404 Chapter 15 Reconstruction and the South
10 percent of freed slaves acquired farms. But the
ancestors of Oprah Winfrey, Whoopi Goldberg, Chris
Rock, and many others prove that someformer slaves
succeeded, almost entirely through their own efforts.
Harvard historian Louis Henry Gates, Jr., whose In
Search of Our Roots(2009) recounted their stories and
many similar ones, hoped that someday such accounts
would move history “from our kitchens or parlors into
the texts, ultimately changing the official narrative of
American history itself.” This chapter describes the
era’s bitter wrangles and recriminations, its political
failures and disappointments, but it also shows that
many survived and even flourished during these diffi-
cult years. ■
The Assassination of Lincoln
On April 5, 1865, Abraham Lincoln visited
Richmond. The fallen capital lay in ruins, sections
blackened by fire, but the president was able to walk
the streets unmolested and almost unattended.
Everywhere African Americans crowded around him
worshipfully; some fell to their knees as he passed,
crying “Glory, Hallelujah,” hailing him as a messiah.
Even white townspeople seemed to have accepted
defeat without resentment.
A few days later, in Washington, Lincoln deliv-
ered an important speech on Reconstruction, urging
compassion and open-mindedness. On April 14 he
held a Cabinet meeting at which postwar readjust-
ment was considered at length. That evening, while
Lincoln was watching a performance of the playOur
American Cousinat Ford’s Theater, an actor, John
Wilkes Booth, slipped into his box and shot him in
the back of the head with a small pistol. Early the next
morning, without having regained consciousness,
Lincoln died.
The murder was part of a complicated plot
organized by die-hard Southerners. One of Booth’s
accomplices went to the home of Secretary of State
William Seward and stabbed him—Seward recov-
ered from his wounds.A third conspirator, assigned
to kill Vice President Andrew Johnson, changed his
mind and fled Washington. Seldom have fanatics
displayed so little understanding of their ownRichmond, Virginia lies in ruins in April, 1865 at the time of Lincoln’s visit—and a few days before his assassination.