The 1901 Alabama Constitution Was Justified Based on Civil War and Reconstruction History
Earlier this month I wrote about the effort in Alabama to delete racist language in its constitution put in during the decades after Reconstruction in…
South Carolina “A White Man Named Taylor, Who Had Made Negroes His Only Companions…”
In spite of all the nonsense Lost Cause writers once spun about whites and slaves being friends in the Old South, those whites who formed…
Video Previews New Reconstruction Exhibit at Smithsonian
The Smithsonian has released a new video previewing its new exhibit on Reconstruction. The exhibit will be at the Museum of African American History until…
Three New Highway History Signs in Virginia on Civil War and Reconstruction Topics
Virginia has been marking its history along its highways for nearly a century. The state’s Department of Historic Resources has announced a set of new…
When Lee Threatened to Execute His Men for Telling Jokes About Desertion
In March of 1865, the situation of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia was desperate. As the hungry army was in its last weeks of…
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…
1865 Podcast Episode 2 & 3 Dramatizes the Days After the Lincoln Assassination
Episode 2 of the dramatic series 1865 covers the days after the Lincoln Assassination. It has some poorly sourced claims that Andrew Johnson and John…
1865 Podcast Dramatizes Events Following Lincoln Assassination
I have seen the podcast 1865 described as a “new” series on the months after the Lincoln assassination. In fact, the podcast is in its…
NY Times on How the Fisk Jubilee Singers Helped Save the Black School During Reconstruction
The New York Times today has an interesting story on the history of the Fisk Jubilee Singers. Fisk University is one of the oldest Historically…
Alabama Spending Half-Million Annually on Confederate Memorial Park: WaPo
The Washington Post has an article on expenditures by the State of Alabama to support the Confederate Memorial Park. The park is on the site…