Reconstruction: A Moment in the Sun, the ninth of NPT’s original Tennessee Civil War 150 documentaries, premieres Thursday, April 23, at 8 p.m. An encore presentation airs Monday, April 27, at 11 p.m.
The documentary is a riveting tale of revenge, domestic terror and broken promises after the Civil War, told through reenactments and interviews with historians Beverly G. Bond, Ph.D. (University of Memphis); Carole Bucy, Ph.D. (Volunteer State Community College); Crystal A. deGregory, Ph.D. (HBCUSTORY, Inc.); William Hardy, Ph.D. (Tennessee Tech University); and Tennessee State Historian Carroll Van West, Ph.D.
Reconstruction: A Moment in the Sun is the fifth Tennessee Civil War 150 documentary for NPT producer Ed Jones. A history buff, Jones said though he started the series with a good working knowledge of the Civil War, he’s learned quite a bit while working on the programs over the years. What did he learn from researching this last one?
“If anything, Reconstruction has reinforced my previous beliefs about the war,” Jones said. “It was such a horrible waste of lives, resources and time. All because of greed, greed which blinded slave owners to the horrendous crimes they were committing against fellow human beings.”
NPT’s Tennessee Civil War 150 series received the Tennessee Society of the Daughters of the Revolution’s Public Relations and Media Award earlier this month. The organization was impressed by the “depth and breadth of the presentation of the events of the Civil War in Tennessee and its effect on the lives of Tennesseans throughout the state.”
Reconstruction: A Moment in the Sun was made possible by the support of The First Tennessee Foundation and the Tennessee Civil War National Heritage Area.