Reconstruction

The name Charles W. Chesnutt may sound familiar, even if you don't know where to place it. It belongs to the first African American man to be published in The Atlantic Monthly and to break into the all-white American literary establishment.

The start of the end of Reconstruction in the South happened during the 1874 election season. That’s what an author argues in a deeply-researched new book “Sheridan's Secret Mission: How the South Won the War After the Civil War.” It includes the story of a Union General who helped stop a group of white men attempting to overthrow the fairly elected Louisiana state government when the new legislators were to be installed in January 1875.

In Warrenton, North Carolina, this Juneteenth is commemorated by a dramatic production. The community came together, not to tell the story of the end of slavery, but the end of Reconstruction, some 50 years later.

Some of the most popular films in our nation’s cinematic history are about the life, culture and customs of the American South. “Gone With the Wind” — the…