allowed bigotry and a legacy of racial injustice to persist."

During the 12 year Reconstruction Period, there were over 2,000 documented racial terror lynchings of Black men, women, and children - in fact, a white person you could buy a souvenir picture or postcard of a Black person being lynched.

This is a thick read and while the whole thing is important, let's prioritize and discuss these chapters:
Introduction
Chapter 1: Journey to Freedom
Chapter 2: Freedom to Fear
Chapter 4: The Danger of Freedom
Chapter 5: Reconstruction's End
I also recommend skimming chapter 3 and taking note that it wasn't just southern states.

This reading took me 45 minutes to complete.

Reflection questions (write in a journal, discuss with your group, or join the Instagram conversation):

1. What is something that surprised you?
2. What is something new you learned?
3. How does this narrative compare to what you were taught about Reconstruction?
4. What do you think about the government's amount of intervention during this time period? Should they have done more or less?
5. What are themes from Reconstruction that you see active today?

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See yall out there.