Open Letter

An Open Letter on the Need to Teach the Reconstruction Era

Open Letter to School Districts to Teach Reconstruction Era

This letter has been signed by more than 200 scholars of U.S. history. It can be presented to school districts by teachers, scholars, parents, students, and other concerned community members. We will post the names of school districts that resolve to take action.

We, the undersigned scholars of U.S. history, urge school districts to devote more time and resources to the teaching of the Reconstruction era in upper elementary, middle, and high school U.S. history and civics courses.

Reconstruction is full of stories that can help us see the possibility of a future defined by racial equity. However, too often the story of this grand experiment in interracial democracy is skipped or rushed through in curricula and classrooms. And in the scant coverage it receives, the possibilities and achievements of this era are overshadowed and the violent white supremacist backlash is placed in isolation and on center stage.

It is for these reasons that we ask school district administrators, principals, school boards, curriculum coordinators, teachers, and teacher unions to resolve to take action. Here are a few examples of ways that school districts can ensure that students learn from the history of the Reconstruction era:

  • Assess how much time is currently devoted to the Reconstruction era in your school district and make a plan to increase it.

  • Critically review the narrative in the district’s textbooks and curricula about Reconstruction to determine if it focuses on the famous leaders and backlash or if it also highlights the bottom-up history and the era’s social and political successes. Make a plan to shift to more of the grassroots history.

  • Increase district support and resources for teaching the Reconstruction era in U.S. history and in social studies with professional development, books, films, and funds for field experiences.

  • Expand the time devoted to the Reconstruction era and the Reconstruction Amendments in the social studies, and not just at the high school level.

There are free resources available to schools to teach about Reconstruction from the Zinn Education Project, Facing History and Ourselves, the National Park Service, PBS, and more. Let us know what actions you take so that we can publicly acknowledge your school district’s commitment.

