Slavery and Reconstruction

After the traumas of slavery and the Civil War came the Reconstruction era. Lasting from 1865 to 1877, the period saw huge gains made as Black people built political power and established schools, churches, and newspapers. Still, racism and resentments from the war meant that Reconstruction left a complicated legacy. Read this book to learn how formerly enslaved people built new lives and, even in the face of racist backlash, persisted in the fight for equality.

Read Woke™ Books are created in partnership with Cicely Lewis, the Read Woke librarian. Inspired by a belief that knowledge is power, Read Woke Books seek to amplify the voices of people of the global majority (people who are of African, Arab, Asian, and Latin American descent and identify as not white), provide information about groups that have been disenfranchised, share perspectives of people who have been underrepresented or oppressed, challenge social norms and disrupt the status quo, and encourage readers to take action in their community.