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Published by Higher Ground Audio
Reconstruction begins where, for most Americans, the story of the Civil War ends: The North is victorious and slavery is abolished. But what happened next was one of the most important decades in American history, a moment when our country grappled with its original sin and imagined — and briefly enacted — a more perfect union. Drawing from archives, letters, diaries, court records, eyewitness testimonies and some of America’s most accomplished scholars and storytellers, Reconstruction: The Unfinished Promise explores this unprecedented historical moment in rich, kaleidoscopic detail. The series unpacks a time when a determined band of reformers attempted to radically reimagine American society — from the Constitution to the roots of its economy to the very nature of citizenship itself. Reconstruction was a time when Americans struggled over fundamental questions about our country. Who gets to be a citizen? Who has the right to vote? Who can own property? In short, who belongs? Reconstruction: The Unfinished Promise explores what America might have looked like if Reconstruction had truly succeeded, and how the ultimate backlash to Reconstruction prevented our country from becoming a truly multiracial democracy. Guiding us through this extraordinary moment in American history is best-selling author and host of Revisionist History Malcolm Gladwell. He’ll have help from luminaries, historians, and storytellers such as President Barack Obama, Jelani Cobb, Wyatt Cenac, David Blight, Kai Wright, Kellie Carter Jackson, Ashley C. Ford, Manisha Sinha, Kidada Williams, and Eric Foner. This is a series about why America has yet to make good on the promise of Reconstruction, and how it still might. An Audible Original in partnership with History Channel. Produced by Higher Ground and Pushkin Industries.
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Comedian Wyatt Cenac considers how movies, cartoons, and even theme park rides have shaped our cultural memory of Reconstruction. Plus, President Obama joins Malcolm to discuss why our current world owes everything to this era and how Reconstruction provides a roadmap to a better future. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .
Following one of the most contentious presidential elections in US history, representatives of the North and South met in a posh Washington DC hotel. The result of their backdoor dealings spelled the end of progressive efforts at Reconstruction and the beginning of a new era in the South: Jim Crow. President Obama and Malcolm dissect one of the most consequential compromises in American history. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .
Soon after Reconstruction began to wind down, American historians wrote the era off as a failure. But that narrative didn’t emerge by accident — it was engineered by a celebrated historian named William Dunning, whose denigration of Black civil rights dominated textbooks for decades. Journalist Jelani Cobb reveals why the “Dunning School” remained dominant until the 1930s, when scholars including W.E.B Du Bois and Eric Foner fought to restore Reconstruction’s legacy in the narrative of American history. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .
As Black citizens exercised newly won rights in America, a vigilante backlash shook the South. In response, Congress summoned more than 500 witnesses to testify about the violence they had experienced. Historian Kidada Williams takes us back in time to those seven extraordinary months — what became known as the “Klan hearings”— when lawmakers mounted the only official effort in US history to publicly confront postwar racial terror. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .
In 1874, with emancipation and Black citizenship finally written into the Constitution, Frederick Douglass set his sights on the next frontier of freedom: economic self-reliance. But in this pursuit, he was ensnared in a disastrous financial fraud by trusted white allies. Kai Wright shares the story of this scandal that handed Douglass’ enemies prime ammunition against interracial democracy. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .
In 1865, Rebecca Primus left the comfort of her Northern home to help establish a school in the South. She exchanged intimate, sometimes romantic letters with her friend Addie Brown. Their correspondence offers a window into a remarkable relationship. Writer Ashley C. Ford breaks down these letters with scholar Farah Jasmine Griffin, discovering how the letters illuminate Black life on both sides of the Mason-Dixon line. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .
Alabama State University is one of America's earliest historically Black colleges. Historian Kellie Carter Jackson shares the institution’s hidden origins. Founded during Reconstruction by nine formerly enslaved men, the story reveals a fierce struggle over education — a battle that unfolded at the very moment Black Americans were gaining political power for the first time. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .
Malcolm Gladwell and President Barack Obama introduce us to one of the most chaotic, complicated, and fascinating times in American history, revealing why Reconstruction still defines our country today. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .
Frederick Douglass was one of the few activists to see his goal achieved within his lifetime — the abolition of slavery. Journalist Kai Wright shares how Douglass discovered a new purpose after President Lincoln’s assassination: campaigning for a bold new Constitution. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .
Follow Reconstruction: The Unfinished Promise on Audible or wherever you get your podcasts. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .
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Observed September 20, 2026.
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