After the Civil War, millions of African Americans were determined to define themselves as equal citizens in a country without slavery—to own land, build secure families, and educate themselves. But those gains were short-lived, as segregation and discrimination confined them to second-class citizenship for decades. In this profusely illustrated companion to the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture exhibit, essays pay tribute to the important breakthroughs of such refromers as Frederick Douglass, Hiram Revels, and Ida B. Wells, while showing how the era influenced today's social justice movements.