NCW Libraries

"Reconstruction--the period after the Civil War--was meant to give newly freed Black people the same rights as white people. And indeed there were monumental changes once slavery ended--thriving new Black communities, the first Black members in Congress, and a new sense of dignity for many Black Americans. But this time of hope didn't last long and instead, a deeply segregated United States continued on for another hundred years. Find out what went...

This third revised edition of Woodward's classic study of the history of the Jim Crow laws and of American race relations in general includes a new chapter on the tragic events that have occurred since 1965, including the Watts riots, the murder of Martin Luther King, white backlash encouraged by black activism, and the shift in national mood resulting from the election of Richard Nixon into the White House.

An historical account of the role of African-American soldiers in the Civil War.

In this new 2023 high-definition program, learn all about Jim Crow laws and the birth of civil rights in the United States. What were Jim Crow laws? What does "separate but equal" mean? What was the Reconstruction Era and what did the Civil Rights Act of 1875 accomplish? What was the significance of Plessy v. Ferguson? What were the contributions of Booker T. Washington, WEB Du Bois, Supreme Court Justice Earl Warren, and Martin Luther King, Jr.?...

Historian Eric Foner chronicles the way in which Americans -- black and white -- responded to the unprecedented changes unleashed by the war and the end of slavery. He addresses the quest of emancipated slaves searching for economic autonomy and equal citizenship, and describes the remodeling of Southern society, the evolution of racial attitudes and patterns of race relations, and the emergence of a national state possessing vastly expanded authority...