Month: January 2021
When Confederate General James Longstreet Lost the Battle of Gettysburg in 1874
Students of Civil War history know that after the war, General James Longstreet became a scapegoat for Lost Cause adherents seeking to explain Confederate defeat….
Historians Greg Downs and Kate Masur on How the Current Crisis Reflects Our Reconstruction Past
This has been a busy three weeks for historians being asked by news organizations for comparisons between the current political situation and the Reconstruction Era….
Heather Cox Richardson on the Republican Party in the Civil War & Reconstruction Era
Heather Cox Richardson did a gajillion-part series on the history of the Republican Party on Facebook Live over the summer. The first five hours cover…
Election of 1872: The First Woman Presidential Candidate and Frederick Douglass
The Harvard Gazette has an interesting article on the Election of 1872 focusing on the first woman candidate for president. Victoria Woodhull was a free-thinking…
The Challenge for Frederick Douglass: Lee’s Death, Black Soldiers & the Memory of the Civil War
Frederick Douglass ECW I sometimes hear comedians joke that Black History Month, celebrated annually in February, is during the shortest month of the year. Rather…
Yale University Sets Up Working Group on the School’s Ties to Slavery and Racism
In October, Yale University established a working group of students, faculty, and people from the local community to investigate the school’s links to slavery and…
Is the Use of “White Supremacy” Anachronistic in Writing About the Confederacy and Reconstruction?
Note: 19th Century articles in this post include racist terms to insult African Americans and persons of mixed-race ancestry. I recently described President Andrew Johnson…
Effort by Trump Administration to Alter History Teaching Condemned by Actual Historians
The final effort by the Trump administration to alter the teaching of history was a report from the newly minted 1776 Commission released on Martin…
The Secret Inauguration of Rutherford B. Hayes That Ended the Disputed Election of 1876
Presidents originally served until March 4 of the year following the presidential election. On March 4, 1877 the term of President Ulysses S. Grant came…
Eric Foner on the Lessons of Reconstruction Post-January 6th
The New Yorker interviewed historian Eric Foner after the assault on the Capitol last week for his insights into the lessons the Reconstruction Era holds…
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