This is a story about America during and after Reconstruction, one of history's most pivotal and misunderstood chapters. Real-life accounts drive the narrative, spanning the half century between the Civil War and Birth of a Nation. Here, you will come face-to-face with the people and events of Reconstruction's noble democratic experiment, its tragic undermining, and the drawing of a new "color line" in the long Jim Crow era that followed. In introducing young readers to them, and to the resiliency of the African American people at times of progress and betrayal, Professor Gates shares a history that remains vitally relevant today.

Let freedom ring! -- Men of color to arms! -- Fraught with great difficulty -- Restored -- The ballot with which to save ourselves -- Go on with your oppressions -- White reign of terror -- To the storm, to the whirlwind -- Moral weakness in high places -- Mighty current.