Eric Foner

In the following viewpoint Eric Foner argues that Reconstruction failed to improve the political and economic status of African Americans. According to Foner, this failure can be attributed to Southern racism, violence throughout the South, and the lack of resolve among northern politicians. He adds that although Reconstruction was unsuccessful, historians in the early twentieth century were wrong to assert that the failure was caused by the decision to give blacks political power. Foner is a professor of history at Columbia University and the author of numerous books, including Reconstruction: America’s Unfinished Revolution, 1863–1877, from which this viewpoint has been excerpted.

In the words of W.E.B. Du Bois, “the slave went free; stood a brief moment in the sun; then moved back again toward slavery.” The magnitude of the Redeemer counterrevolution1 underscored both the...