Category: Slavery
When Free Blacks Had to Wear Badges to Show Their Racial Status in South Carolina August 1860
While there were “free Blacks” living in South Carolina before the Civil War, their position was precarious and their freedoms were circumscribed. This article in…
How the Descendants of Slaves Are Impacting Plantation Museums
The Washington Post has an article on how the descendants of slaves are impacting how plantation museums tell their stories. From the article: Robert Bellinger…
Sale of Free Negroes in the South Before the Civil War
Freedom was a precarious state for Blacks before the Emancipation Proclamation and the 13th Amendment. Free Blacks were sold at auction if they fell behind…
Richmond Unveils Monument to Emancipation at the End of Civil War
This week Richmond, Virginia erects a new monument marking the liberation of the city by Union troops in April 1865 and the end of slavery…
New Marker Tells Story of USCT from Rippavilla Plantation Near Franklin, Tenn.
The Battle of Franklin Trust unveiled a new historical marker last week at Rippavilla near Franklin, Tenn. The panel recounts the story of local enslaved…
Col. Fremont Not A Roman Catholic-The Religious Divide in the 1856 Election
John C. Fremont was a national hero in the 1840s after he led exploratory expeditions in the West. Dubbed “The Pathfinder of the West,” he…
New Short Film on the Lives of Enslaved Couple’s Gender Change to Flee to Freedom
Ellen and William Craft ran away from slavery in plain sight. Ellen, who was light skinned, disguised herself as a sickly white man. Her husband…
Leon Litwack, Historian of the Reconstruction and Jim Crow Eras, Dies
Leon Litwack, history professor at the University Of California, Berkley, died last week at the age of 91. His book Been in the Storm So…
The Second Amendment & The Right to Kill Black People in Slavery and Reconstruction
Slate’s legal writer Dahlia Lithwick recently interviewed historian Carol Anderson, professor and chair of African American studies at Emory University, on her new book The…
Christiansburg, Virginia to Install Panels on the Town’s Black History During Slavery and Reconstruction
The Montgomery Museum of Art & History in Christiansburg, Virginia and the Christiansburg Institute has approval to place three interpretive panels in the town square…