American Experience (1988)

Episode Overview

"Reconstruction" wraps up by exploring the experiences of both white and black communities in Georgia, South Carolina, and Louisiana from 1867 to 1877. The episode opens with the expansion of voting rights for black citizens in the South, while white residents brace themselves for potential upheaval, as narrated by Dion Graham. South Carolina rice planter Frances Butler is particularly discontented with having to "negotiate" with her family's former slaves, one of whom, Tunis Campbell, would soon secure a seat in the state Senate. Meanwhile, Georgia also witnessed black legislators being elected, and in Louisiana, Vermonter Marshall Twitchell began to gain both land and political influence, earning the ire of local whites who labeled him a "carpetbagger."