About the Program
Kate Masur, assistant history and African American studies professor at Northwestern University, presents a history of Washington, DC during Reconstruction. Ms. Masur recounts the city’s many organizations and public works that represented racial equality and the legislation passed by Congressional Republicans during this time to promote the capital as a progressive environ for civil rights. The author reports that this work was eventually overturned by a group of conservatives who sought to diminish African-American involvement in local government affairs. Kate Masur discusses her book at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, Illinois.