Reconstruction to Riot on the Capitol: How We Are Living Our "Peculiar" History

The U.S. Army was tasked to stabilize the former Confederate states after the Civil War. This was the beginning of continued use of our military to conduct nation-building at home and then repeatedly abroad to the present day. Until Reconstruction was halted by a corrupt backroom deal only 12 years after the end of hostilities, the Army achieved Herculean success in integrating 4 million newly freed people and attempting to remake a new South with the end of slavery, that "peculiar institution." Once the Army retreated, the Old Southern political powers returned to their old posts and their old animosities and worked diligently to reverse the gains made by American citizens of African descent. These efforts resulted in Jim Crow laws and a century of disenfranchisement, incarceration, and economic oppression that continue to plague society today. If the moment has finally come to make America truly inclusive and equitable, how do we do it? Whose job is it to reverse White Supremacist policies at every level of every institution placed intentionally into the Constitution itself? The U.S. Army contracted Diane Chido to explore the Army's role in Reconstruction in 2017. She will discuss her newly released book on this topic and explore needed solutions in conversation with JES's Ben Speggen.