This book covers more than two centuries of American history, seeking to explain the evolution and enduring power of a racially inflected understanding of freedom.
A precursor to Memorial Day occurred in 1865 when thousands of freed slaves marched in Charleston, South Carolina to declare their sense of the meaning of the Civil War, that it was about their emancipation over a slaveholders' republic.
President Wilson unleashes repression of peace advocates. Republican Party denounces slave trade as a ‘crime against humanity.’ First compulsory public education. Camden draft protestors acquitted. Wiretapping gets the nod. Amnesty for Confederates.
Today, on Presidents’ Day, we rightly celebrate Abraham Lincoln for helping end slavery. But we shouldn’t forget the unstoppable force that also brought down the Slave Power: the several million slaves who left the plantation, many of whom joined the Union Army.
The American media needs to call this movement what it is, fascism, and demand accountability and answers from the thousands of Republican politicians nationwide who refuse to repudiate it.
The discovery of a plaque showing a member of the Ku Klux Klan at the US military academy made headlines. One member of the commission which recommended its removal is a historian of the US army and the lost cause myth.
The Republican transformation of the federal judiciary in the 1860s and 1870s served the party well in the Civil War. But in the end, Lincoln and Grant’s high court appointments ended up being disastrous for civil rights.
At the close of the Civil War, people recently freed from slavery in Charleston honored fallen Union soldiers. A battered U.S. was faced with the task of burying and honoring the 600,000 to 800,000 Union and Confederate soldiers who had died.
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