In the final episode of the series, the Civil War reaches its bloodiest and most decisive stage. After the Union victories at Gettysburg and Vicksburg, Abraham Lincoln becomes increasingly frustrated by generals who fail to destroy Robert E. Lee’s army and finally turns to Ulysses S. Grant, a commander willing to fight relentlessly until the Confederacy is defeated. At the same time, Lincoln pushes the nation beyond simply preserving the Union, supporting Black soldiers, confronting Frederick Douglass over their unequal treatment and making emancipation central to the meaning of the war. As casualties continue to mount, Lincoln faces the election of 1864, the fight to abolish slavery permanently through the 13th Amendment and the final collapse of the Confederacy. Lee’s surrender at Appomattox finally brings the long struggle toward its end, leaving Lincoln to consider how a divided nation can be reunited and what freedom will mean for millions of formerly enslaved people. But just as victory opens the possibility of a new beginning, his assassination transforms triumph into national tragedy and seals his place in American history.
The title of Ava DuVernay's extraordinary and galvanizing documentary refers to the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, which reads 'Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States.' The progression from that second qualifying clause to the horrors of mass criminalization and the sprawling American prison industry is laid out by DuVernay with bracing lucidity. With a potent mixture of archival footage and testimony from a dazzling array of activists, politicians, historians, and formerly incarcerated women and men, DuVernay creates a work of grand historical synthesis.
As casualties continue to mount, Lincoln faces the election of 1864, the fight to abolish slavery permanently through the 13th Amendment and the final collapse of the Confederacy. Lee’s surrender at Appomattox finally brings the long struggle toward its end, leaving Lincoln to consider how a divided nation can be reunited and what freedom will mean for millions of formerly enslaved people. But just as victory opens the possibility of a new beginning, his assassination transforms triumph into national tragedy and seals his place in American history.