The failed Reconstruction revolution marked the lost true possibility of American democracy.

Evidence

Du Bois, despite all the diversions and distractions of intellect, social origins, and ambition that had marked his even then long life, had at last come to the Black radical tradition. In the midst of the most fearsome maelstrom his age had seen, and with the pitiable reaction of the declared revolutionary opposition in mind, his purposeful interrogation of the past had led him to the hidden specter of Black revolutionists. Their revolution had failed, of course. And with its failure had gone the second and truer possibility of an American democracy. But until the writing of Black Reconstruction, the only mark on American historical consciousness left by their movement had been a revised legend of their savagery. Du Bois had understood, finally, that this was insufficient. “Somebody in each era,” he had written, “must make clear the facts.” With that declaration, the first ledger of radical Black historiography had been filled.” — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 1128

Categorization

• DEFINE: This passage marks the moment Du Bois reaches the Black radical tradition and defines its historiography’s first ledger.
• ADDENDUM: The ‘failed second and truer possibility of American democracy’ resonates with sacrifice-and-loss themes in the article on ritual sacrifice as grief.