Category: Memory of Reconstruction
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…
John Oliver Discusses How U.S. Schools Teach Slavery and Reconstruction
John Oliver has a funny/angry take on how children in the United States are taught the history of slavery, Emancipation, Reconstruction and White Supremacy. Adult…
Historian Caroline Janney Looks at Trump’s The Lost Cause in the WaPo
The Washington Post has an essay today by Caroline Janney about the Lost Cause and Donald Trump. Janney is a leading historian of the Civil…
Podcast: Eric Foner on the “Fake History” of Reconstruction
Ideastream has a twelve minute interview with Eric Foner on Reconstruction which focuses on the damage done by the fake history of the period that…
Profiles in Courage, Adelbert Ames, JFK and Reconstruction Racism
Today’s New Yorker has an article by Nicholas Lemann on persistent questions he has about John F. Kennedy’s Pulitzer Prize winning book Profiles in Courage….
NPR Reports on the Removal of Statues from Monument Avenue in Richmond
Monument Avenue in Richmond was conceived as a whites-only neighborhood where the heroes of the Confederacy would be honored. NPR has a report on the…
Augusta Georgia’s Monument to the Confederacy and “Reconstruction”
Augusta, Georgia is one of many Southern cities where controversy has enveloped the local Confederate monument. Black Lives Matter rallies have targeted the memorial, calling…
More Eyewitness Accounts from Gettysburg Militia Occupation on July 4
The Journal of the Civil War Era has four blog posts this week on the descent of heavily armed “militias” and racist groups on Gettysburg…
Letter to National Park Service from Historian Critical of “Militia” Occupation of Gettysburg
Photo of peaceful anti-racism procession at Gettysburg on July 19, 2020. h/t Jake Wynn Dr. Jennifer M. Murray is Professor of History at Oklahoma State…
On the Use of the Word “Terrorism” to Describe Violence During Reconstruction: Anachronism?
I am sometimes asked if my using the word “terrorism” to describe racial or political violence during the Reconstruction Era is anachronistic. It isn’t. I…