The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. — Season 1, Episode 3: Into the Fire (1861-1890)
Documentary • 30 min • 1 season, 6 episodes • ★ 10.0/10
Episode synopsis
"Into the Fire" examines the most tumultuous and consequential period in African-American history: the Civil War and the end of slavery, and Reconstruction's thrilling but brief "moment in the sun." From the beginning, African Americans were agents of their liberation - by fleeing the plantations and taking up arms to serve in the United States Colored Troops. After Emancipation, African Americans sought to realize the promise of freedom - rebuilding families shattered by slavery; demanding economic, political and civil rights; even winning elected office - but a few years later, an intransigent South mounted a swift and vicious campaign of terror to restore white supremacy and roll back African-American rights. Yet the achievements of Reconstruction remained in the collective memory of the African-American community.
About The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross with Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
Professor Gates describes the history of the African American people by talking to historians, authors, and the people who made history.