Reconstruction III: Eric Foner and Henry Louis Gates Jr. on Du Bois’ Black Reconstruction
HISTORY This Week
The HISTORY® Channel | Back Pocket Studios
4.5 • 4.2K Ratings
🗓️ 19 May 2022
⏱️ 30 minutes
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Summary
In 1935, famed Black sociologist and scholar W.E.B. Du Bois published Black Reconstruction, a revolutionary reassessment of the period of Reconstruction after the Civil War. The book was also a critique of the flawed way others had been telling the story—including leading scholars of the day. Sally Helm sits down with professors Eric Foner and Henry Louis Gates Jr. to discuss Du Bois’ insights. They hone in on his argument that a biased portrayal of Reconstruction was used for over a century to justify the oppression of Black Americans.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The History Channel, original podcast. |
| 0:07.0 | History this week. I'm Sally Helm. |
| 0:17.0 | W.E.B. Du Bois was born in 1868. |
| 0:21.0 | The year the 14th Amendment made Black American citizens, |
| 0:24.0 | the year Andrew Johnson narrowly dodged removal from office, |
| 0:28.0 | and pardoned all former Confederates, |
| 0:31.0 | including the country's leading secessionist, Jefferson Davis. |
| 0:35.0 | Nearly 70 years later, Du Bois would write a book called Black Reconstruction. |
| 0:41.0 | It analyzes how historians, and as a result ordinary Americans, |
| 0:46.0 | had come to talk about the Civil War and Reconstruction. |
| 0:50.0 | Du Bois says that the stories we tell about the past |
| 0:53.0 | determine the lessons we take away from it, |
| 0:56.0 | and those lessons have the power to shape the present. |
| 0:59.0 | The book was originally published in 1935, |
| 1:02.0 | but a new edition was released in 2021, |
| 1:05.0 | edited by two historians who are legends in their own right. |
| 1:09.0 | Today, Professor Eric Foner and Professor Henry Lewis Gates Jr., |
| 1:13.0 | also known as Skip, in conversation on W.E.B. Du Bois's Black Reconstruction. |
| 1:26.0 | Hey everyone, this is Dr. Rong and Chatechee from the Built to Thrive podcast, |
| 1:30.0 | and I promise you that if you give me just five minutes of your time, |
| 1:34.0 | I'm going to help you revolutionize your life. |
| 1:37.0 | My aim is to inspire and empower you with simple daily hacks that will help you feel better and thrive. |
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