On ending my last lesson on Reconstruction

Wow—the Tea Party has actually radically altered the way I teach, and in unexpected ways.

For instance, when teaching Reconstruction, I always tried to hold out an alternative to the kids.  We know how it ended, and the pressures that led the North to abandon Black equality in the South.  And usually, the kids would come to the conclusion that horrible as the decision was, the South could not have been made to accept Blacks as social or civil equals.  Then the fight would begin between those who argued that the North should have hung in there anyway, versus those who said it was simply not possible .

I always used to say there was a 3^rd way…and of course, this was based on my predilection for Marxist history.  What’s the root of this white antagonism, I’d ask, and try to have think of the overall corrosive effect of slavery on Southern development.  Why did poor whites embrace the system that left them poor and powerless?  The bargain that the existence of a permanent black underclass presented for whites of all classes to pretend equality existed between them.

So, what would then alleviate white hostility towards blacks?  What about a broader distribution of opportunities for all?  What about making land available to everyone without it?  Was there a way to enrich everyone to some degree to avoid the specter of favoritism.  And if so…would there have been enough support for Republican Reconstruction after all?

Of course, part of this was anteceded by my knowledge of the southern Populist Party’s attempt to bridge poor white and black voters in the 1890s, and then of course there was the New Deal Coalition, and beyond that, the rage over busing in the 1970s…

But the Tea Partyers are not disadvantaged—they are wealthier than the average American, and many of them have benefits they are trying to deny to others.  My entire theory for the conflict that has existed between ethnic groups in this country has been shattered by seeing white, middle-class people with Medicare screaming about socialism and demanding Hispanics and Blacks be put in their places.

I literally did not know how to end the Reconstruction unit this year-- on a hopeful note, at least.  The last class just ended with all of just shaking our heads sadly.

I really hate the Tea Party/Republican Party 2.0