Author: Patrick Young
Say Her Name: Julia Hayden, Black Teacher/White Death
Julia Hayden was a seventeen year old set to the exciting task of beginning her career as a teacher of young Black children in Tennessee….
“The Whites Must Rule the Land or Die” Poetry of the White League
The White League dominated the conversation on race in Louisiana in the mid-1870s. Their newspaper, the Opelousas Courier, provides us with access to the politics…
“The Courier passes into the hands of the White League” Louisiana 1874
In May of 1874 the Opelousas Courier newspaper fell under the control of the White League. The newspaper, whose first issues came out long before…
Did You Learn About the Role of Black Troops in Liberating the South?
No period in United States history echoes as truly today as the Reconstruction Era. While many see contemporary parallels in the Civil War, let’s face…
Irish World Cartoon: White League “Leave the Negro Alone” Deep Dive
The Irish World, the most popular Irish immigrant newspaper in late 19th Century America, took a firm stand against white supremacist violence during Reconstruction. I…
The Louisiana White League Formed July 1874
The White League was officially organized on July 1, 1874. It served as a combination radical white supremacist political organization and a militia successor to…
Opera Review: “Crossing”-Opera Based on Walt Whitman’s Civil War Writings
I reviewed this opera in 2017 and I reprint it here. I wonder when the next time will be that I can attend the opera…
The Irish World Condemns the Creation of the White League in Louisiana 1875
In 1875 The Irish World published an editorial condemning the organization of the White League in Louisiana. The White League pledged to do openly what…
Historian Jon Meacham on The Dangers of The Lost Cause
Popular historian Jon Meacham has an essay in today’s New York Times on the development of The Lost Cause ideology by the defeated Confederates after…
War of Northern Aggression, Civil War, War Between the States…The Eternal Argument (or was it?)
One of the most tiresome aspects of writing about the Civil War and Reconstruction period is encountering people who insist that the “real name” of…