I Saw Death Coming

A History of Terror and Survival in the War Against Reconstruction

By: Kidada E. Williams

Narrated by: Karen Chilton

From a groundbreaking scholar, a heart-wrenching reexamination of the struggle for survival in the Reconstruction-era South and what it cost.

The story of Reconstruction is often told from the perspective of the politicians, generals, and journalists whose accounts claim an outsized place in collective memory. But this pivotal era looked very different to African Americans in the South transitioning from bondage to freedom after 1865. They were besieged by a campaign of white supremacist violence that persisted through the 1880s and beyond. For too long, their lived experiences have been sidelined, impoverishing our understanding of the obstacles post-Civil War Black families faced, their inspiring determination to survive, and the physical and emotional scars they bore because of it.

In I Saw Death Coming, Kidada E. Williams offers a breakthrough account of the much-debated Reconstruction period, transporting listeners into the daily existence of formerly enslaved people building hope-filled new lives. Drawing on overlooked sources and bold new readings of the archives, Williams offers a revelatory and, in some cases, minute-by-minute record of nighttime raids and Ku Klux Klan strikes. And she deploys cutting-edge scholarship on trauma to consider how the effects of these attacks would linger for decades—indeed, generations—to come.

For fans of Carol Anderson, Tiya Miles, and Clint Smith, I Saw Death Coming is an indelible and essential book that speaks to some of the most pressing questions of our times.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2023 Kidada E. Williams (P)2023 Audible, Inc.

The vivid unapologetic detail in each survivors story.

This is a book that needs to be experienced and studied by all Americans who wish to transcend this evil mountain of racism that has been perpetuated in this country by fragile evil men and women for centuries. This book tells the stories of the black people who were tormented and also the story of “white people” who were trapped and forced to choose self preservation over human decency out of fear of what might happen to them and their families. The only way to get past a fear and truly foster a changed an better way forward, whether your black white or other, is to look the evil in its face and cast it aside where it may weaken and die.

The reality of reconstruction.

I found this book fascinating. To hear how black people were victimized during reconstruction was extremely disturbing. The only fortune outcome was the telling and recording of victim's stories for a true account of this dark history.

What would our economic status be now without night riders?

A stunning retelling of the Black family's experiences during reconstruction. If property and lives were not stolen in the deep south, the Black experience would be totally different today.

Vivid, Accurate, Effective

This dramatic narrative analysis puts southern African-Americans at the center of the Reconstruction narrative, effectively arguing that Black Reconstruction didn't fail, it was destroyed. Questioning the Lost Cause legend of Reconstruction, Kidada Williams demonstrates that (as would later be the case in many lynchings and race riots), it was often the most successful African-Americans who were targets of the greatest white rage. Sadly, much of the effort to downplay violence against blacks in this era, to minimize their plight, or to hold them solely responsible for bringing on their own suffering has major parallels that extend to the present. Williams ' greatest success is showing us the humanity and individuality of those who suffered and who later testified publicly (or whose memory otherwise survived into the future) about their suffering. This remedies what can sometimes be an impersonal recounting of statistics in some works on Reconstruction. Reconstruction didn't fail because of some inherent weakness, wrongness, or lack of effort by freedmen--it was forcibly overthrown by white southerners with the passive acquiescence (if not sometimes willful neglect or even active support) of other white Americans. A tough but necessary historical work. Highly recommended.

A powerful and painful but necessary book.

Expertly researched, revealing in detail and analysis, and beautifully read. I highly recommend this book to all who want to understand our history and our present.

An OUTSTANDING History

This should be required reading to understand the accomplishments achieved by black people as soon as they were freed after slavery’s end. I now understand the trauma - passed down through to today’s generation - caused by the violence and dispossession that our forefathers experienced at the hands of Ku Klux and white supremists who stole land, destroyed black business, wealth and income, and destroyed black people’s sense of safety and security - both physical and psychological. This seems to be happening all over again.

Underrepresented piece of history

More Americans need to hear these stories. Check out the author's interview with Sam Seder of the Majority Report on YouTube.