
Sign up to save your podcasts
Or


In February 2022, Into America launched “Reconstructed,” a series about the legacy of Reconstruction.
The story begins in the late 1860s, as the newly freed became citizens under the law and Black men gained the right to vote. Black Americans across the South suddenly had the power to exert control over their own lives. In the face of horrific violence from their white neighbors, Black people voted in liberal governments across the South, elevating hundreds of their own to places of political power.
Perhaps no one exemplifies this more than the late Congressman Robert Smalls. As his great-great-grandson Michael Boulware Moore tells Trymaine Lee, Smalls’ daring escape from slavery and wartime actions made him a hero. Then, like hundreds of newly freed Black Americans, he decided to get involved in politics in his hometown of Beaufort, South Carolina.
And more than a century later, we still see the impact of this brief time of Black political power, through people like the current Democratic National Committee chair and South Carolina native Jaime Harrison, who tells Trymaine how today’s 20th-Century fight for voting rights is a continuation of the Reconstruction era.
(Original release date: February 3, 2022)
Thoughts? Feedback? Story ideas? Write to us at [email protected].
For a transcript, please visit https://www.msnbc.com/intoamerica.
For more:
To listen to this show and other MS podcasts without ads, sign up for MS NOW Premium on Apple Podcasts.
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
By Trymaine Lee, MS NOW4.6
33463,346 ratings
In February 2022, Into America launched “Reconstructed,” a series about the legacy of Reconstruction.
The story begins in the late 1860s, as the newly freed became citizens under the law and Black men gained the right to vote. Black Americans across the South suddenly had the power to exert control over their own lives. In the face of horrific violence from their white neighbors, Black people voted in liberal governments across the South, elevating hundreds of their own to places of political power.
Perhaps no one exemplifies this more than the late Congressman Robert Smalls. As his great-great-grandson Michael Boulware Moore tells Trymaine Lee, Smalls’ daring escape from slavery and wartime actions made him a hero. Then, like hundreds of newly freed Black Americans, he decided to get involved in politics in his hometown of Beaufort, South Carolina.
And more than a century later, we still see the impact of this brief time of Black political power, through people like the current Democratic National Committee chair and South Carolina native Jaime Harrison, who tells Trymaine how today’s 20th-Century fight for voting rights is a continuation of the Reconstruction era.
(Original release date: February 3, 2022)
Thoughts? Feedback? Story ideas? Write to us at [email protected].
For a transcript, please visit https://www.msnbc.com/intoamerica.
For more:
To listen to this show and other MS podcasts without ads, sign up for MS NOW Premium on Apple Podcasts.
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

37,376 Listeners

8,729 Listeners

7,381 Listeners

5,869 Listeners

3,925 Listeners

4,494 Listeners

7,017 Listeners

9,534 Listeners

3,421 Listeners

613 Listeners

15,616 Listeners

833 Listeners

10,532 Listeners

960 Listeners

4,354 Listeners

1,454 Listeners

31,926 Listeners

2,154 Listeners

7,105 Listeners

6,322 Listeners

1,385 Listeners

1,173 Listeners

3,444 Listeners

1,730 Listeners

44 Listeners

190 Listeners

50 Listeners

4,679 Listeners