Follow it up with "The Color of Law" by Richard Rothstein to understand how the decisions made during Reconstruction impacted the 20th and 21st centuries.

Adding this to my list as well, interested to read some of Foner’s work.

I already had Black Reconstruction in America 1860-1880 by W.E.B. Du Bois on my to-read list, if anyone has read either/both I’d be interested to hear a comparison.

Thank you! I'll take you up on that recommendation. "Battle Cry of Freedom" ends abruptly at the close of the war, and I was just thinking last night that the next book I read should be on reconstruction.

In addition to that, "Simple Justice: The History of Brown v. Board of Education and Black America's Struggle for Equality" by Richard Kluger is a really good read.