%0 Journal Article
%T W.E.B. Du BoisĄ¯s critique of Radical Reconstruction (1865¨C77): A Hegelian approach to American modernity
%A Elvira Basevich
%J Philosophy & Social Criticism
%@ 1461-734X
%D 2019
%R 10.1177/0191453718797371
%X In this essay, I argue that HegelĄ¯s model of ethical life (Sittlichkeit) is normatively gripping for Du BoisĄ¯s critique of Radical Reconstruction. My argument proceeds in three steps. First, I use Du BoisĄ¯s insights to explain the nature of progressive political change in historical time, an account Hegel lacks. I reconstruct the normative basis of Du Bois's political critique by articulating the three essential features of public reasoning qua citizenship. Second, I defend the promise of black civic enfranchisement with respect to the institutional conditions of love and labour in the wake of the Civil War. Third, I establish the central role black freedmen played in realizing the ideals of democratic self-governance affirmed in principle but seldom realized in practice in the United States
%K black family
%K democratic citizenship
%K Du Bois
%K Hegel
%K labour
%K public reason
%K racial capitalism
%K Radical Reconstruction
%K slavery
%U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0191453718797371