Slavery on the Making of America, Vol 4: The Challenge of Freedom

The final volume of the series takes viewers through the Civil War, the Reconstruction and beyond as it follows the life of Robert Smalls. In 1863, Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing all slaves under the control of the Confederate government. Once the South was defeated in 1865, the nation adopted the 13th Amendment, effectively ending slavery. With the 14th and 15th Amendments, African Americans were declared U.S. citizens and gained the right to vote. With Smalls as the framework, the final installment examines the rise of the Ku Klux Klan and militant white opposition to black rights. Also discussed is the end of Reconstruction and the new form of legalized oppression that replaced it.