In the first episode of our 12-part series Reading Black Reconstruction with Geo Maher, we will introduce the book and its contexts.

Readings for Episode 1 are:

• “To the Reader”
• Ch. 17: “The Propaganda of History,” esp. 721-728

Study Questions for Episode 1 are:

• Who does Du Bois write Black Reconstruction for, and who is it not for?
• What is propaganda, and is he a propagandist? A historian? A prophet?

The Abolition School Radio podcast is a collaboration between Haymarket Books and the W.E.B. Du Bois Movement School for Abolition and Reconstruction.

Based in Philadelphia, the Du Bois Movement School provides revolutionary abolitionist, internationalist, intersectional, and participatory political education to a new generation of aspiring organizers and leaders. We believe everyone is an intellectual, and that there can be no abolition of carceral institutions without a broad process of social reconstruction. We study the world to change it!

Haymarket Books is a radical, independent book publisher and political education institution based in Chicago. Visit haymarketbooks.org to find radical books, virtual events, podcasts, and other political education resources, including the other seasons of Abolition School Radio.

This is the second episode of our 12-part series Reading Black Reconstruction with Geo Maher.

Readings for Episode 2 are:

• Ch. 1: “The Black Worker” esp. 3-5, 12-13, 15-16
• Ch. 2: “The White Worker” esp. 16-20, 25-27, 29-30

Study Questions for Episode 2 are:

• Why does Du Bois speak in terms of the Black worker and white worker, and what does he mean by these?
• What unites them? What divides them?

The Abolition School Radio podcast is a collaboration between Haymarket Books and the W.E.B. Du Bois Movement School for Abolition and Reconstruction.

Based in Philadelphia, the Du Bois Movement School provides revolutionary abolitionist, internationalist, intersectional, and participatory political education to a new generation of aspiring organizers and leaders. We believe everyone is an intellectual, and that there can be no abolition of carceral institutions without a broad process of social reconstruction. We study the world to change it!

Haymarket Books is a radical, independent book publisher and political education institution based in Chicago. Visit haymarketbooks.org to find radical books, virtual events, podcasts, and other political education resources, including the other seasons of Abolition School Radio.

This is the third episode of our 12-part series Reading Black Reconstruction with Geo Maher.

Readings for Episode 3 are:

• Ch. 3: “The Planter” esp. 32-33, 38-40, 47-54.

Study Questions for Episode 3 are:

• What was the economic contradiction the southern planter confronted?
• What was the 3/5ths compromise?
• What did slavery do to the slavemaster psychologically?

The Abolition School Radio podcast is a collaboration between Haymarket Books and the W.E.B. Du Bois Movement School for Abolition and Reconstruction.

Based in Philadelphia, the Du Bois Movement School provides revolutionary abolitionist, internationalist, intersectional, and participatory political education to a new generation of aspiring organizers and leaders. We believe everyone is an intellectual, and that there can be no abolition of carceral institutions without a broad process of social reconstruction. We study the world to change it!

Haymarket Books is a radical, independent book publisher and political education institution based in Chicago. Visit haymarketbooks.org to find radical books, virtual events, podcasts, and other political education resources, including the other seasons of Abolition School Radio.

This is the fourth episode of our 12-part series Reading Black Reconstruction with Geo Maher.

Readings for Episode 4 are:

• Ch. 4: “The General Strike” esp. 55-64, 67, 79-83.

Study Questions for Episode 4 are:

• Was the Civil War about slavery? If yes, for who? If no, what was it about?
• Why does Du Bois speak of a “general strike,” and are you convinced?

The Abolition School Radio podcast is a collaboration between Haymarket Books and the W.E.B. Du Bois Movement School for Abolition and Reconstruction.

Based in Philadelphia, the Du Bois Movement School provides revolutionary abolitionist, internationalist, intersectional, and participatory political education to a new generation of aspiring organizers and leaders. We believe everyone is an intellectual, and that there can be no abolition of carceral institutions without a broad process of social reconstruction. We study the world to change it!

Haymarket Books is a radical, independent book publisher and political education institution based in Chicago. Visit haymarketbooks.org to find radical books, virtual events, podcasts, and other political education resources, including the other seasons of Abolition School Radio.

This is the fifth episode of our 12-part series Reading Black Reconstruction with Geo Maher.

Readings for Episode 5 are:

• Ch. 5: “The Coming of the Lord” esp. 84-91, 100-104, top of p. 110, 121-127

Study Questions for Episode 5 are:

• What does it mean to fight?
• Who was emancipation for?

The Abolition School Radio podcast is a collaboration between Haymarket Books and the W.E.B. Du Bois Movement School for Abolition and Reconstruction.

Based in Philadelphia, the Du Bois Movement School provides revolutionary abolitionist, internationalist, intersectional, and participatory political education to a new generation of aspiring organizers and leaders. We believe everyone is an intellectual, and that there can be no abolition of carceral institutions without a broad process of social reconstruction. We study the world to change it!

Haymarket Books is a radical, independent book publisher and political education institution based in Chicago. Visit haymarketbooks.org to find radical books, virtual events, podcasts, and other political education resources, including the other seasons of Abolition School Radio.

This is the sixth episode of our 12-part series Reading Black Reconstruction with Geo Maher.

Readings for Episode 6 are:

• Ch. 6: “Looking Backward” esp. 128-31,145-49, 167-68, 179-80

Study Questions for Episode 6 are:

• How was the South looking backward after the war? How was Lincoln?

