Big Lives

From Reconstruction: The Unfinished Promise

July 4, 2026·49 min
Episode Description from the Publisher

Sharing Malcolm Gladwell’s latest project, featuring our very own Kai Wright: a podcast called Reconstruction: The Unfinished Promise.  Imagine a time when the United States was split in two. And then had to put itself back together.  It was a time of chaos and sometimes violence as millions of people fought for the right to become citizens. Americans struggled over questions like: who gets to be a citizen? Who has the right to vote? To own property? In short, who belongs? This was Reconconstruction… the era following the Civil War. When Americans ended slavery and expanded voting rights. But none of this was easy. Many people consider the promise of Reconstruction unfulfilled. Why? In this episode, Kai shares the story of the legendary abolitionist leader Frederick Douglass and how he navigated a world without Abraham Lincoln.    Find Reconstruction: The Unfinished Promise on Audible or wherever you get podcasts.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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