• What practices, institutions, and organizations did former slaves develop to facilitate their transition to freedom? How successful were they and what challenges did they face?
• What were the advantages and disadvantages of sharecropping?
• What factors resulted in the defeat of Reconstruction? Was it inevitable or might things have turned out differently?
• Should we judge Reconstruction on its initial promise or on its ultimate failure?

Du Bois

• What evidence of socialist beliefs do you find in DuBois' writing? How do you think it affected his scholarship?
• What misconceptions about African American history was Du Bois trying to address?
• What was the role of African Americans in Reconstruction according to DuBois?
• DuBois says the fight in the US for equality is merely a phase in a larger problem - "the problem of humanity." (paragraph 25) What does he mean by that? Do you agree?