The Atlantic Magazine – December 2023 issue: For the first time since the publication of our first series of stories on Reconstruction, in 1901, The Atlantic is examining “the enduring consequences of Reconstruction’s tragic fall at a moment—yet another moment—when the cause of racial progress faces sustained pressure”…

This Ghost of Slavery

A play of past and present

By ANNA DEAVERE SMITH

The Questions That Most Need Asking

The Atlantic revisits Reconstruction

.By JEFFREY GOLDBERG

Why Is America Afraid of Black History?

No one should fear a history that asks a country to live up to its highest ideals.

By LONNIE G. BUNCH III

How Black Americans Kept Reconstruction Alive

The federal government abandoned Reconstruction in 1877, but Black people didn’t give up on the moment’s promise.

By PENIEL E. JOSEPH