Archive for the ‘Slavery’ Category

As noted in my last post, my A.P. United States history class is in the final phase of our Reconstruction Unit. Yesterday we opened class discussion with a reading they were assigned the night before from Elizabeth R. Bethel's excellent book, Promiseland: A Century of Life in a Negro Community. Afterwards students organized into groups ... Full story

The end of our Civil War and Reconstruction unit is nearing and as we enter our discussion concerning Reconstruction we looked briefly at Sherman's Field Order Number 15. To me this represents so much about Reconstruction. William T. Sherman clearly issued the order as a practicality to take care of the issue of ... Full story

Found this fascinating data on one of my favorite blogs Vast Public Indifference and I am simply going to post this and you can visit the post and make comments if you wish; I'm not sure what to think. Full story

Slavery, Resistance, Freedom (Gettysburg Civil War Institute Books) edited by Gabor Boritt and Scott Hancock contains six excellent essays that cover slavery and American history, with an emphasis on memory, and how the idea of freedom as represented here impacts our understanding of American democracy. From the publisher: This extraordinary collection of essays by ... Full story

Has there been a specific study that has dealt with how Union soldiers' opinions concerning things like slavery, emancipation, ect., change as they transitioned from their homeland and descended South and witnessed, firsthand, the nature of slavery? Additionally, how did their experiences going South, entering Rebeldom, change their point of view on Negro soldiers, and everything else that was involved in race issues, if at all? ... Full story

Center design of the 6th U.S. Colored Troops regimental flag. The top motto reads, "Freedom for all". From the Library of Congress Collection. Full story

Over at Kevin's blog, as he has many times, there is some interesting discussion going on concerning the Confederate Flag and how it is displayed in public.  The issue centers around memory, how it is being celebrated, the flag's meaning, and why it is displayed. I am overtly simplifying here the discussion there. Anyway, just for kicks I did some google searching for "Confederate Flag" and ... Full story

Last month members of the University of Alabama's Kappa Alpha Order participated in a tradition that has produced some controversy. The students dressed in Confederate military uniforms and accompanied by dates dressed in traditional dresses, and attended an Old South event in Shreveport, La. The fraternity traces its roots to the Civil War and Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. According to one person, ... Full story

Obadiah Warner, Greenville Ga Apr 13th 1868 to Hon Hiram Warner, Washington City Dear Sir As it is about a week since you left home, I suppose a letter will be acceptable by this time. Ape and I got back all right so for us I could see, about half an hour by sun. The horse don't seem to be ... Full story

In 1921 Tulsa was the scene of possibly the worst race riot in American history. It all stated May 31 and continued until the afternoon of June 1, during which more Americans were killed by fellow Americans since possibly the Civil War. I recently had the opportunity to spend some time and speak with filmmaker Harold Jackson III whose documentary BURN explores the events that ... Full story

This from the National Review Online website (picked up via CW Bookshelf) is a nice followup to my post from a week ago about Lincoln and Race. Eric Foner is a favorite of mine, not becuase I agree with everything he says, but as Guelzo writes he is a fair historian. I happen to agree more with the "progressive" view of Lincoln ... Full story

I was not aware of this. From CNN (link): WASHINGTON (CNN) -- William Jackson was a slave in the home of Confederate president Jefferson Davis during the Civil War. It turns out he was also a spy for the Union Army, providing key secrets to the North about the Confederacy. Jackson was Davis' house servant and personal coachman. He learned high-level details about Confederate battle plans and ... Full story

Perhaps I am not aging like a fine wine (nearing 40 in a few weeks) and I am therefore becoming cranky, no stinky.  I am starting to lose patience with certain things and this is one of them, questions like "Was Lincoln a Racist?" Hello, did he live in the 19th Century!? How could he have not been to ... Full story

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I am a big fan of Chandra Manning's book What This Cruel War Was Over: Soldiers, Slavery, and the Civil War. She was recently interviewed by Peter S. Carmichael for the Civil War Times in their August 2008, Vol. 47, Issue number four. Here's a sample of that interview: In your book you say the war was about slavery. Why is that difficult for ... Full story

First off let me start by saying I apologize for the lack of posts, I have been in the midst of the last week of school and grading, grading, and more grading has been my sole occupation. On to the matter at hand. I have already talked about Chandra Manning's What This Cruel Was Was Over, and, however, as is my way, I have to ... Full story

On the evening of April 9, 1865, hours after Lee’s surrender to Grant, the 11th Wisconsin made its final charge of the war. They captured over 300 prisoners, numerous guns, ammunitions, and horses. They lost 61 men, 15 of them killed. The battle at Fort Blakely, Ala., was the last significant ground action of the Civil War. The ... Full story

Here's another letter of interest. It was written on July 4, 1863 (day after the battle of Gettysburg) from Heath, Massachusetts by "Auntie Mary" to her brother. She offers some very interesting points of view concerning the war. This letter is currently on ebay: Joshua has been sick in a hospital in New Orleans for the past three months. Has been very sick some of the ... Full story

REVIEW: What this Cruel War Was Over: Soldiers, Slavery, and the Civil War By Chandra Manning Knopf, 2007 I have not had the chance to write about Chandra Manning’s much hailed book “What This Cruel War Was Over: Soldiers, Slavery and the Civil War” as I have been involved in other things. I meant to write about it during Christmas break, but so much ... Full story

A few years ago a friend gave me a copy of James Loewen’s book “Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong.” It was after all a “National Bestseller.” I thumbed through it and then tossed it in a pile of books that were later shelved without reading. Recently, I was going through my bookshelves and decided to give it a read. ... Full story