Family of KKK Leader General John B. Gordon Asks that His Statue Be Removed in Atlanta
The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports that the family of Ku Klux Klan leader and Confederate general John B. Gordon be removed from the grounds of…
New Virginia Highway History Markers Will Include Reconstruction Sites
Virginia will soon be erecting new roadside history markers for sites involving the state’s African American people. You can read the full list here. Here…
Confederate Monument Dedications in NC Often Were Explicitly Racist
In a 2017 newspaper article, scholar Brian Fennessy wrote that in researching Confederate monument dedication speeches in North Carolina “I searched for dedication speeches that…
NY Times Podcast on the History and Meaning of Juneteenth
The New York Times has an interesting interview with Dr. Daina Ramey Berry, a professor of history at the University of Texas at Austin, on…
National Archive Finds An Original Juneteenth Proclamation!
An original handwritten version of the June 19, 1865 Juneteenth proclamation appears to have been found in the National Archive on June 18, 2020. According…
NY Times Publishes Special Section on Juneteenth
The New York Times has a whole suite of materials today celebrating Juneteenth. One article is an interview with 93 year old Opal Lee, the…
Sweet Taste of Liberty: A True Story of Slavery and Restitution in America by W. Caleb McDaniel
Sweet Taste of Liberty: A True Story of Slavery and Restitution in America by W. Caleb McDaniel published by Oxford University Press (2019). Here is…
The Spread of “Juneteenth” in Reconstruction Era Texas
Juneteenth was not called “Juneteenth” the first time it was celebrated. It was called “Emancipation Day” or “Jubilee Day” in most early accounts. And while…
New Report Says 2,000 Blacks Lynched During Reconstruction Era
A new report from the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) says that from the end of the Civil War in 1865 until the traditional close of…
Confederate Veteran William Simkins Describes His Role in the Ku Klux Klan
William Simkins was a professor of law at the University of Texas in Austin on Thanksgiving in 1914 when he decided to use his speech…