Alright, so without going too much into it, there's a bit of controversy on the creators of Game of Thrones wanting to make an alternate history show about a surviving Confederacy once they complete Game of Thrones. While I'm very happy for any form of Alternate History to leak into the main stream, I totally understand (with the current political climate in the States) some thinking this is a bit insensitive.
I have seen some complaints that it is a "white person fantasy" and suggestions to instead do a show "where black people were armed & supported (not abandoned) by the US military to defeat KKK and finish Reconstruction". I thought it was an interesting enough concept to at least explore over here.
Now, there were a variety of reasons that Reconstruction ended. It's just a hard ask for the North to occupy the South forever. And the Grant administration really did try to set things up in a reasonable way (when they weren't knee deep in graft, that is). So, I understand that plausibility-wise, this is a hard ask. But so is a Confederacy that survives to modern day (IMHO).
Hence the subtitle of the thread "HBO edition" or if you prefer "Turtledove edition". The goal is not necessarily to create an airtight, 100% plausible scenario. But rather to get one "close enough" to plausible that it could be accepted by a normal (non-historian) audience's suspension of disbelief.
Hopefully this doesn't sound too stupid, and if it is considered overly political I am ok with this being shifted to the Political Chat subforum.
Also, feel free to not restrict yourself to Reconstruction - this could almost be described as a sort of anti-TL-191. Want to use a successful raid on Harper's Ferry? A successful Turner rebellion? Let's here it!
I have seen some complaints that it is a "white person fantasy" and suggestions to instead do a show "where black people were armed & supported (not abandoned) by the US military to defeat KKK and finish Reconstruction". I thought it was an interesting enough concept to at least explore over here.
Now, there were a variety of reasons that Reconstruction ended. It's just a hard ask for the North to occupy the South forever. And the Grant administration really did try to set things up in a reasonable way (when they weren't knee deep in graft, that is). So, I understand that plausibility-wise, this is a hard ask. But so is a Confederacy that survives to modern day (IMHO).
Hence the subtitle of the thread "HBO edition" or if you prefer "Turtledove edition". The goal is not necessarily to create an airtight, 100% plausible scenario. But rather to get one "close enough" to plausible that it could be accepted by a normal (non-historian) audience's suspension of disbelief.
Hopefully this doesn't sound too stupid, and if it is considered overly political I am ok with this being shifted to the Political Chat subforum.
Also, feel free to not restrict yourself to Reconstruction - this could almost be described as a sort of anti-TL-191. Want to use a successful raid on Harper's Ferry? A successful Turner rebellion? Let's here it!