KOKO TOYAMA

The Equal Justice Initiative released an extensive report on Reconstruction in America, documenting the era of racial terror that took place in the 12 years following the Civil War. I was contacted just before the release to create a visual companion booklet that would illustrate the content of the report and be a helpful resource for teachers and students as they navigate the content. The piece contains various infographics documenting the timeline of racial violence during the post-Civil War era. The piece describes the timeline of racial violence during the Reconstruction era at the hands of mobs and officials in various parts of the United States. While the graphics I created show a historical snapshot of these horrific events, they are meant to reveal how these violent acts occurred as backlash toward any signs of progress and still have a lasting impact. The amount of research, and the efforts made by the Equal Justice Initiative to clearly present this information is both sobering and inspiring.