DARK SKY RISING: Reconstruction and The Dawn of Jim Crow by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Tonya Bolden.  New York:  Scholastic Focus, 2019.  225p.  ISBN 978-133826204-9 hc. $19.99     Gr. 5-8     JUV NF  973

Gates and Bolden lead readers through ten chapters of Civil War history, beginning with the politics of a country split along state lines by those in support of slavery and those opposed to the ownership of fellow human beings.  Although the abolitionist states in the north officially won the Civil War, anti-slavery laws were not enforced in the south.  The attitudes of white people in the south were also slow to change, enabling the enactment of laws to prevent black voters from casting ballots; thus, shutting them out of government.  The Ku Klux Klan, a group of white racists who killed and terrorized black citizens, was formed as an underground organization, but often performed unlawful acts with consent of law enforcement agencies.  Despite this open aggression, black leaders such as Ida B. Wells, Booker T. Washington, and W.E.B. DuBois emerged to voice their concerns about the status of blacks in America.  The extensive research carried out by Gates and Bolden covers the years 1862 to 1915, including historic photographs and drawings throughout.
Lynette Suckow, Superiorland Preview Center, Marquette, MI