Aftershock: Beyond the Civil War is a TV documentary which premièred on The History Channel

The History Channel

History, formerly known as The History Channel, is an American-based international satellite and cable TV channel that broadcasts a variety of reality shows and documentary programs including those of fictional and non-fictional historical content, together with speculation about the future.-...

 in 2006; DVD running time, 90 minutes. It was directed by David Padrusch who later directed other projects such as Journey to 10,000 BC (2008) and Last Stand of the 300

Last Stand of the 300

Last Stand of the 300 is a TV documentary/reenactment which premièred on The History Channel in 2007. It was directed by David Padrusch known for directing projects such as Journey to 10,000 BC and Aftershock: Beyond the Civil War for the History Channel.-Synopsis:In 480 B.C, during the...

 (2007) for the History Channel.

Synopsis

The film is about the harsh period of Reconstruction after the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

 in rural southern states. The period was marked with a number of deadly race riots and angry insurgencies in the south. The movie focuses on the rise of the Ku Klux Klan

Ku Klux Klan

Ku Klux Klan, often abbreviated KKK and informally known as the Klan, is the name of three distinct past and present far-right organizations in the United States, which have advocated extremist reactionary currents such as white supremacy, white nationalism, and anti-immigration, historically...

 from a six-member group of veterans of the Confederate Army into a terrorist organization. It tells of the battles between Ku Klux Klan First Grand Wizard

Grand Wizard

Grand Wizard was the title given to the leader of the Reconstruction-era Ku Klux Klan which existed from 1866 to 1871.In 1915, the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan was created, initially as a fraternal organization. The highest-ranking leader of the latter organization was the Imperial Wizard. National...

 Nathan Bedford Forrest

Nathan Bedford Forrest

Nathan Bedford Forrest was a lieutenant general in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War. He is remembered both as a self-educated, innovative cavalry leader during the war and as a leading southern advocate in the postwar years...

 and Governor of Tennessee

Tennessee

Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...

 William Gannaway Brownlow

William Gannaway Brownlow

William Gannaway "Parson" Brownlow was an American newspaper editor, minister, and politician who served as Governor of the state of Tennessee from 1865 to 1869 and as a United States Senator from Tennessee from 1869 to 1875...

, the Memphis

Memphis, Tennessee

Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....

 and New Orleans Massacres, the Lowry War

Lowry War

The Lowry War is considered one of the most important and controversial events in North Carolina history. Led by Henry Berry Lowry , a part Tuscarora or Lumbee Indian whose father and brother were murdered by the Confederate Home Guard, a band of part Indian and African-American men waged a war...

 in Robeson County, North Carolina

North Carolina

North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...

, as well as Arkansas

Arkansas

Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...

' conflict with the clan. The footage consists of interviews with top historians, historical content, and recreated segments as told by narrator Mike Hodge. Director David Padrusch makes a cameo appearance as a 'Freedmen Bureau Agent' who is executed by the Ku Klux Klan in the film.

The DVD release of the program in 2007 contains bonus documentaries: "Images of the Civil War" and "Tales of the Gun: Guns of the Civil War".