The Abolition School Radio podcast is a collaboration between Haymarket Books and the W.E.B. Du Bois Movement School for Abolition and Reconstruction.

Based in Philadelphia, the Du Bois Movement School provides revolutionary abolitionist, internationalist, intersectional, and participatory political education to a new generation of aspiring organizers and leaders. We believe everyone is an intellectual, and that there can be no abolition of carceral institutions without a broad process of social reconstruction. We study the world to change it!

Haymarket Books is a radical, independent book publisher and political education institution based in Chicago. Visit haymarketbooks.org to find radical books, virtual events, podcasts, and other political education resources, including the other seasons of Abolition School Radio.

This is the seventh episode of our 12-part series Reading Black Reconstruction with Geo Maher.

Readings for Episode 7 are:

• Ch. 7: “Looking Forward” esp. 182-90, 212-27, 235

Study Questions for Episode 7 are:

• What is abolition-democracy?
• What is industrial autocracy?
• How do the two relate?

The Abolition School Radio podcast is a collaboration between Haymarket Books and the W.E.B. Du Bois Movement School for Abolition and Reconstruction.

Based in Philadelphia, the Du Bois Movement School provides revolutionary abolitionist, internationalist, intersectional, and participatory political education to a new generation of aspiring organizers and leaders. We believe everyone is an intellectual, and that there can be no abolition of carceral institutions without a broad process of social reconstruction. We study the world to change it!

Haymarket Books is a radical, independent book publisher and political education institution based in Chicago. Visit haymarketbooks.org to find radical books, virtual events, podcasts, and other political education resources, including the other seasons of Abolition School Radio.

This is the eighth episode of our 12-part series Reading Black Reconstruction with Geo Maher.

Readings for Episode 8 are:

• Ch. 8: A Poor White esp. 237-244, bottom 251-254, 259, bottom 319-322.
• Ch. 9: “The Price of Disaster” esp. 325-330, 336, 345-347, 352-354, 357-359, 378-379

Study Questions for Episode 8 are:

• Why did it matter that Johnson was “a poor white,” and what did it mean to say that he was transformed?
• What was the price of disaster? Why did America refuse to pay? Why does Du Bois say the country still suffers from this refusal.

The Abolition School Radio podcast is a collaboration between Haymarket Books and the W.E.B. Du Bois Movement School for Abolition and Reconstruction.

Based in Philadelphia, the Du Bois Movement School provides revolutionary abolitionist, internationalist, intersectional, and participatory political education to a new generation of aspiring organizers and leaders. We believe everyone is an intellectual, and that there can be no abolition of carceral institutions without a broad process of social reconstruction. We study the world to change it!

Haymarket Books is a radical, independent book publisher and political education institution based in Chicago. Visit haymarketbooks.org to find radical books, virtual events, podcasts, and other political education resources, including the other seasons of Abolition School Radio.

This is the ninth episode of our 12-part series Reading Black Reconstruction with Geo Maher.

Readings for Episode 9 are:

• Ch. 10: “The Black Proletariat in South Carolina” esp. 381-384, 390-391, 396-401, 426-429

Study Questions for Episode 9 are:

• Du Bois nearly called this chapter “the dictatorship of the black proletariat.” Why was he tempted to do so, and why did he decide not to?
• Who was Reconstruction for?

The Abolition School Radio podcast is a collaboration between Haymarket Books and the W.E.B. Du Bois Movement School for Abolition and Reconstruction.

Based in Philadelphia, the Du Bois Movement School provides revolutionary abolitionist, internationalist, intersectional, and participatory political education to a new generation of aspiring organizers and leaders. We believe everyone is an intellectual, and that there can be no abolition of carceral institutions without a broad process of social reconstruction. We study the world to change it!

Haymarket Books is a radical, independent book publisher and political education institution based in Chicago. Visit haymarketbooks.org to find radical books, virtual events, podcasts, and other political education resources, including the other seasons of Abolition School Radio.

This is the tenth episode of our 12-part series Reading Black Reconstruction with Geo Maher.

Readings for Episode 10 are:

• Chs. 11-13: Mississippi and Louisiana; Alabama, Georgia, and Florida; Border and Frontier.
• Ch. 11: 431-35, bottom 442-43, 449-56, bottom 470-71, 482-4
• Ch. 12: 487-9, 494-5, 506, 511-3,
• Ch. 13: 526, 530-2, 535-8, 546-7, 551-3, 557, 561, 571, 575, 577

Study Questions for Episode 10 are:

• Look at the chapter titles and summaries: Why does Du Bois group states together for his analysis?
• What parameters matter to him?
• How did these differences play out in different dynamics?

The Abolition School Radio podcast is a collaboration between Haymarket Books and the W.E.B. Du Bois Movement School for Abolition and Reconstruction.

Based in Philadelphia, the Du Bois Movement School provides revolutionary abolitionist, internationalist, intersectional, and participatory political education to a new generation of aspiring organizers and leaders. We believe everyone is an intellectual, and that there can be no abolition of carceral institutions without a broad process of social reconstruction. We study the world to change it!

Haymarket Books is a radical, independent book publisher and political education institution based in Chicago. Visit haymarketbooks.org to find radical books, virtual events, podcasts, and other political education resources, including the other seasons of Abolition School Radio.