Du Bois cuts through the myth:

Black education didn’t lag—
it was cut short.

With support, it could’ve rivaled the best in the world.
Even without it, it still surpassed much of it.

Not failure—
interrupted possibility.

#BlackReconstruction

Du Bois didn’t hold back:

The South didn’t rebuild—it engineered division.

Lie about Black people.
Offer poor whites status instead of power.
Replace solidarity with hatred.

That’s how you break labor—
and make injustice feel natural.

#BlackReconstruction

Reading Black Reconstruction Today - Public Seminar My first encounter with W.E.B. Du Bois’ Black Reconstruction in the America came over the same weekend that the US Department...Read More

Du Bois: Corporate monopoly grew "dependent upon the failure of democracy in the South" and "fattened on the perversion of democracy in the North."
#BlackReconstruction #GildedAge
publicseminar.org/2017/04/read...

Du Bois saw it early:

Corporations didn’t just gain power—they became a “super-government.”

Not elected. Not accountable.
But in control.

That wasn’t reform.
That was consolidation.

#BlackReconstruction #PoliticalEconomy

J. T. Ruby: educated Black man from Philly, elected by white Texans for fifteen years, brother in the custom house. Du Bois dropped his name like a mic in 1935. We're still pretending we didn't hear it. #BlackReconstruction #DuBois #ErasedHistory

Jan 5, 1869: FL legislature votes 43-5 to defeat Reed impeachment. Black legislators H.S. Harmon & E. Fortune held the line against intra-Republican sabotage. Du Bois: Black power preserved democracy, not destroyed it. #BlackReconstruction #ReceiptsFirst

Before Reconstruction, there was resistance. Du Bois reminds us: Florida was a refuge, the Seminole Wars were slave raids, and Black people were freeing themselves long before the Emancipation Proclamation. #BlackReconstruction #SeminoleWars

Built on History: Brazos Valley African American Museum Stands Where Freed Slaves First Owned Land “There were a lot of challenges during the Reconstruction era and onward, but this was a place where many people were able to get their start in their new life post-emancipation."

One hundred and fifty-eight years ago, the land where the Brazos Valley African American Museum now sits was an area of promise, where newly freed people rebuilt their lives after slavery and the Civil War. www.kbtx.com/2026/02/20/b... #TeachReconstruction #BlackReconstruction #tellthemwhatwedid

First Black sheriff ever elected in the U.S. finally gets his own historical marker in Fort Bend County Fort Bend County honored a history-making leader, and his story is one worth knowing.

Walter Moses Burton, the First Black sheriff ever elected in the U.S., finally gets his own historical marker in Fort Bend County, Texas www.khou.com/article/news... #TeachReconstruction #BlackReconstruction

February's Newsletter is out. I talk about my podcast @involvedpod.bsky.social, art I received from incarcerated artists, and #BlackReconstruction by #W.E.BDuBois. You can read and subscribe here: www.latishaconto.com/newsletters

The Millican Massacre: When violence shook a small Texas town Driving through Millican today, you’d never know it made national headlines 158 years ago. And as tensions rose after the Civil War, violence broke out.

From July 15-17, 1868 in the small town of Millican, TX, up to 300 Black Americans were driven away or killed in what some scholars call “the worst incident of racial violence in Texas during Reconstruction.” www.kbtx.com/2026/02/12/m... #TeachReconstruction #BlackReconstruction

The legacy of the Black grocers of Reconstruction The oppressed entrepreneurs of the late 1800s capitalized on low grocery prices to build businesses that influenced Atlanta’s present-day institutions.

The legacy of ATL's Black grocers of Reconstruction
www.ajc.com/food-and-din... Black entrepreneurs of the late 1800s capitalized on low grocery prices to build businesses that served Black people's needs and influenced Atlanta’s present-day institutions. #TeachReconstruction #BlackReconstruction

Central Texas Black lawmakers shaped state during Reconstruction era After the civil war, Black men were given the right to vote. With that came the election of 52 Blacks who served on the state and even federal levels.

Central 52 Texas Black lawmakers shaped the state and nation during the Reconstruction era. Texas is now working with local historical commissions to individually recognize these men in the districts they served with markers. www.kwtx.com/2026/02/12/c... #TeachReconstruction #BlackReconstruction

New online exhibit about post Civil War African American community in Gainesville now available Prince William County is located on the Potomac River in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States.

Prince William County Parks’ Office of Historic Preservation is proud to announce its new online exhibit—The Settlement, about a historic African American community in Gainesville that formed years after the American Civil War. www.pwcva.gov/news/new-onl... #TeachReconstruction #BlackReconstruction

Echoes of Reconstruction: A Warning for Today - Milwaukee Courier Weekly Newspaper Say Something Real By Michelle Bryant As we find ourselves in the midst of another turbulent era in American history, it is impossible to ignore the unsettling echoes of our past. Just as the post-Civ...

