After reading the four sources listed in chapter one of John Hollitz’s novel, Thinking Through the Past, it is apparent that history is not a list of facts to be recited and memorized. Rather, history is the study of past events that vary in time, place, and interpretation. All four of the the authors from the sources provided have varying opinions on the Reconstruction period and how African Americans were treated during that time period. These opinions are based upon the author’s race, the time period, and their ideology. The first source is an excerpt by Woodrow Wilson in 1906. He is better known as the former president of the United States of America that enforced racial segregation. His writing is mainly about the illiteracy and
