Category: White Supremacy Apologetics
When a Ban on Chinese Immigration Was Proposed in 1867 Frederick Douglass Stood Up in Opposition
Americans’ fear of non-white, non-Christian immigrants began in 1848 with the arrival of the first ship full of Chinese in San Francisco Bay. The Chinese…
Eric Foner on the Impact of the Dunning School on the Understanding of Reconstruction: Videos
Historian Eric Foner’s course on Reconstruction was videoed a few years ago and posted on-line. These segments look at the influence of the Dunning School…
William Dunning Explains the Restoration of Peace (and White Supremacy) in 1877 When Reconstruction Collapsed
This is the final installment of a four-part series on historian William Dunning. While the recent rise of the so-called Alt-Right has been a sad…
Reading William Dunning, Founder of the Dunning School: A Deep Dive Into Scholarly Supremacism
While William Dunning is often discussed in Reconstruction Era Studies, he is little read today except by academic historians and Neo-Confederates. I think that it…
Why Your Teacher Told You Lies About Reconstruction: William Dunning & the Miseducation of America
William Dunning was the Columbia University professor credited with creating the academic school that established the scholarly attack on Radical Republican Reconstruction policies. Dunning is…
When Southern Whites Boycotted and Blacks Embraced the Fourth of July During Reconstruction
Many Americans are familiar, at least with the title, with Frederick Douglass’s 1852 speech “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” What they…
Kevin Levin Tells the Real Story of the Black Men Confederates Brought to Gettysburg (They were slaves, not “Black Confederates”)
One of the more troubling manifestations of modern Civil War memory is the development of the Black Confederate Myth. Kevin Levin has an interesting article…
Miscegenation Waltz: Fined $50 for Marrying a Black Woman July 1866
Before most Southern states began rebuilding their damaged infrastructure or taking care of their crippled veterans right after the Civil War, their legislatures busied themselves…
“Plessy v. Ferguson” Had Its Roots in the Destruction of Reconstruction: Article by David Cole
David Cole, national legal director of the ACLU and a professor at Georgetown University Law Center, has an interesting article in The Nation on the…
President Johnson Vetoed the Civil Rights Act Because Blacks Had Not Earned Citizenship
The Civil Rights Act of 1866 became law after Congress overrode a veto by President Andrew Johnson. In this article, I want to look at…