The First Reconstruction: Black Politics in America from the Revolution to the Civil War

When:
Monday, May 17, 2021 5:30p -
6:30p

Where:
Online event
1154 Boylston Street
Boston, MA 02215

EventScheduled OnlineEventAttendanceMode

Admission:
FREE

Categories:
History, Virtual & Streaming

Event website:
https://www.masshist.org/calendar/event?event=3466

It may be difficult to imagine that a consequential black electoral politics evolved in the United States before the Civil War, for as of 1860, the overwhelming majority of African Americans remained in bondage. Yet free black men, many of them escaped slaves, steadily increased their influence in electoral politics over the course of the early American republic. Despite efforts to disenfranchise them, black men voted across much of the North, sometimes in numbers sufficient to swing elections. Van Gosse offers a sweeping reappraisal of the formative era of American democracy from the Constitution's ratification through Abraham Lincoln’s election, chronicling the rise of an organized, visible black politics focused on the quest for citizenship, the vote, and power within the free states.

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05/17/2021 17:30:00 05/17/2021 18:30:00 America/New_York The First Reconstruction: Black Politics in America from the Revolution to the Civil War It may be difficult to imagine that a consequential black electoral politics evolved in the United States before the Civil War, for as of 1860, the overwhelming majority of African Americans remain... Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston, MA 02215 false MM/DD/YYYY

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