The lessons of Reconstruction are clear—gains can be undone, rights can be revoked, and history can repeat itself if we are not [informed and] vigilant. milwaukeecourieronline.com/index.php/20... #TeachReconstruction #BlackReconstruction

Du Bois: 800K acres + 5K town lots transferred to Freedmen’s Bureau—then reversed. Land redistribution’s betrayal doomed Reconstruction. Political rights without economic power = theater. #BlackReconstruction #40AcresBetrayed

The same could be said about 2024.

1864 Labor Assembly ignored emancipation—the “greatest labor revolution.” Proved: white labor chose whiteness over solidarity. Du Bois: racism enforces capital. #BlackReconstruction #LaborBetrayal

John Mercer Langston: recruited Black troops in ’62, founded Howard Law, served in Congress. Not a dreamer—a builder. Freedom needs institutions. He made them. #BlackReconstruction #LangstonLegacy

1863–64: PA’s Black community funds & trains 5 regiments at Camp William Penn—deployed South before federal bureaucracy blinked. Not waiting for freedom. Building it. #BlackReconstruction #CampWilliamPenn

1863: 54th Mass hidden from NYC streets. 1864: 1,000 Black troops paraded with bouquets. Not progress—propaganda. Sacrifice made them visible; survival kept them disposable. #BlackReconstruction #NYCParade

Adams County supervisors approve marker for Black legislators of Recon... Adams County will install a new courthouse marker honoring 10 Black Reconstruction-era lawmakers, spotlighting Mississippi’s first African American legislators.

Adams County will install a new courthouse marker honoring 10 Black Reconstruction-era lawmakers, spotlighting Mississippi’s first African American legislators. www.natchezdemocrat.com/news/adams-c... #TeachReconstruction #BlackReconstruction

Du Bois traces how labor dodged slavery, embraced exclusion, and let party machines take over. It worked—for a while. The AFL that followed institutionalized racial division as labor policy. #BlackReconstruction #LaborHistory

Selective morality shows up when freedom is celebrated in theory but rationed in practice. Justice gets “nuanced” the moment it threatens comfort, wages, or status. That’s not ethics—it’s policy. #BlackReconstruction #MoralClarity

New Limestone County historical marker recognizes one of Texas' first Black lawmakers A ceremony was held for State Rep. David Medlock Jr. He represented Limestone, Falls and McLennan counties in Texas' 12th Legislature, between 1870 and 1873.

New Limestone County historical marker recognizes David Medlock, Jr., one of Texas' first Black lawmakers www.kcentv.com/article/news... #TeachReconstruction #BlackReconstruction

Serina K. Gilbert and Dr. Learotha Williams Jr.: From the Fiery Furnace to the Promise Land - Nashville Banner Promise Land was formed by African Americans after the Civil War and thrived for decades; descendants are keeping its stories alive

Serina K. Gilbert and @learothawms.bsky.social: From the Fiery Furnace to the Promise Land nashvillebanner.com/2025/08/31/p... Promise Land was Black town in Dickson County, TN, established by African Americans after the Civil War. #TeachReconstruction #BlackReconstruction

Fort Point exhibit highlights early Black Californians "Black Gold" tracks African American experience from Gold Rush to Reconstruction.

“Black Gold: Stories Untold, a forthcoming exhibition at the Fort Point National Historic Site that highlights the stories of Black Californians from the Gold Rush through Reconstruction. www.sfweekly.com/art/fort-poi... #BlackWest #BlackReconstruction

THE JAXSON | Emanuel Fortune: A legacy of resilience in Reconstruction-era Florida | Jacksonville Today Emanuel Fortune was warned that his political prominence as a Black leader made him a target in post-Civil War Jacksonville.

Emanuel Fortune: A legacy of resilience in Reconstruction-era Florida jaxtoday.org/2025/04/23/t... #BlackReconstruction #TeachReconstruction

They tried to bury him: The hidden history of Abram Colby – Scalawag The radical legacy of Abram Colby, one of Georgia’s first Black legislators, was almost erased by racist revisionists.

They tried to bury him: The radical legacy of Abram Colby, one of Georgia’s first Black legislators, was almost erased by racist revisionists. scalawagmagazine.org/2025/03/they... #TeachReconstruction #BlackReconstruction

'A lot of love in Promised Land': Resident, 90, reflects on tiny, historical African American community Ninety-year-old Bernice Norman lives just off Highway 10, a road between Greenwood and McCormick counties that slices through the heart of the tiny Promised Land community.

'A lot of love in Promised Land': Resident, 90, reflects on Promised Land, South Carolina, a tiny, historic African American community created by freedpeople in 1869. www.indexjournal.com/townnews/pol... #TeachReconstruction #BlackReconstruction

150-year legacy of Willow Hill School preserves African American history and heritage in Bulloch Dr. Alvin Jackson shared the 150-year history and cultural impact of Willow Hill School at the Bulloch County Historical Society's February meeting, highlighting its legacy in African-American educati...

150-year legacy of Willow Hill School preserves African American history and heritage in Bulloch, Georgia. Willow Hill School was started in 1874 by newly freed people, 9 years after the Civil War. www.griceconnect.com/journeys/150... #TeachReconstruction #BlackReconstruction