As the country confronts racial tensions and class conflicts, the question begs: how did we get here? We look back to a moment in our history when our country was struggling to become a true, multiracial democracy -- and meeting a lot of roadblocks - many of which persist today. Historian Eric Foner gives us a primer on the Reconstruction Era amendments that we explored in season four and producer Veralyn Williams rides along to help us make sense of what it means today and how we can move forward as one nation.

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Notes from America airs live on Sundays at 6 p.m. ET. The podcast episodes are lightly edited from our live broadcasts.