Giuliana Perrone is Assistant Professor of History at the University of California, Santa Barbara. This interview is based on her new book, Nothing More than Freedom: The Failure of Abolition in American Law (Cambridge University Press, 2023). JF: What led...
13th Amendment
Tuesday night court evangelical roundup
What have Trump’s evangelicals been saying since yesterday’s update? Franklin Graham is on the stump for Trump. This is from his Facebook page : In the last presidential election in 2016, I reminded people across the country that the election was not about...
How the history of white evangelical racism has led to Donald Trump’s election and continues to shape support for his presidency
I begin with a caveat. This post is not implying that all white evangelicals are or have been racist. Many white evangelicals have been anti-racist and have fought hard to curb systemic racism in American life. But, as I argued...
Eric Foner on the “Buried Promise of the Reconstruction Amendments”
Over at The New Yorker, Isaac Chotiner interviews historian Eric Foner on the promise of Reconstruction. Foner, of course, remains the foremost historian of Reconstruction. I have taught his book Reconstruction: America’s Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877 several times over the years. Foner’s current book,...
The Author’s Corner with Joseph Reidy
Joseph Reidy is Professor of History and Associate Provost at Howard University. This interview is based on his new book, Illusions of Emancipation: The Pursuit of Freedom and Equality in the Twilight of Slavery (The University of North Carolina Press, 2019)....
Memo to Spielberg: Connecticut DID Back the Thirteenth Amendment
Rep. Joe Courtney was a history major at Tufts University. Perhaps this is why he noticed a blatant historical inaccuracy in Steven Spielberg’s blockbuster film Lincoln. The movie includes a scene in which two Connecticut congressmen vote against the 13th...
Historians on “Lincoln”
Have you seen “Lincoln” yet? I have not. Many of my students have. I guess I need to see it. Here are some thoughts on the movie from people who know a lot more about Lincoln than I do Louis […]