Rise of the Black Consciousness During Reconstruction

Steven Hahn’s A Nation Under Our Feet, published in 2003, covers the history of political awakening of black Americans in the rural south during Reconstruction. Hahn dispels the myth of the submissive slave and the ignorant freedman patiently waiting for his “40 acres and a mule.” Instead we see Southern Blacks fighting for political and economic power despite intensely violent obstacles. He also chronicles the hidden history of slave resistance. In the end, Hahn notes how effective white violence was for intimidation and bringing a close to Reconstruction. In the post-abolition period, Hahn describes how although it was the Republican Party who was responsible for political participation in the south, American blacks mobilized their community to influence the shape of Reconstruction. He successfully shows how family ties were essential to support political initiation, families such as The Banner family in North Carolina, The Yancey family, and the Medlock family in Texas. This evidence supports Hahn’s argument that black initiatives relied on the strength of community based networks. Central to his main theme is the critical role played by the black churches in cultivating locally rooted politics. Even after emancipation, as anchors for support and training schools. Overall Hahn is not confident that racially integrated political projects in the nineteenth century had much chance for success, but at times he tries to be optimistic. “Political biracialism,”