Reconstruction’s Unfinished Work: What I Learned From the Documentary
By Ian Portuondo
Talking About Freedom Blog — December 2025
A Modern Tragedy That Led Us Into the Past
The documentary we watched in my class opened with the 2015 Charleston church shooting—not to focus on that event, but to make a point: the racial hatred that fueled that attack didn’t appear overnight. It’s rooted in history, specifically the Reconstruction era.
That intro grabbed my attention immediately. By connecting present-day violence to decisions made over 150 years ago, the documentary made Reconstruction feel urgent and alive—not just something stuck in a textbook.
Reconstruction Begins: Freedom, Uncertainty, and Big Questions
After Robert E. Lee surrendered on April 9th, 1865, the country entered a period filled with both hope and chaos. Enslaved people sought safety with Union troops, families tried to reunite, and 150,000 Black men enlisted in the Union Army.
Something I really didn’t realize before watching the documentary was just how essential Black soldiers were in securing the end of slavery. They weren’t passive observers of their own liberation—they helped win it.
But the documentary kept raising a massive issue: What does freedom actually look like?
Who is a citizen? What rights do they have? How do formerly enslaved people build new lives in a society that had never treated them as equals?
The nation had no clear answers.
Lincoln’s Final Vision—Cut Short
One of the most shocking things I learned was that Lincoln’s last speech included the idea that some Black men—especially soldiers—should have the right to vote. That single idea was enough to enrage John Wilkes Booth. I never understood how directly Lincoln’s assassination was tied to Black citizenship until now.
It showed me how fragile progress was.
Andrew Johnson and the Collapse of Possibility
The documentary didn’t hold back about Andrew Johnson’s role in making Reconstruction fail. Frederick Douglass immediately distrusted him, and it became obvious why. Johnson didn’t believe Black Americans deserved equal rights.
The Freedmen’s Bureau, led by General O.O. Howard, pushed hard to establish fair labor contracts and redistribute land—famously known as “40 acres and a mule.” Before this documentary, I assumed that was more myth than reality. But it was real policy… until Johnson reversed it.
The scene that stayed with me the most was Howard having to tell freedpeople that their land was being taken back and returned to former Confederates. People started singing in church—not out of joy, but as a way to cope with heartbreak.
That moment made me understand how much potential progress was destroyed in an instant. Without land, many freedpeople were forced into dependency that lasted for generations.
Rapid Progress and Violent Backlash
Another thing that surprised me was just how much progress Black Americans actually made during Reconstruction. Black men were elected to office. Federal troops protected southern Black communities. For the first time, the United States genuinely tried to be a multiracial democracy.
But the backlash came fast. White gangs attacked Black voters. Southern leaders pushed the “Lost Cause” myth to rewrite history. Racism became the barrier that ultimately shut down Reconstruction.
The Biggest Lesson I Learned
The documentary made one thing extremely clear to me: Reconstruction wasn’t just a period of the past—it’s the foundation of the racial debates and inequalities we still see today. By failing to answer basic questions about citizenship, land, rights, and equality, the nation left wounds that never healed.
The Charleston shooting was the film’s reminder that we are still living with the consequences of Reconstruction’s failures.
And for me, that was the biggest takeaway.
Ai Disclaimer: While I watched the documentary I took thorough notes. I then put those notes into chat gpt with this prompt "use these notes i took on a history doc we watched in my law class to create a 500 word blog post. make it in the style of a blog." I then uploaded the notes I took for it to use.
No comments:
Post a Comment