The "nadir of race relations" is a term used by historians to describe the time period after Reconstruction, 1890-1920. During this time, African Americans were free; some argue, however, that it was a worse time than when these individuals were enslaved (Brundage 1990; Woodward 2002). There is a debate whether this time period ultimately had a positive or negative effect on the newly freed slaves (Gilmore 2008). In this article, the authors outline a method for using a variety of primary sources from the Library of Congress to focus on the question: "To what extent did the end of slavery improve the lives of African Americans in the South?"