Epilogue: the River Has its Bend Summary and Analysis

In an epilogue to the book, Foner argues that if looked at in terms of its two main intentions, the establishment of equal civil rights for blacks and the spread of Republican influence into southern states, Reconstruction was a failure. Still, he claims, the conditions blacks found themselves in under the Redeemer governments were still better than under slavery. The situation was especially difficult as it came after the high hopes during Reconstruction that equality might be possible.

Foner also turns to the changing interpretation of Reconstruction among historians at the end of the 19th century. Led by a Columbia professor named William Dunning, historians of the time "rewrote" the history of Reconstruction to depict the blacks as being childlike and unready for the freedom that was thrust upon them and...