what was the period of rebuilding the south after the civil war called

Griffith, whose film, Birth of a Nation, depicted illiterate, uncouth, and lecherous-for-white-women black men who had supposedly taken the reins of power in Southern states during Reconstruction. The most well-known purveyor of this notion was D.W. The Second Founding On the 150th anniversary of Reconstruction, The Atlantic presents a digital symposium on the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the Constitution, and their legacy. A whole school of literature and history sprang up to carry the message far and wide: Terrible, terrible things had been done to the good and innocent white people of the South during Reconstruction. According to the zero-sum game white supremacists were playing, granting black citizenship-which required ending slavery, preventing discrimination based on race, and giving black males the right to vote and govern in Southern states-stripped white people of what they believed to be their God-given right to rule over black people. In the first 50 years after the period ended, those words were most often used to lament post-Civil War attempts to change the racial balance of power in the defeated South.

The words “tragic” and “tragedy” have long been linked to the Reconstruction era in the United States, but the reason for the association has shifted over time.

Editor’s Note: We’ve gathered dozens of the most important pieces from our archives on race and racism in America.

What was the period of rebuilding the south after the civil war called