Reconstruction 360

COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina ETV (SCETV) and the ETV Endowment of South Carolina have received a $296,257 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to support its “Reconstruction 360” project. The project includes the development of an immersive website...

Under slavery many African-American women had to work as field hands, or in the slave owners’ homes, doing domestic chores and raising the white children. Freedom meant that black women became mistresses of their own homes and could devote themselves to their families and...

After the war, the South, and the nation, faced the question of how to make the transition from slave to free labor. Most former slave owners insisted that they should get their land back and maintain control over their workers, even if they had to use force. Freedpeople...

The Freedmen’s Bureau had responsibility for every aspect of the lives of formerly enslaved people, and was in charge of land that came under federal control during and after the Civil War. In 1872, Congress shut the Freedmen’s Bureau down, but today Freedmen's Bureau...

After the war, the South, and the nation, faced the question of how to make the transition from slave to free labor. Most former slave owners insisted that they should get their land back and maintain control over their workers, even if they had to use force. Freedpeople...

Enslaved people did not have full rights to their children, or control over their lives. When freedom came, parents could take an active role in the upbringing of their children, leading to stronger parental bonds and more stable families. Reconstruction 360 is a digital...

Historian Kate Masur explains the origins of 40 Acres and a Mule, a famous phrase that many have heard but may not fully understand. It originated in the early days of Reconstruction, when General Sherman issued Field Order 15, giving thousands of freed people abandoned...

Reconstruction 360 is built on a 360 degree video platform that features a reenactment set on a farm in 1865. The reenactment was shot at Freewoods Farm, a living farm museum in the Freewoods community near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Today, the descendants of the...