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The sleaze factor of the Reconstruction government was pretty high. [A guy shows an old ruined building in the forest]

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Government officials were all too happy to receive gifts,

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and those who gave said gifts were much more likely [A guy offers lot of gifts to a government official]

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to get help with their businesses. You know, government contracts,

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thank you very much.

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Railroad promoters, business speculators, land contractors,

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and stock market investors all lined up to shower elected leaders with [A man tries to catch money]

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bribes, in return for a little thing called "influence."

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As one black representative and former slave commented,

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"I've been sold eleven times in my life. This is the first time I ever got money."

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Zing. I would've voted for that guy.

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The South was also filled with business minded Northerners [Two guys with luggage cross each other]

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called carpetbaggers, after the cheap luggage some carried.

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These guys came down, bought up a lot of cheap land, [A businessman offers money to a landowner]

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and some made a lot of money.

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They also become part of state governments and were often

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accused of various kinds of corruption.

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Taking bribes, passing laws that made them and their buds rich, and

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well, you know, all the things politicians are still getting accused of doing. [Businessman gives money to the guy with bag]

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Nice to see that some traditions never die.

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To be fair, not all Reconstruction governments [Hands combines puzzle pieces to form a USA map]

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were totally and completely awful.

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They did establish some of the first public schools and [Students stand in line]

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social services in the South, outside of North Carolina.

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Some expanded hospitals, built asylums, and also helped

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the Freedman's Bureau in assisting freed slaves.

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So congrats Reconstruction governments for not being 100% useless.

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Of course, things turned a new shade of awful once so-called

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"Redeemers" regained power in the South by 1877. [The Redeemers appears on the screen]

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They exaggerated stories of Reconstruction corruption.

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In particular, they made up stories about evil, black office holders

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who took advantage of their positions.

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According to the Redeemers, Reconstruction was just a terrible, horrible, [A guy stands in a fire blaze]

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no good, very bad day.

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And this, dear Shmoopers, is how the two opposing sides of The Civil War

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were reunited: with the common goal of throwing blacks under the bus.

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Well, the South in particular was chomping at the bit to end Reconstruction.

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Evidence that blacks actually did have the ability to succeed [ A doctor talks to a patient]

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when given the chance threatened the power structure,

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institutions, labor system, and society of the former Confederacy more than

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black corruption or ignorance ever could have. [The color of the house in the background changes to pink]

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Because clearly, it's totally okay to enslave

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someone who's less smart than you.

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But if someone is just as smart as you, well then that's just not right.

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So the South went on to the biggest advertising campaign ever.

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Historians, film makers, politicians, and writers worked hard to pin much of the

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sleaziness that happened during radical Reconstruction on freed blacks. [writer writes a book]

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Well here's something that's probably not shocking: it worked like a charm.

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Yeah, we Americans, we love our advertising.

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This skewed history gave white supremacists the excuse they needed to [White supremacists appears on the screen]

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persecute, discriminate, and all-around abuse

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African Americans for years to come.

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Pretty soon, white supremacy was living large once again...

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...like riding through the country in a Hummer limousine. [Limousine with White supremacists]

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A white one, of course.

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