
Hosted by Higher Ground Audio · EN
Reconstruction begins where, for most Americans, the story of the Civil War ends: The North is victorious and slavery is abolished. But what happened next was one of the most important decades in American history, a moment when our country grappled with its original sin and imagined — and briefly enacted — a more perfect union.
Drawing from archives, letters, diaries, court records, eyewitness testimonies and some of America’s most accomplished scholars and storytellers, Reconstruction: The Unfinished Promise explores this unprecedented historical moment in rich, kaleidoscopic detail. The series unpacks a time when a determined band of reformers attempted to radically reimagine American society — from the Constitution to the roots of its economy to the very nature of citizenship itself.
Reconstruction was a time when Americans struggled over fundamental questions about our country. Who gets to be a citizen? Who has the right to vote? Who can own property? In short, who belongs? Reconstruction: The Unfinished Promise explores what America might have looked like if Reconstruction had truly succeeded, and how the ultimate backlash to Reconstruction prevented our country from becoming a truly multiracial democracy.
Guiding us through this extraordinary moment in American history is best-selling author and host of Revisionist History Malcolm Gladwell. He’ll have help from luminaries, historians, and storytellers such as President Barack Obama, Jelani Cobb, Wyatt Cenac, David Blight, Kai Wright, Kellie Carter Jackson, Ashley C. Ford, Manisha Sinha, Kidada Williams, and Eric Foner. This is a series about why America has yet to make good on the promise of Reconstruction, and how it still might.
An Audible Original in partnership with History Channel. Produced by Higher Ground and Pushkin Industries.

In 1865, Rebecca Primus left the comfort of her Northern home to help establish a school in the South. She exchanged intimate, sometimes romantic letters with her friend Addie Brown. Their correspondence offers a window into a remarkable relationship. Writer Ashley C. Ford breaks down these letters with scholar Farah Jasmine Griffin, discovering how the letters illuminate Black life on both sides of the Mason-Dixon line.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Alabama State University is one of America's earliest historically Black colleges. Historian Kellie Carter Jackson shares the institution’s hidden origins. Founded during Reconstruction by nine formerly enslaved men, the story reveals a fierce struggle over education — a battle that unfolded at the very moment Black Americans were gaining political power for the first time.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Malcolm Gladwell and President Barack Obama introduce us to one of the most chaotic, complicated, and fascinating times in American history, revealing why Reconstruction still defines our country today.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Frederick Douglass was one of the few activists to see his goal achieved within his lifetime — the abolition of slavery. Journalist Kai Wright shares how Douglass discovered a new purpose after President Lincoln’s assassination: campaigning for a bold new Constitution. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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