DAVID CARTER

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY, COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS

RECONSTRUCTION:

I teach and write about race and history, indebted to parents who taught me to see the world with eyes wide open and inspired by the local people whose struggles for racial justice have too often been written out of our airbrushed narratives of the past. I wrote “Reconstruction” while reflecting on more than a half-century of change – and more than a half- century of continuity – since courageous activists fought for their human rights in Alabama’s Black Belt during the Civil Rights Era. Moved by the opportunity to witness President Obama mark the 50th anniversary of “Bloody Sunday” in Selma in March of 2015, I found myself in 2016 and early 2017 sobered by reminders of how far “we the people” still have to go to reach the Promised Land.

History

Reconstruction

Prose poem formatted for display on single “page”

Approximately 750 words

2017

Last Updated: August 30, 2018