Statistics from the War (en español)
In Spanish, this reading features statistics on the number of deaths during the Civil War.
![Ruins of a building and carriages.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Charleston_sc_1865.jpg?h=02857a37&itok=Qup7m3tC)
W. E. B. Du Bois Reflects on the Purpose of History
W. E. B. Du Bois questions the way that Reconstruction was studied and taught in an excerpt from his 1935 book Black Reconstruction in America.
![A portrait of W.E.B. Du Bois, head-and-shoulders, facing slightly right.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/3a53178u.jpg?h=87584735&itok=bgkKYE0Q)
The White Citizens Councils
Historian David Halberstam describes the White Citizens’ Councils and their efforts to actively oppose integration in the South in the 1950s.
![Man "White League" shaking hands with Ku Klux Klan member over shield illustrated with African American couple with dead(?) baby. In background, man hanging from tree.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-05/1874_WorseThanSlavery1874_FH140921.jpg?h=7fc8cdf2&itok=807BJ2Zj)
Being Well Born: New Civic Biology by George William Hunter
Read excerpts of George William Hunter’s book about the now-disproved idea that traits like intelligence and morality are handed down from generation to generation.
![Photograph of journal bindings in an anthropology library, showing the transition where Eugenics Quarterly was renamed to Social Biology in 1969.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-05/2006_EugenicsQuarterlytoSocialBiology_FH2169993.jpeg?h=73f03467&itok=V_UX5PAx)
The Birthday Party: Outside the Magic Circle by Virginia Foster Durr
In her autobiography, Outside the Magic Circle, white southerner Virginia Foster Durr recalls how the customs of the Jim Crow South affected her seventh birthday party.
![Eliza "Didy" Ridgely White, her extended family, and their servants are seen on the porch at the Bruen Villa on Bellevue Avenue in Newport, Rhode Island.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/1864_FamilyGroupinNewport_FH147226.jpg?h=93ecfe0f&itok=DTLMZ_A3)
Peril and Promise (1980-2000)
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Part six of Latino Americans covers the years since 1980, when a second wave of Cubans arrived in Miami and hundreds of thousands of Salvadorans, Nicaraguans, and Guatemalans fleeing civil wars, death squads, and unrest migrated to the US.
![](/sites/default/files/brightcove/videos/images/posters/image_1366.jpg)
Family Names
Learn how filmmaker Macky Alston learned about the history of his family name and its connection to his family's legacy in the United States.
![Bayeté Ross Smith’s 2010 series "Our Kind of People" examines how clothing, ethnicity, and gender influence our ideas about identity, personality, and character.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/2010_OurKindofPeoplecombined_FH2170284.jpg?h=52649bae&itok=_jsHfuii)
Family Names
In Spanish, learn how filmmaker Macky Alston learned about the history of his family name and its connection to his family's legacy in the United States.
![Bayeté Ross Smith’s 2010 series "Our Kind of People" examines how clothing, ethnicity, and gender influence our ideas about identity, personality, and character.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/2010_OurKindofPeoplecombined_FH2170284.jpg?h=52649bae&itok=_jsHfuii)
Wesley Lowery's Arrest
Washington Post reporter Wesley Lowery describes how he was arrested in Ferguson, Missouri, and explains how freedom of the press was threatened during the protests.
![](/sites/default/files/brightcove/videos/images/posters/image_608.jpg)
Where Are You From From?
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Through the voices of ten young people living in Berlin, Germany; and New York, USA, Where Are You From From? highlights the insight of children of immigrants in two societies struggling with migration and national identity.
![](/sites/default/files/brightcove/videos/images/posters/image_1422.jpg)
Why Study Reconstruction?
The Reconstruction era was a pivotal moment in American history. Civil rights were set in motion as Americans grappled to rebuild after the division and trauma of the Civil War, raising essential questions about freedom and democracy.
![](/sites/default/files/brightcove/videos/images/posters/image_457.jpg)