“The most important takeaway from the study of Reconstruction in our series . . . is that achievements thought permanent can be overturned, and rights that we think had been inscribed in the Constitution -- guaranteed forever -- can never be taken for granted.” Henry Louis Gates, Jr. 

In our latest episode of On Assignment, Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and duPont juror Mark Whitaker reflect on the lessons learned from Gates’ 2020 duPont-winning documentary series Reconstruction: America After the Civil War. The conversation is timely, as the nation reckons with the current fragile political climate, and the country’s legacy of slavery in the wake of the deaths of Geroge Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery, among others.  

The 2020 general election has drawn national attention to our voting system and barriers to voting: some of these barriers are unprecedented, created by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic; others, such as issues with voter registration and gerrymandering, date all the way back to the Reconstruction Era. 

Henry Louis Gates, Jr. reflects in this newest episode: “The greatest enemy of democracy is interference with the right to vote.” Find the series on PBS here.