"The Honoured Representative of Four Millions of Colored People"
Historian Douglas R. Egerton describes the life and political career of Mississippi politician Blanche K. Bruce, the first African American to serve a full six-year term in the United States Senate.
![Portrait of man seated in suit.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/REC_04a_Blanche_Bruce.jpg?h=b75a1373&itok=WIl27GuK)
The Honoured Representative of Four Millions of Colored People (en español)
In Spanish, historian Douglas R. Egerton describes the life and political career of Mississippi politician Blanche K. Bruce, the first African American to serve a full six-year term in the United States Senate.
![Portrait of man seated in suit.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/REC_04a_Blanche_Bruce.jpg?h=b75a1373&itok=WIl27GuK)
The Importance of Getting History Right
Historian James Grossman describes the importance of establishing an accurate history of Reconstruction.
![A drawing of the first Black 7 senators and representatives in the 41st and 42nd Congress of the United States.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/First_colored_senator_and_reps.jpg?h=a7421b6e&itok=EPFRKxDN)
Improving Education in South Carolina
Samuel J. Lee, elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives in 1868, describes improvements to the state education system made during Reconstruction.
![A large group of Black students standing outside a freedmen's school](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/freedmens_school.jpeg?h=46a6d4fa&itok=DZr4nxK5)
Improving Education in South Carolina (en español)
In Spanish, Samuel J. Lee, elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives in 1868, describes improvements to the state education system made during Reconstruction.
![A large group of Black students standing outside a freedmen's school](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/freedmens_school.jpeg?h=46a6d4fa&itok=DZr4nxK5)
Names and Freedom
Historians Douglas Egerton and Leon Litwack explain the process of freedpeople adopting new surnames.
![A group of African Americans soberly observe Juneteenth in their hats, canes and bonnets in Austin, TX, 1900.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Emancipation_Day_celebration_-_1900-06-19%20%281%29.jpg?h=6ea8326e&itok=2mUmYjCx)
Names and Freedom (en español)
In Spanish, historians Douglas Egerton and Leon Litwack explain the process of freedpeople adopting new surnames.
![A group of African Americans soberly observe Juneteenth in their hats, canes and bonnets in Austin, TX, 1900.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Emancipation_Day_celebration_-_1900-06-19%20%281%29.jpg?h=6ea8326e&itok=2mUmYjCx)
Presidential Reconstruction
Investigate aspects of President Andrew Johnson’s plans for Reconstruction that outlined how to bring former Confederate citizens and states back into the Union.
![A photograph of Andrew Johnson.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/03751u.jpg?h=8c44f663&itok=SOBBoTvF)
Reconstructing Mississippi
Learn about the accomplishments of the first interracial legislature in Mississippi from the account of John Roy Lynch, a freedman who served in the state’s House of Representatives.
![Photograph shows a montage of seventy-five portraits of members of the Mississippi State Legislature (1874-1875)](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/mississippi-legislature-1874-75.jpg?h=6c376ef6&itok=NdPaXqS1)
Reconstructing Mississippi (en español)
In Spanish, learn about the accomplishments of the first interracial legislature in Mississippi from the account of John Roy Lynch, a freedman who served in the state’s House of Representatives.
![Photograph shows a montage of seventy-five portraits of members of the Mississippi State Legislature (1874-1875)](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/mississippi-legislature-1874-75.jpg?h=6c376ef6&itok=NdPaXqS1)
The Reconstruction Acts of 1867
This reading examines measures of the Reconstruction Acts of 1867, which enacted the plan that became known as Radical Reconstruction.
![An image of the document “The policy of Congress in reference to the restoration of the Union”](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/reconstruction_act.jpg?h=ff0754a0&itok=gvvtIEwi)