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William Edward Burghardt DuBois, a seminal figure within African American history, published Black Reconstruction in 1935 as a way of rejecting and redefining the history of Reconstruction and its accepted perceptions. Although the book was not seen as groundbreaking or popular at the time of its publication, – selling fewer than two thousand copies in three years according to historian Clare Parfait – it has rightfully become a highly influential book within African American studies. DuBois discusses an array of topics ranging from the distortion of history, social provisions, class, and decolonization making the book highly relevant at the time of publication and within modern contexts. The range of topics also makes it a resource for the general population along with historians. However, the most striking arguments he makes are that the public consensus of Reconstruction was falsified and incorrect, he offers an alternative to this history arguing that his alternate perception is what shapes the future. He also asserts that class alliances were at play alongside racial alliances. DuBois had discussed these ideas in his earlier work like The Souls of Black Folk yet, what differentiates Black Reconstruction is his focus on the perspective of the black population.
The book sets out with two aims, firstly, it was written to directly oppose the Dunning School’s perception of the reconstruction which asserted that Reconstruction was a tragedy and failure. From the 1900s to 1935, – when the book was published – public and academic consensus was that Reconstruction was a failure and this notion was used to justify the need for segregation and Jim Crow within America. DuBois argues throughout the book, and within his other publications, that the grossly distorted vision of Reconstruction defends three notions, all black people were ‘ignorant’; ‘lazy, dishonest and extravagant’; and ‘responsible for bad government during Reconstruction’. This falsified version of history is what DuBois argues, was used to further perpetuate white supremacy and class supremacy within America. This argument is not only accurate but ties in with his argument that the perspective and role of the black population was being diminished to further prejudice them hence extending the very obvious racial hierarchy even after slavery and into segregation and Jim Crow legislation – which kept the power of access to social provisions and all autonomy within the hands of white southerners. This racial hierarchy stood to be the basis of the further enslavement of the black population but without the shackles, ‘the slave went free; stood a brief moment in the sun; then moved back again toward slavery.’ By not only distorting the facts of Reconstruction to portray black people as incapable of governing themselves and having autonomy but also using this distorted history to justify further prejudice, the black population was pushed into another form of slavery according to Dubois.
Secondly, DuBois delves into what we need to alternatively see Reconstruction as because it shapes the future. DuBois’ research shows that the South did not descend into economic or political chaos following emancipation. Instead, he demonstrates the efforts of the capitalist planters to preserve control and recover property lost during the war. Using primary sources, DuBois asserts that the black population led their fight for freedom, ‘had beaten Louisiana whites at Port Hudson and Milliken’s Bend. But, it was the silent verdict of all America that Negroes must not be allowed to fight for themselves. He aims to highlight that the black population led their own Reconstruction therefore he even refutes the Reconstruction periodisation, 1865-77. He asserts that the accurate periodization is between 1860-80 because the black population was pushing and fighting for their freedom long before and after the accepted timelines but these resistances are conveniently forgotten. By using primary sources DuBois adds credibility to his arguments and ensures that his focus is on changing the narrative. The emphasis on redefining, changing the narrative, and looking towards black culture, stories, and people is very evidently how DuBois part-takes in decolonizing the history of not only Reconstruction but also its preceding history.
In doing so, his Marxist assertions come to the forefront as well as Dubois’s purports that ‘the emancipation of man is the emancipation of labor’. ‘Reconstruction had faced the issue of white economic domination of black people and black people fought back by articulating alternate socialist freedom dreams’. For example, he emphasizes these social provisions, like education and public health, were for the benefit of both the black and white workers who should have worked together. He pinpoints the example of Andrew Johnson in the eighth chapter, a poor white worker who went from hating the Southern planter aristocracy before the Civil War to becoming their president and a staunch defender, opposing black suffrage. This ties into his notion that
‘white laborers, while they received low wages, were compensated in part by […] public and psychological wage. […] given public deference, titles of courtesy because they were white. DuBois essentially highlighted that when given the choice, white workers chose to align with their race instead of the class hence enabling white Democrats to regain control of state legislatures and pass Jim Crow legislation subsequently disfranchising most blacks and many poor whites.
He’s rearticulating what tragedy means and does so because he was simultaneously grappling with the consolidation of imperial power and white supremacy around the world. This context shapes Black Reconstruction into a book about decolonization as well as reconstruction. It seeks to showcase that ‘the facts of American history have in the last half-century have been falsified’, enabling imperialism and the color line to manifest in societies other than America. He articulates this vividly within the last chapter of the book, ‘The Propaganda of History’, ‘in Africa, a black back runs red with the blood of the lash; in India, a brown girl is raped; in China, a coolie starves; in Alabama, seven darkies are more than lynched; while in, the white limbs of a prostitute are hung with jewels and silk. Flames of jealous murder sweep the earth, while brains of little children smear the hills.’ By articulating the gruesome details of imperialism around the world, DuBois was making a commentary on how white interests and power consolidated in a grisly way and would continue to do so until narratives weren’t changed. Thus, undercurrents of this were seen during Reconstruction whilst also being recreated in the way that Reconstruction is being remembered. As historians, we have the benefit of hindsight and can understand that Dubois’s arguments were ahead of their time and went against the grain of his context yet modern historians have used many of his key arguments to delve into their research making the book highly influential.
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