The period between Barack Obama’s inauguration as president and the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol marked a pivotal time for Black Americans to gain dignity and the ability to fully participate in democracy.
These years were a time of reconstruction — marking a struggle between those who support the advancement of Black people and those who don’t.
That’s the argument of Peniel E. Joseph, a University of Texas at Austin professor of public affairs and history. His new book, "The Third Reconstruction: America’s Struggle for Racial Justice in the Twenty-First Century," comes out in early September.
Joseph’s book, which combines personal memoir with historical research, is largely influenced by Black feminist thought, which reimagines U.S. democracy in a way that centers Black women’s identity, politics and humanity.
In the book, Joseph identifies three periods of reconstruction in U.S. history — times of “racial violence, political divisions, cultural memories and narrative wars” but also major political and racial progress.
The First Reconstruction occurred between 1865 and 1898, he argues. The Second Reconstruction was the civil rights era, which he says started with the Brown vs. Board of Education decision in 1954 and ended with Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination in 1968.
The Third Reconstruction was from the election of Barack Obama to the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020, as well as the events that followed, such as the Jan. 6 riot.
In his book, Joseph analyzes the relationship between those he calls “redemptionists” and those he calls “reconstructionists.” Redemptionists, according to Joseph, advocate for white supremacy — whether they actively voice it or not.
Reconstructionists advocate for a multiracial democracy that looks at society through an intersectional lens. Reconstructionists argue that, regardless of race, gender identity, sexuality or class, one can participate in democracy.
The son of Haitian immigrants, Joseph grew up with his single mother and brother in New York City. His childhood inspired his work, he said, and exposed him to the barriers Black people face. He saw Black people killed long before the BLM movement began, he said.
“It was being around my mother who’s a historian and a writer in her own right … [and] a feminist and social justice advocate that I got introduced to all of this,” he said.
His book recognizes Black female leaders such as journalist Ida B. Wells, activist Angela Davis and politician Stacey Abrams as pivotal figures in civil rights and social justice movements spanning the three periods of U.S. reconstruction.
Joseph said he was finally able to dig deeper into the influence of Black feminist thought because this was his first project that was “a blend of history and memoir and cultural criticism.”
Stacie McCormick, an associate professor of English at Texas Christian University, said it’s “long overdue” to discuss the role of Black feminism in social justice. They have often been the “driving force” behind encouraging people to support social justice movements, she said.
“Black Lives Matter is one of the first movements where Black women were centered” for their leadership, McCormick said. However, despite the advancements the BLM movement made, McCormick said there still needs to be more acknowledgement for Black women and girls who are killed by the police.
Joseph has been studying Black feminist thought and literature for about 30 years. He said with this new book, the Black feminist intersectional lens helped him understand how the BLM movement garnered so much support following the death of George Floyd in 2020.
Three Black women — Alicia Garza, Opal Tometi and Patrisse Cullors — started the BLM movement. In 2020, a diverse group of people built on what they started, and queer people, Black women, students and the formerly incarcerated helped lead the effort.
Social justice activism was not strictly for Black people — Latino, white, indigenous, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders joined in.
“I think Black people have always been the canary in the coal mine,” Joseph said, but having other non-Black people join in solidarity of protests is important.
Joseph said writing the new book was “cathartic” and “illuminating.” Everyone is a student of history, he said, trying to process what’s happening in their life and society by telling stories about themselves.
“Some people want to run away from what I ran toward,” he said. “I think people will run away from history and … might find it too painful or too angry. But I thought in 2020, what was interesting, is that so many people joined that effort.”
Joseph is the founding director of UT’s Center for the Study of Race and Democracy in the LBJ School of Public Affairs. He formerly taught at Tufts University. He has also published several other books, including "The Sword and the Shield: The Revolutionary Lives of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr." and the award-winning book "Waiting ‘Til the Midnight Hour: A Narrative History of Black Power in America."
Lisa B. Thompson, a professor of African and African Diaspora Studies at UT Austin, has known Joseph for about a decade. She described him as an “excited” and “deeply interested” intellectual. Thompson said it was admirable for Joseph to publish a book about current events in a way that gives non-historians an opportunity to understand what is happening.
“I think his way of framing these things helps us understand certain historic cycles, but also is very adamant about keeping our sense of hope about what can happen,” she said. “It’s very inviting [and] comprehensive, and I don’t believe he’s talking down to people. He’s calling people in to have a conversation that we need to have.”
