Second Reconstruction

Second Reconstruction is a term, coined by historian C. Vann Woodward, that refers to the American Civil Rights Movement. In the same way, however, that Reconstruction was followed by Redemption, some have also claimed that period following Second Reconstruction could be termed a Second Redemption characterized by more conservatism on the part of the federal government, and several Supreme Court decisions that weakened the scope of civil rights reforms, especially in the Northern States.

During Second Reconstruction, African-Americans once again began holding various political offices, and reasserting and reclaiming their civil and political rights as American citizens. Unlike Reconstruction, however, most African-Americans abandoned the Republican Party for the Democratic Party. A noteworthy feature of Second Reconstruction was the political realignment that occurred in 1965, which transformed the nature and composition of both the Republican and Democratic Parties, eroding the Democratic Solid South.

In the same way, however, that Reconstruction was followed by Redemption, some have also claimed that period following Second Reconstruction could be termed a Second Redemption characterized by more conservatism on the part of the federal government, and several Supreme Court decisions that weakened the scope of civil rights reforms, especially in the Northern States.

See also

• Second Redemption
• Neoabolitionist
• Reconstruction
• Redemption (U.S. history)
• American Civil War
• American Civil Rights Movement

References

• Eric Foner and Joshua Brown, Forever Free: The Story of Emancipation and Reconstruction. Alfred A. Knopf: New York, 2005, 225-238.

• Eric Foner, Who Owns History? Rethinking the Past in a Changing World. New York: Hill and Wang, 16-18.

• C. Vann Woodward, The Strange Career of Jim Crow (1955).
• Kousser, J. Morgan, "The Supreme Court And The Undoing of the Second Reconstruction," National Forum, (Spring 2000).