Category Reconstruction
We Are Not Being Asked to Run Into Cannon Fire We Just Need to Speak Up
Professor Drew Gilpin Faust, former President of Harvard University, the latest target of the unhinged Russian agent Krasnov, contributed this essay. “Frederick Douglass thought Decoration Day — the original name for Memorial Day — was the nation’s most significant holiday. On May 30, 1871, the day’s fourth annual observance, he honored the unknown Union dead at […]
Savings and Trust
I recently reviewed this book for the “Emerging Civil War” website, which you can read here. There is additional information I’ll provide for readers of this blog. In this book, we learn, “Though Frederick Douglass did serve as the bank’s last president, the trustees, most of whom were white, appointed Douglass knowing that it was […]
Ulysses Grant – 1869
This is an episode of C-SPAN’s “First 100 Days” series looking at the beginnings of the terms of various presidents in US history. This episode features Professor Erik Alexander of Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville. The video’s description reads, “Discussion on the early months of President Ulysses Grant’s first term in 1869, including selection of a […]
The Rise and Fall of the Second American Republic
We normally date Reconstruction from the end of the Civil War to 1877. In The Reconstruction Presidents, Professor Brooks Simpson begins his study at Abraham Lincoln’s 10% Plan. In this book, noting there were proposals to reconstruct the Union even before secession, Professor Manisha Sinha posits a “long Reconstruction” lasting from 1860 all the way […]
Last Seen – The Enduring Search by Formerly Enslaved People to Find Their Lost Families
In this video, Professor Judith Giesberg discusses her latest book, Last Seen: The Enduring Search by Formerly Enslaved People to Find Their Lost Families. The video’s description reads, “History professor Judith Giesberg spoke about the archival materials that capture the search of formerly enslaved people to find family members stolen during slavery. Harvard Book Store […]
Burying the Dead But Not the Past
This terrific book by Professor Caroline Janney traces the history of the Ladies’ Memorial Associations in the South after the Civil War. She writes, “Contrary to contemporary understandings, between 1865 and 1915 white southerners frequently hailed the critical role Ladies’ Memorial Associations (LMAS) had played in crafting the traditions that honored the Confederate cause and […]
Thaddeus Stevens and the Power of the Purse
I came across this article on Thaddeus Stevens by Professor Cecily Zander. “Steven Spielberg’s 2012 film Lincoln might well have been called Stevens, after its alternate protagonist: the irascible chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Thaddeus Stevens. As played by Tommy Lee Jones, Stevens appears to viewers as a surly congressional stalwart, whose principal role in […]
‘Last Seen’: After slavery, family members placed ads looking for loved ones
This article is based on a discussion with Professor Judith Giesberg on her new book, Last Seen. “In 2017, historian Judith Giesberg and her team of graduate student researchers launched a website called Last Seen: Finding Family After Slavery. It now contains over 4,500 ads placed in newspapers by formerly enslaved people who hoped to find […]
Rethinking Reconstruction: Kate Masur on “Freedom Was in Sight”
This article contains an interview with Professor Kate Masur on her new book, Freedom Was In Sight: A Graphic History of Reconstruction in the Washington, D. C. Area. [Begin Quote]Jessica Rucker (JR): I’ve recently been reading a lot about the ideas and activities of Black freedom and liberation seekers in the United States, and I’m […]
April 13, 1873: Colfax Massacre
I found this article on the Colfax Massacre of 1873. “The Colfax Massacre occurred in Colfax, Louisiana on Easter Sunday, April 13, 1873. Republicans had narrowly won the 1872 election to retain control of the state, but Democrats contested the results. Eric Foner notes, ‘The bloodiest single instance of racial carnage in the Reconstruction era, the […]
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