The Civil War and Reconstruction XSeries

The Civil War and Reconstruction Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) series introduces students to the most pivotal era in American history. Led by Eric Foner, DeWitt Clinton Professor of History at Columbia University, the MOOC series is divided into three courses that are spread out over 27 sections of stimulating lectures, interactive assignments, and community discussions. The courses are part of the XSeries program on the edX platform.

1. 1850-1861: A House Divided
2. 1861-1865: A New Birth of Freedom
3. 1865-1890: The Unfinished Revolution

The Civil War transformed the nation by eliminating the threat of secession and destroying the institution of slavery. It raised questions that remain central to our understanding of ourselves as a people and a nation—the balance of power between local and national authority, the boundaries of citizenship, and the meanings of freedom and equality. This XSeries program examines the causes of the war, the road to secession, the conduct of the Civil War, the coming of emancipation, and the struggle after the war to breathe meaning into the promise of freedom for four million emancipated slaves. One theme throughout the series is what might be called the politics of history—how the world in which a historian lives affects his or her view of the past, and how historical interpretations reinforce or challenge the social order of the present.

The Civil War and Reconstruction MOOC was originally released in Fall 2014, and was Columbia’s first on the edX platform. The courses were relaunched in January 2018 as an on-demand, self-paced series, and further revised in 2021. The courses are free and open to all learners with an optional paid verified certificate.