Foner (cont): "It was a justification for the white South resisting outside efforts in changing race relations because of the worry of having another Reconstruction. All of the alleged horrors of Reconstruction helped to freeze the minds of the white South in resistance to any change whatsoever." /5
Foner (cont): "And it was only after the Civil Rights revolution swept away the racist underpinnings of that old view—i.e., that black people are incapable of taking part in American democracy—that you could get a new view of Reconstruction widely accepted." /6
This Dunning School thought argued Reconstruction was a failure and many people within this school of thought and trained by Dunning went on to get academic jobs throughout the country, especially the South. They influenced generations with these myths, which are still felt today. /7
There was pushback, especially from Black people. John Lynch, a Black writer, military officer, and politician, wrote “The Facts of Reconstruction” in 1913, which critiqued the Dunning school. DuBois wrote "Black Reconstruction in America" (a must read), challenging the Dunning School thought. /8
DuBois wrote about the Reconstruction in the Atlantic (1901), “The Souls of Black Folks” (1903), and “The Gift of Black Folk” (1924). Dunning himself praised a presentation/essay that DuBois delivered in 1909 about Reconstruction, but Dunning didn't change any of his views. /9
DuBois wrote Black Reconstruction in America in 1935, and people dismissed it or argued he was wrong, most accepting the Dunning School line of thinking. However, historians have now come to accept that he was very much right about facts and analysis. /10
DuBois pointed out how enslaved people on Southern plantations would stop working (representing a strike that Southern elites weren’t ready for). He also noted that post-emancipation in the South didn’t turn to chaos like the Dunning School argued. /11
DuBois also emphasized that the white elite planter class tried to retain control and land and used terror to repress Black people and Black voting. /12
He noted many accomplishments of the Reconstruction: Public health/sanitation, public infrastructure, public education in the South for the first time, welfare laws, charitable institutions for all, extension of voting for landless white people, etc, many remaining even after Reconstruction. /13
DuBois also pointed out that Black freedman and poor white people were divided due to race, allowing white planters to regain control. DuBois noted that in allowing white planters to regain control, it ended up disenfranchising Black people AND poor whites. /14
The Trump admin is not just praising the Confederacy. It's pushing for a return of the Lost Cause narrative and the prevailing thoughts of The Dunning School. It is part of a larger plan to rewrite history and give credibility to racist historical thought in their attempts to shape the future. /15