Eric Anderson clarifies a confusing, uneven period of promise from the emancipation to the disfranchisement of black Americans. He examines regional and national history in his record of one of the most remarkable centers of black political influence in the late nineteenth century--North Carolina's second congressional district. From its creation in 1872 as a result of gerrymandering to its collapse in the extremism of 1900, the "black second" produced increasingly effective black leaders in public office, from postmasters to prosecuting attorneys and congressmen.

Thirty years after the publication of John Hope Franklin's influential interpretative essay Reconstruction: After the Civil War, ten distinguished scholars have contributed to a new appraisal of Reconstruction scholarship. Recognizing Professor Franklin's major contributions to the study of the Reconstruction era, their work analysis and review has been dedicated to him.