The Civic Literacy Project: A Brief History of Democracy

By Maqube Reese, MSW, LSW, Founder|CEO, Tribe Consulting Firm

The Civic Literacy Project| August 3, 2026

Today marks the second day of writing as we head toward the 2026 general election. I appreciate you joining me. I hope these pieces feel relaxed, as if we’re sitting together in my home with something warm or cold to drink; I am an iced brown sugar homemade latte kind of girlie. My aim isn’t to prove a point, but to share what I know and help build your confidence.

I see democracy a bit like a family. You don’t choose everyone in your family, but you still belong together. Most families include people with different personalities, values, beliefs, and experiences. I know that everyone experiences family in their own way. Some families are formed by birth, while others come together through community. Both are real and deserve recognition. I see you. In many ways, I think democracy works the same way. We are a nation made up of people with different perspectives, backgrounds, and ideas about how our systems should work. We won’t always agree, and not everyone has the same opportunities. But democracy keeps asking us: can we adapt, can we live, work, and solve problems together?

Looking at history, America began when thirteen British colonies declared independence and later formed a constitutional republic (Declaration of Independence, 1776). A constitutional republic is a government where citizens elect representatives to make laws, and the whole nation is guided by a constitution that limits government power and protects individual rights (Preuss, 1998). As I mentioned earlier, the nation was founded by thirteen colonies on so-called “shared” ideas about liberty.

The hard truth is that not everyone was seen as an individual. In this series, we will face these painful parts of our democracy together. Are you still with me? These moments matter because we aim to tell the truth together. What do I mean by harmonious truth tellers? It means telling the truth together, exactly as it happened, in reconciliation. 

Indigenous nations had governed these lands for thousands of years before European colonization, and many Native communities suffered violence, displacement, and the loss of their homelands (Urlacher, 2021, pp. 1117-1125). At the same time, millions of enslaved Africans were denied the freedoms the new nation promised (Carden, 2014).

This history is complicated, and throughout this series we’ll take time to explore it honestly. Understanding democracy means celebrating its ideals but also recognizing those who were left out and the generations who worked to expand those promises.

For today, I want us to keep this in mind:

Democracy isn’t about everyone thinking the same way. It’s about people with different beliefs choosing to share responsibility for our present day that directly influences our shared future. My goal isn’t to write a long dissertation, but to have an ongoing, everyday conversation. If you have a better way to explain it, I encourage you to share your thoughts. This series will keep building, and each article will take just 2-3 minutes to read. Enjoy it and share it! Next up: Prepare to Vote!

References

(1776). Declaration of Independence. National Archives. https://www.archives.gov/historical-docs/declaration

Preuss, U. K. (1998). Constitutionalism. Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780415249126-S013-1

Urlacher, B. R. (2021). Introducing Native American Conflict History (NACH) data. Journal of Peace Research 58(5), pp. 1117-1125. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022343320987274

Carden, A. (2014). Freedom's Delay: America's Struggle for Emancipation, 1776–1865. University of Tennessee Press. https://www.jstor.org/stable/jj.26248877

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About the Author

Maqube Reese, MSW, LSW, is the founder of Tribe Consulting and an award-winning civil rights leader, educator, and strategist committed to strengthening democracy. She believes civic literacy, leadership, and public service are essential today. Maqube received the U.S. Department of Justice Attorney General Award for her civil rights work and the NAACP Indiana Youth and College as the inaugural award winner of The Jason Hayes Presidents Award, recognizing her dedication to empowering young leaders. 

As a former Conciliation Specialist with the U.S. Department of Justice Community Relations Service under the Biden and Harris administration, she addressed complex challenges in civil rights, public safety, and conflict resolution. Reese also served as an Associate Faculty at Indiana University Bloomington, advising and mentoring undergraduate and graduate students. She was an Associate Director for the Kelley School of Business, recruiting and retaining top talent across the nation. Her experience with real-world practice, coupled with academic scholarship, provides an opportunity to introduce real challenges and navigate a solution-focused mindset.  

Reese currently works at Indiana Black Expo, Inc. as their Director for Youth and Family Programs, a statewide organization, and her belief in democracy is strongest when people understand how and why it CAN work. The principle of Vincent Harding, a predecessor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., historian and peacemaker, guides her. As historian and civil rights scholar Vincent Harding reminded us, "We are all a part of each other." Democracy is not an individual act but an interconnected responsibility. Every election, every conversation, and every generation inherits the work of strengthening the human experience.