Kidada Williams on I Saw Death Coming: A History of Terror and Survival in the War Against Reconstruction
Description
In this episode, from our series on Teach the Black Freedom Struggle, our host, Prentiss Charney Fellow Jessica Rucker speaks with historian Kidada E. Williams about her 2023 book, I Saw Death Coming: A History of Terror and Survival in the War Against Reconstruction. The book offers a breakthrough account of the much-debated Reconstruction period, transporting readers into the daily existence of formerly enslaved people and the white supremacist terror they faced after emancipation. Drawing on a deep reading of the archives, Williams offers a revelatory and, in some cases, minute-by-minute record of nighttime raids and Ku Klux Klan strikes. And she deploys cutting-edge scholarship on trauma to consider how the effects of these attacks would linger for decades — indeed, generations — to come. Read about the event and find related resources.
United States
