Rejoicing at News that the Infernal Freedmen’s Bureau to Close at End of 1868
Those who hoped to advance the cause of white supremacy after the Civil War found themselves stymied by the Freedmen’s Bureau. This Federal agency set…
The National Military Asylum Cared for 4.000 Disabled Soldiers in 1868
The New York Times reported on the good work of the National Military Asylum in 1868. Unfortunately, it lauded the great economies practiced in caring…
Elaine Massacre of 1919 Memorialized in Arkansas Recalling Mass Killing of Black Families
1919 was a year of extreme racial violence in America. The “Red Summer” of that year saw what may have been the largest massacre of…
KKK Raiders Defeated by “Negroes” in Livingston, Tenn. Dec. 30, 1868
The Ku Klux Klan rampaged through Tennessee in 1868, but as this article demonstrates, the local African American communities were ready to risk everything to…
Mississippi Republicans Demand Racial Equality in 1869 Party Platform
When the Mississippi Republican Party met in July 1869 to consider its new platform, it was one of the first political party conventions in American…
Book Review: The Impeachers: The Trial of Andrew Johnson and the Dream of a Just Nation by Brenda Wineapple
The Impeachers:The Trial of Andrew Johnson and the Dream of a Just Nation by Brenda Wineapple published by Random House (2019) 576 pp. Hardcover $32.00,…
An “African Carpet-Bagger” Was First Black Man Elected to Congress 1868
John Menard’s parents were People of Color from Louisiana who moved to Illinois, where John was born. He completed college in Illinois. In 1865 he…
Freedom Under the Confiscation Act 1862: What the “Emancipation Paper” Said and How It Threatened Slavery
The March 1862 Confiscation Act allowed the Union Army to free slaves who had been employed in the service of the Confederacy. In this article…
Kevin Levin Speaks at National Archives About the Black Confederate Myth
My review of Kevin Levin’s new book Searching for Black Confederates was my second most popular article over the last month. Yesterday, the historian spoke…
Podcast: Francis Lieber, German Immigrant, Develops Laws of War During Civil War & Reconstruction
Here is an interesting discussion about Francis Lieber, the German immigrant law professor who developed the laws of war during the Civil War and Reconstruction….