Sincerely,

  1. Catherine Adams, Claflin University

  2. Nicholas J. Aieta, Westfield State University

  3. Shawn Leigh Alexander, University of Kansas

  4. Abdul Alkalimat, University of Illinois

  5. Derrick P. Alridge, University of Virginia

  6. Carol Anderson, Emory University

  7. Thomas Andrews, University of Colorado Boulder

  8. Christian G. Appy, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

  9. Chris Myers Asch, Colby College

  10. Curtis Austin, Arizona State University

  11. Joseph Bagley, Georgia State University

  12. Bruce E. Baker, Newcastle University

  13. Davarian L. Baldwin, Trinity College

  14. Jared Ball, Morgan State University

  15. Simon Balto, The University of Iowa

  16. David Barber, University of Tennessee at Martin

  17. Alice L. Baumgartner, University of Southern California

  18. Kabria Baumgartner, University of New Hampshire

  19. Mario Beatty, Howard University

  20. Justin Behrend, SUNY Geneseo

  21. Kathleen Belew, Northwestern University

  22. Richard Benson, University of Pittsburgh

  23. Dan Berger, University of Washington, Bothell

  24. Iver Bernstein, Washington University in St. Louis

  25. Stephen A. Berrey, University of Michigan

  26. Tithi Bhattacharya, Purdue University

  27. Derek W. Black, University of South Carolina

  28. Richard Blackett, Vanderbilt University, Emeritus

  29. Keisha N. Blain, University of Pittsburgh

  30. William A. Blair, Penn State, Emeritus

  31. Eladio Bobadilla, University of Pittsburgh

  32. Christopher Bonner, University of Maryland, College Park

  33. Taylor Branch, author

  34. Allyson Brantley, University of La Verne

  35. Brandi Brimmer, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

  36. Nancy K. Bristow, University of Puget Sound

  37. Joshua Brown, City University of New York, Emeritus

  38. David Busch, Case Western Reserve University

  39. Say Burgin, Dickinson College

  40. Orville Vernon Burton, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

  41. J. Michael Butler, Flagler College

  42. Kia Lilly Caldwell, UNC-Chapel Hill

  43. Greg Carr, Howard University

  44. Jim Casey, Princeton University

  45. Daphne R. Chamberlain, Tougaloo College

  46. Marcia Chatelain, Georgetown University

  47. Christy Clark-Pujara, University of Wisconsin-Madison

  48. Robert Cohen, NYU Steinhardt

  49. Peter Cole, Western Illinois University

  50. Christy S. Coleman, Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation

  51. Dierdre Cooper Owens, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

  52. Matthew Countryman, University of Michigan

  53. Karen L. Cox, University of North Carolina at Charlotte

  54. Emilye Crosby, SUNY Geneseo

  55. Diana D'Amico Pawlewicz, University of North Dakota

  56. Robert Dannin, independent scholar

  57. Joshua Davis, University of Baltimore

  58. Kelley Fanto Deetz, University of California, Berkeley

  59. Catherine J. Denial, Knox College

  60. Michael Dennis, Acadia University

  61. Ajamu A. Dillahunt, Michigan State University, PhD Student

  62. Rebecca Dixon, Tennessee State University

  63. L. Mara Dodge, Westfield State University

  64. Adam H Domby, Auburn University

  65. Gregory P. Downs, University of California, Davis

  66. Jim Downs, Gettysburg College

  67. Peter Dreier, Occidental College

  68. Kim Dulaney, Chicago State University

  69. Erica Armstrong Dunbar, Rutgers University

  70. Natanya Duncan, Pennsylvania State University and Lehigh University

  71. Taulby H. Edmondson, Virginia Tech

  72. Ansley T. Erickson, Teachers College, Columbia University

  73. Ashley Farmer, University of Texas-Austin

  74. Andrew Feffer, Union College

  75. Crystal N. Feimster, Yale University

  76. Johanna Fernandez, Baruch College, CUNY

  77. Eileen Findlay, American University

  78. Jerise Fogel, Montclair State University

  79. Eric Foner, Columbia University, Emeritus

  80. P. Gabrielle Foreman, Penn State University

  81. Robert Forrant, University of Massachusetts, Lowell

  82. Catherine Fosl, University of Louisville

  83. Signe Fourmy, University of Texas at Austin

  84. Nishani Frazier, University of Kansas

  85. Laura E. Free, Hobart and William Smith Colleges

  86. David M. P. Freund, University of Maryland, College Park

  87. Shannon Frystak, East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania

  88. Kevin Gannon, Grand View University

  89. Judith Giesberg, Villanova University

  90. Irene Gendzier, Boston University, Emeritus

  91. Lawrence Goldstone, independent scholar

  92. Van E. Gosse, Franklin & Marshall

  93. Francis Gourrier, Kenyon College

  94. Walter D. Greason, Macalester College

  95. Hilary N. Green, University of Alabama

  96. Caroline Grego, Queens University of Charlotte

  97. Frank Andre Guridy, Columbia University

  98. Hannah Gurman, New York University

  99. Tona Hangen, Worcester State University

  100. Steven Hahn, New York University

  101. Jon N. Hale, University of South Carolina

  102. Dennis Patrick Halpin, Virginia Tech

  103. Rachel E. Harding, University of Colorado, Veterans of Hope Project

  104. Claudrena N. Harold, University of Virginia

  105. LaShawn D. Harris, Michigan State University

  106. Leslie M. Harris, Northwestern University

  107. Wesley Hogan, Duke University

  108. Woody Holton, University of South Carolina

  109. Natalie Hopkinson, Howard University

  110. Gerald Horne, University of Houston

  111. William Horne, Villanova University

  112. Tera W. Hunter, Princeton University

  113. Karl Jacoby, Columbia University

  114. Kellie Carter Jackson, Wellesley College

  115. Lawrence Jackson, Johns Hopkins University

  116. Ramon Jackson, South Carolina Department of Archives and History

  117. Hasan Kwame Jeffries, The Ohio State University

  118. Gaye Theresa Johnson, University of California at Los Angeles

  119. Ida E. Jones, Morgan State

  120. Jonathan S. Jones, Virginia Military Institute

  121. Martha Suzanne Jones, Johns Hopkins University

  122. Peniel E. Joseph, University of Texas at Austin

  123. Nick Juravich, University of Massachusetts, Boston

  124. Aaron Katz, University of Washington, Seattle

  125. Judith S. Kaufman, Hofstra University

  126. Julie Keiffer-Lewis, De Anza College

  127. Robin D. G. Kelley, UCLA

  128. Ibram X. Kendi, Boston University

  129. Jeffrey R. Kerr-Ritchie, Howard University

  130. Barclay T. Key, University of Arkansas at Little Rock

