Equality for All
Students explore some of the limitations of Reconstruction's transformation on US democracy and learn about groups who demanded that the promise of equality be made a reality.
![Seated portrait of women's voting rights advocate Susan B. Anthony.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-05/Ch02_Image05.png?h=498cfac0&itok=w8RpswXr)
Platform of the Workingmen’s Party of California (en español)
In Spanish, the political platform of the Workingmen's Party of California, a third party organized around eliminating competition for white laborers in the West and advocating for a ban on Chinese immigration.
![Chinese workers building the Loma Prieta Lumber Company's railroad in California.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-07/Chinese_railroad_Workers_1880_FH2110498.jpg?h=7feeb858&itok=sJSfVjZM)
Chinese Immigrants Write to President Grant
Chinese leaders in California write to President Ulysses S. Grant in 1876 about the discrimination their communities face from a rising anti-Chinese movement.
![President Ulysses S. Grant, half-length portrait, seated, facing right](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-07/Ulysses_Grant_1869_FH21412.jpg?h=4b9455f5&itok=BuGykV5F)
Chinese Immigrants Write to President Grant (en español)
In Spanish, Chinese leaders in California write to President Ulysses S. Grant in 1876 about the discrimination their communities face from a rising anti-Chinese movement.
![President Ulysses S. Grant, half-length portrait, seated, facing right](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-07/Ulysses_Grant_1869_FH21412.jpg?h=4b9455f5&itok=BuGykV5F)
"Colored Rule in a Reconstructed (?) State" (1874)
How do racial stereotypes in the media create and reinforce “in” groups and “out” groups in a society?
![Cartoon of members of the South Caroline Legislature in argument in the House, with Columbia rebuking them.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-07/1874_ColoredRuleinaReconstructed%28%3F%29State%281874%29_FH140919_0.jpg?itok=FEBN9jCc)
Part Five: Violence and Backlash
Scholars discuss racial violence that took part in the South during the Reconstruction era.
![](/sites/default/files/brightcove/videos/images/posters/image_2086.jpg)
"He Wants a Change Too" (1876)
Propaganda about racial stereotypes used in the Reconstruction Era
How do racial stereotypes in the media create and reinforce “in” groups and “out” groups in a society?
![Print shows an African American man standing with a rifle, while in the background other African Americans lay dead and buildings burned. Quotes in the block on left call for meeting force with force.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-07/1876_HeWantsaChangeToo_FH2125840.jpg?h=ddcac193&itok=TG4pdX3A)
Pardon/Franchise Engravings by Thomas Nast
Wood engravings by Thomas Nast depict the tension between the demands of healing and justice during the Reconstruction era.
![Centerfold prints show Columbia considering why she should pardon Confederate troops who are begging for forgiveness when an African American Union soldier with an amputated leg does not have the right to vote.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-07/1865_PardonFranchiseColumbiaShallItrustthesemenandnotthisman_FH2125825.jpg?h=5d059bf2&itok=rLpFJ0P6)
Part Four: Interracial Democracy
Scholars discuss how African Americans and whites initially worked together within Reconstruction governments.
![](/sites/default/files/brightcove/videos/images/posters/image_1477.jpg)