South Carolina ETV Completes Interactive Collection Exploring the Reconstruction Era in American History

Press Release

South Carolina ETV and Public Radio (SCETV) is pleased to announce the completion of its interactive and immersive educational website Reconstruction 360. 

Work on Reconstruction 360 began in 2019 to complement the PBS documentary series Reconstruction: America After the Civil War and explores the Reconstruction era in American history. Content modules use a 360° video platform as a storytelling device that lets the audience step inside pivotal Reconstruction events. By clicking on icons within the 360° video, users can access short documentaries that offer the perspectives of multiple characters, historians and descendants across topics including 40 Acres and a Mule, the Black Codes, the Memphis Massacre, African American voting rights, education and the Black family.

Supported by multiple grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Reconstruction 360 is designed for the general public, students and educators and is accessible on desktop and mobile devices. Reconstruction 360 includes lesson plans, curriculum standards, primary documents and contemporary stories that reflect issues of Reconstruction that still prevail today.

Forty Acres and a Mule – Step into a working farm in South Carolina in 1865, where an amazing reversal of labor and land ownership has taken place. Freed people are working their own farms, producing crops, and making money. But then a visitor appears on the horizon, and one of the most painful, lasting chapters in American history is about to unfold.

A Seat at the Table – You are invited to dinner in Savannah in 1868. The mother of a Black family has prepared a special meal to commemorate the new Georgia State Constitution that her husband and pastor have helped to create.

Teaching Ourselves – Welcome to a small school in rural Alabama. Everyone in the community is excited about the new teacher, a recent Normal School graduate who brings spelling books for her students.

Violence and Hatred – Set in Memphis, Tennessee in May 1866, experience a terrible event known as the Memphis Massacre, in which at least 46 Black Memphians were murdered by members of a White mob.

The Black Codes – The Civil War is barely over, and Southern states have created Black Codes to control formerly enslaved people. A Black man is in jail for refusing to sign a labor contract, a violation of the Black Codes. He and his wife negotiate with the white landowner for better terms.

The First Vote – Join a group of new African American voters at a polling station in Virginia in 1867. Black and white U.S. Army soldiers are serving as poll workers, since the state of Virginia is under federal military rule, and two Confederate Army veterans are not pleased.

View the full Reconstruction 360 collection at www.reconstruction360.org.

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