Throughout the past few weeks my knowledge on the reconstruction era has immensely increased but also my interests on it. In the reading by Joshua Brown, “Reconstructing Representation, 1866-1877,” from Beyond The Lines I got to see that the reconstruction era also known as “America’s Unfinished Revolution” has way more to it than I initially thought. Of course I believed it was just like any other “ordinary” history event that had its ending but this one was different. It was interesting to see that it wasn’t as simple as I thought. In class we learned several things that were new during this time period like the 14th and 15th amendment, and the black codes. This reading showed me a different approach to this era. This reading really goes into depth of how bad this era really was despite the “changes” being made. Families would have a hard time getting basic necessities because of these changes , “The father of the family, a strong, athletic man whose labor could bring means to support his family in comfort, sits idly by his cabin-door.. While his hard working wife and almost starving children gather around the oven.. Wondering where the next supply of food may come from,” (Brown 132-133). Learning that there was a labor strike was really interesting to me because it gave a new approach in seeing the effects of the reconstruction era. “The bitter “Long Strike ” during winter of 1874-75,” (Brown 132) shows that although a lot of essentially good changes were being made they weren’t good enough especially. Families were struggling to keep up with basic necessities after the reconstruction era as well as during the start of the Gilded Age (given that this strike was during the 1800s). We also see that there were specifically strikes with coal mining, miners in general which was really interesting to know the specifics. This is similar to life today because although changes are being made in our country slowly, there are still major things that need change. Like seen in this text, poverty and labor is still an issue today that needs solving today.
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It’s important to keep in mind that, in history, events often happen simultaneously, and overlap in complex ways. I’m glad to see you convey a sense from the Brown reading that there was more going on during the period known as “Reconstruction” than the process of restoring former Confederate states to the Union and the struggles to obtain rights and equality for former slaves in the South. But I get little sense from this of what else was going on, particularly in the North—what was the “Long Strike,” for example, and how was it related to the depression after 1873? Just as importantly, what is the “representation” that Brown talks about—how were these events depicted in the media, such as the illustrated newspapers, of the time?