Category: White Supremacy
German General Carl Schurz Begins His Investigation of the Post-War South
Union General Carl Schurz began his inspection tour of the South just a month after the last Confederate forces surrendered. Schurz, a German refugee, embarked…
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…
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…
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…
Podcast: Chris Hayes Interviews Biographer Brenda Wineapple on the Andrew Johnson Impeachment
MSNBC’s Chris Hayes interviews author Brenda Wineapple on the Andrew Johnson impeachment. Wineapple is the author of the new book The Impeachers: The Trial of…
Opposing the Black Codes in 1865: South Carolina African Americans Speak Out
After the surrender of the Confederate armies between April and June 1865, President Andrew Johnson remarkably left state and local governments in the hands of…
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…
People Still Care About History Say the 400,000 Americans Who Visited Lynching Memorial Last Year
Bryan Stevenson, author, lawyer, and founder of the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Alabama, was interviewed on WNYC today. The second segment covers the new memorial…
Video Lecture: The Rise of the Southern Conservative Response to Reconstruction and the Klu Klux Klan
Professor Robert Kenzer of the University of Richmond gives a lecture on the “rise of the Southern conservative response and the Klu Klux Klan.” Very…