This episode of Civics 101 was made possible in part by a contribution in memory of Martin

Leslie Schneider.

This episode contains descriptions of widespread systemic racial harassment, violence, and

killing.

Please take care as you listen.

I'm Hannah McCarthy.

I'm Nick Capady-Cher.

And this is Civics 101.

You're listening to the second episode in our series on Reconstruction.

And this one is called The Big Lie.

I got the K-12 education that most people get about Reconstruction, but that didn't

make sense to me because I'm like, well, as a descendant of enslaved Americans, it's

like, but they're black people.

They're in freedom is there.

So, whole failed.

This is Dr. Kadada Williams.

She teaches African American and US history at Wayne State University.

And her latest book is called I Saw Deathcoming.

A Reconstruction history told from the lives and perspectives of formerly enslaved Americans.

And for the record, I did not come up with the title of this episode myself.

The Big Lie is Kadada's phrase.

A part of the law's cause narrative of reconstruction, which I like to call the Big Lie of the 19th

...