Did Reconstruction Have Elements of Genocide? " I Saw Death Coming"

Teaching Reconstruction in US History?  Here is a fascinating overview from the viewpoints of the many freed slaves who experienced it.

Kidada Williams begins her book, "I Saw Death Coming" by reviewing developments immediately after the Civil War.  Some of these important events include the passage of the 13th Amendment, the development of the Freedman's Bureau, the Southern Black Codes, sharecropping, and the Civil Rights Act.  

Despite some of the early barriers, like the Black Codes, many blacks made some progress. For example, some blacks owned small farms, while others used skills that they developed as slaves, like working as carpenters or blacksmiths. According to Williams, another sign of progress towards land ownership was the tens of thousands who opened accounts at the Freedman's Savings and Trust Company. 

Perhaps because of these gains, Williams notes in Chapter 2, whites began to halt the reconstruction of black freedom. One way these vigilantes, known as the Ku Klux Klan, did this was through night riding, which William argues was intentional, not spontaneous. 

One claim that Williams makes is that the effort to halt reconstruction had some of the hallmarks of genocide. For example, the Ku Klux Klan specifically targeted the formally enslaved. Their actions were intentional, not spontaneous, and they used propaganda to justify their actions, suggesting that blacks were always plotting to rebel against whites. 

Some of the cases of violence were horrific. According to Williams, a surgeon at a Montgomery Hospital noted that one overseer shot one woman, cut the ears off of two other women and a man, and severed another man's chin. Southern whites continued to dismiss reports of atrocities and downplay the attacks on blacks. 

While much of the violence was random, some of it was not. After the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1866, election violence became prominent. And as more blacks voted, the more prominent the violence became.

In subsequent chapters, Kidada outlines the impact of night riding on former slaves. "Strikes were unbelievable: victim's minds struggled to make sense of what was happening.  The events undid many individuals and families. And survivors faced no end of existential questions. Would they live through a raid? How could this have happened?"

Excerpts from Kidada's book might work well in the Reconstruction unit, especially the first chapter which outlines many of the developments affecting the formerly enslaved right after the Civil War.