  131. Kwasi Konadu, Colgate University

  132. J. Morgan Kousser, Caltech

  133. Dale Kretz, independent scholar

  134. Chenjerai Kumanyika, Rutgers University, New Brunswick

  135. Peter Kuznick, American University

  136. Louis M. Kyriakoudes, Middle Tennessee State University

  137. Adam Laats, Binghamton University (SUNY)

  138. Stephanie M. Lampkin, Jane and Littleton Mitchell Center for African American Heritage

  139. Ashleigh Lawrence, University of Colorado Boulder

  140. Talitha LeFlouria, University of Virginia

  141. Adriane Lentz-Smith, Duke University

  142. Elizabeth D. Leonard, Colby College, Emeritus

  143. Kevin Levin, independent scholar

  144. Alex Lichtenstein, Indiana University Bloomington

  145. Jeffrey L. Littlejohn, Sam Houston State University

  146. Samuel Livingston, Morehouse College

  147. Gretchen Long, Williams College

  148. James W. Loewen, Catholic University of America (In memoriam.)

  149. Robert Luckett, Jackson State University

  150. Clarence Lusane, Howard University

  151. Nancy MacLean, Duke University

  152. Norman Markowitz, Rutgers University, New Brunswick

  153. Bayley J. Marquez, University of Maryland, College Park

  154. Lindsay Stallones Marshall, University of Oklahoma

  155. Christopher Martell, University of Massachusetts Boston

  156. Kate Masur, Northwestern University

  157. Timothy Patrick McCarthy, Harvard University

  158. Jillean McCommons, University of Kentucky, PhD Student

  159. Austin McCoy, West Virginia University

  160. W. Caleb McDaniel, Rice University

  161. Erik S. McDuffie, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

  162. Charles McKinney, Rhodes College

  163. Keri Leigh Merritt, independent scholar

  164. Nancy Raquel Mirabal, University of Maryland, College Park

  165. Carl Mirra, Adelphi University

  166. Brian Mitchell, University of Arkansas Little Rock

  167. Koritha Mitchell, The Ohio State University

  168. Aldon Morris, American Sociological Association

  169. Brent Morris, Clemson University

  170. Guy Emerson Mount, Wake Forest University

  171. William Mountz, Missouri Southern State University

  172. Khalil Gibran Muhammad, Harvard Kennedy School

  173. G. Derek Musgrove, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

  174. Megan Kate Nelson, historian and writer, Lincoln, Massachusetts

  175. Scott Reynolds Nelson, University of Georgia

  176. Jeremy Nesoff, Facing History and Ourselves

  177. Marcus P. Nevius, University of Rhode Island

  178. Cassandra L. Newby-Alexander, Norfolk State University

  179. Rebecca R. Noel, Plymouth State University

  180. Jody Noll, Georgia State University

  181. Arlisha R. Norwood, Baruch College

  182. Margo Okazawa-Rey, San Francisco State University, Emeritus

  183. Paul Ortiz, University of Florida

  184. Tyler D. Parry, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

  185. Charles M. Payne, Rutgers University Newark

  186. Jeffrey B. Perry, independent scholar

  187. Charles Postel, San Francisco State University

  188. Margaret Power, Illinois Institute of Technology

  189. Bradley Proctor, The Evergreen State College

  190. Ray Raphael, Journal of the American Revolution

  191. Benjamin Railton, Fitchburg State University

  192. Josiah Rector, University of Houston

  193. Marcus Rediker, University of Pittsburgh

  194. Rachel B. Reinhard, UC Berkeley History-Social Science Project

  195. J. T. Roane, Arizona State University

  196. Alaina E. Roberts, University of Pittsburgh

  197. Ian Rocksborough-Smith, University of the Fraser Valley

  198. David Roediger, University of Kansas

  199. Dylan Rodríguez, University of California, Riverside

  200. Hannah Rosen, William & Mary

  201. Adam Rothman, Georgetown University

  202. Joshua D. Rothman, University of Alabama

  203. Mark Charles Roudané, independent scholar

  204. Leslie Rowland, University of Maryland

  205. Calvin Schermerhorn, Arizona State University

  206. Jack Schneider, University of Massachusetts Lowell

  207. Debra Schultz, Kingsborough Community College, CUNY

  208. Kathryn Schumaker, University of Oklahoma

  209. Leslie A. Schwalm, University of Iowa

  210. Campbell F. Scribner, University of Maryland, College Park

  211. David Silkenat, University of Edinburgh

  212. Bryant Simon, Temple University

  213. Alan Singer, Hofstra University

  214. Manisha Sinha, University of Connecticut

  215. Clint Smith, New America

  216. J. Douglas Smith, independent scholar

  217. Robyn C. Spencer, Lehman College, CUNY

  218. Bryan Stevenson, Equal Justice Initiative

  219. William Sturkey, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

  220. James L. Swarts, SUNY Geneseo, Emeritus

  221. Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, Princeton University

  222. Quintard Taylor, University of Washington, Emeritus

  223. Jeanne Theoharis, Brooklyn College

  224. Heather Ann Thompson, University of Michigan

  225. Sheneese Thompson, Bowie State University

  226. Akinyele Umoja, Georgia State University

  227. Shannon Vance, East Carolina University

  228. Michael Vorenberg, Brown University

  229. Michael Wade, Appalachian State University

  230. Kevin Waite, Durham University

  231. Corey D. B. Walker, University of Richmond

  232. Peter Wallenstein, Virginia Tech

  233. Valethia Watkins, Howard University

  234. Jill Watts, California State University San Marcos

  235. Stephen A. West, Catholic University of America

  236. Laura Wexler, Yale University

  237. Craig Steven Wilder, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  238. Isabel Wilkerson, author

  239. Chad Williams, Brandeis University

  240. David Williams, Valdosta State University, Emeritus

  241. Kidada E. Williams, Wayne State University

  242. Learotha Williams Jr., Tennessee State University

  243. Mason B. Williams, Williams College

  244. Naomi R Williams, Rutgers University

  245. Shannen Dee Williams, Villanova University

  246. Yohuru Williams, University of St. Thomas, Minnesota

  247. Nan Elizabeth Woodruff, Pennsylvania State University

  248. Joshua K. Wright, Trinity Washington University

  249. Donald Yacovone, Hutchins Center for African & African American Research, Harvard University

  250. Thomas Zimmer, Georgetown University

    Organizations listed for identification purposes only.

Scholars of U.S. history: To add your name to the list of signers, write to zep@zinnedproject.org