The Third Reconstruction: America's Struggle for Racial Justice in the Twenty-First Century
Peniel Joseph
Basic Books
America's Reconstruction era set off enduring battles between supporters of multiracial democracy and advocates of white supremacy. A century later, during the civil rights era, America's Second Reconstruction produced a fragile consensus that the quest for Black citizenship and dignity was a political and moral good. But the struggle over the true meaning of American democracy has burst back into the open, with the racial and political reckoning of 2020 marking the climax of America's third era of reconstruction.
Joseph offers an essential new interpretation of the history shaping today's struggles. Drawing connections across centuries and insights from his own journey as a scholar-activist, he illuminates the election of Barack Obama, the white backlash of Donald Trump, and the transformative leadership of Black Lives Matter. We have before us now, he insists, a precious opportunity to choose love over fear -- to seize the chance to achieve Black dignity and citizenship at last.