Synopsis

"Reconstruction" traces the experiences of both white and Black populations in the South—Georgia, South Carolina, and Louisiana—between 1867 and 1877. The narrative opens with the expansion of voting rights for Black men in the region, a development narrator Dion Graham describes as whites "preparing for the worst." For South Carolina rice planter Frances Butler, however, the reality proved far more complex than anticipated; she found herself compelled to "negotiate" with her family's former sla