Posted in Emancipation Proclamation

Charleston To Hold Its 153rd Annual Celebration of Emancipation Tonight and on New Year’s Day

Charleston, S.C., will hold its 153rd Annual Emancipation Day Celebration tonight and tomorrow. The festivities mark the January 1, 1863 signing of the Emancipation Proclamation…

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Posted in 13th Amendment Emancipation Proclamation

January 1 Was Celebrated in Black Communities as Emancipation Day, a Commemoration of Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation

January 1 was celebrated in Black communities as Emancipation Day, a commemoration of Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. Here is a newspaper article on Emancipation Day Jan….

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Posted in Memory of Reconstruction Movies

Three Civil War/Reconstruction Era Films Make Smithsonian’s 10 Best History Movies of the Decade

Smithsonian Magazine just released its list of the ten best history movies of the 2010s and it includes three films about the Civil War and…

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Posted in Emancipation Proclamation Memory of Reconstruction Photos Slavery

Thomas Nast Depicts the Emancipation of the Slaves in a Giant Cartoon

New Year’s Day is also the anniversary of Lincoln’s January 1, 1863 signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. To celebrate the signing, Tomas Nast sketched a…

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Posted in Ku Klux Klan White Supremacy White Terror

Ku Klux Kristmas: The Last Attacks of 1868

1868 was the worst year for Ku Klux violence so far. Christmas-time saw continued attacks, even though the total number declined after the 1868 elections….

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Posted in Movies Slavery Women and Gender

“Who’s Afraid of Harriet Tubman?”-Not Ms. Magazine

When the film “Harriet” was about to be released, a social media call for a boycott of the film was widely circulated. While the film…

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Posted in Movies Women and Gender

WaPo: “We watched 15 straight hours of ‘Little Women,’ and things got weird”

WaPo writers Caitlin Gibson and Monica Hesse watched a whole bunch of adaptations of “Little Women” over 15 hours and rated them. They started in…

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Posted in Book Reviews Memory of Reconstruction Women and Gender

Book Review: Eden’s Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father by John Matteson

Eden’s Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father by John Matteson published by Norton (2007). ​ This book won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize and…

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Posted in Movies Women and Gender

“Little Women” “This Movie Is Big” Says New York Times and Others

With the Civil War and Reconstruction Era film Little Women set to open on Christmas Day, the reviews are rolling in. Nearly all are quite…

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Posted in Andrew Johnson

Andrew Johnson Issues “Christmas Amnesty” Pardoning Former Confederates for Treason on Dec. 25, 1868

On December 25, 1868, Andrew Johnson issued his final amnesty proclamation pardoning former Confederates for treason against the United States. Although the vast majority of…

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