Historian Gregory Downs is the guest on this week's edition ofThe Chauncey DeVega Show. Dr. Downs is the author of the new book After Appomattox, which offers an analysis of the post Civil War era South, Reconstruction, American freedom, and the struggle for African-Americans to defend their newly one gains in the face of white racial terrorism. Professor Downs' new book is an excellent history of American politics and a corrective to misunderstandings about the Civil War and its aftermath. Dr. Downs also writes for The New York Times in its on-going series on the American Civil War. 

Gregory does some great teaching and sharing in this episode of The Chauncey DeVega Show. He disabuses Chauncey--in a very nice way--of some of his misconceptions about the United States Constitution and its relationship to chattel slavery, shares his thoughts on writing for a popular audience in The New York Times, and explains the particular historical relationship that Black America has with the United States government and why the Black Freedom Struggle can be described as being "emancipated into the arms of the State".    Chauncey and Greg also do some sharing about graphic novels and other "popular" depictions of American history.    In this episode of The Chauncey DeVega Show, Chauncey also talks about the Bill Cosby sex scandal and the misunderstood racial politics of The Cosby Show, shares some thoughts about Ta-Nehisi Coates' new book, and tells a tale of intrigue and crime while applying his Sherlock Holmes-like powers of detection and investigation to solve a local mystery.