Kevin McCarthy made a Black History Month video. It featured African American leader Frederick Douglass. Watch: Yale historian David Blight, the author of the definitive biography of Douglass, Prophet of Freedom, commented on McCarthy’s videos at the Los Angeles Times. […]
David Blight
Thaddeus Stevens: “In rebuilding, it is necessary to clear away the rotten and defective portions of the old foundations, and to sink deep and found the repaired edifice upon the firm foundation of eternal justice….”
This morning I listened to the debate on impeachment that took place on the floor of the house. The defenders of Donald Trump were arguing that the impeachment of Donald Trump would divide the country and undermine national unity. Mike […]
Franklin Graham asks, “Where does this hate [in America] come from?” (And other court evangelical news).
Eric Metaxas, radio host and fellow at Liberty University’s Falkirk Center, is encouraging everyone to trust God in midst of this intense period of persecution for the church. The persecution, he claims, is coming from Marxists who removed him from […]
Will Trumpism endure?
Yale Historian David Blight argues that “Trumpism has already become a lethal Lost Cause.” Here is a taste of his piece at The New York Times: If, as many Civil War scholars have suggested, the Confederate Lost Cause was born […]
David Blight on “MAGA” as the new “Lost Cause”
Yesterday I suggested that Trumpism is the new “lost cause.” I had no idea David Blight was also talking about this at “The United States of Anxiety” radio show on WNYC. Listen here. Blight says that the Trump presidency is […]
David Blight talks with MSNBC’s Chris Hayes about Frederick Douglass
Listen or read here. A taste: DAVID BLIGHT: Multiculturalism, we use it so loosely that we don’t even know what it means anymore. Well, Douglass knew what it meant. It meant the dream put into reality that people of every […]
David Barton says 19th-century Christians who used the Bible to defend slavery were “the exception, not the rule”
Watch: [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Osdm3oaBbJI&w=560&h=315] There are a lot of historical problems with this video, but the one of the most overt problems is Barton’s claim that most 19th-century Americans were abolitionists. Apparently Barton believes that those who used the Bible to […]
David Blight: An “educated and civil society” is “open to each other’s stories” and “open to the essential pluralism of the human drama”
Yale historian David Blight talks about the differences between history and the past on the “Live the Best Version of You” podcast. It is a nice introduction to how historians work and how the work historians do must contribute to […]
A George Whitefield statue is coming down at the University of Pennsylvania
George Whitefield was arguably the most popular man in colonial America. His preaching was the catalyst for the colonial-wide evangelical revival that historians call the “First Great Awakening.” Recently, the University of Pennsylvania decided to remove a Whitefield statue on […]
Yale acquires new Frederick Douglass documents
According to this piece at NPR, Yale University has acquired the seldom seen Frederick Douglass papers used by David Blight in his book Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom. Here is a taste: For years, researchers interested in the life of […]
David Blight gives Joe Biden some advice about monuments
David Blight has been a voice of reason on this whole monument debate. In a piecepublished yesterday at The New York Times, he offers Joe Biden some historical advice. He suggests that Biden should establish a task force devoted to “our […]
If a spiritual revival leads to more Christian Trumpism, is it really a spiritual revival? Or is it something else?
There are many white evangelicals who believe that a spiritual revival will solve the problem of racism in the United States. When God transforms a human heart, the argument goes, the inclination to perform racist acts will subside. So we […]
What did Frederick Douglass say at the 1876 unveiling of the Freedman’s Memorial?
Learn more about this Washington D.C. monument here. I would also encourage you to read David Blight’s Washington Post piece on why it should stay. If you want to dig even deeper, read the opening chapter of Blight’s book Frederick Douglass: […]
*Harper’s Magazine* publishes “A Letter on Justice and Open Debate”
This letter will appear in the October 2020 issue of Harper’s Magazine. Signers include Anne Applebaum, Margaret Atwood, David Blight, David Brooks, Noam Chomsky, Gerald Early, David Frum, Francis Fukuyama, Todd Gitlin, Anthony Grafton, David Greenberg, Jonathan Haidt, Michael […]
Tuesday night court evangelical roundup
What have Trump’s evangelicals been saying since our last update? Rudy Giuliani shares a tweet from a spokesperson for Liberty University’s Falkirk Center. Notice how Giuliani uses Jenna Ellis’s tweet of Psalm 27 to make a political statement. When he says “we all […]
Historian David Blight Offers Some Context for Troubled Times
Here is Blight at The Atlantic: At the heart of the protests over the recent police killings that have swept the nation is Donald Trump’s presidency. Trump’s depraved rhetoric, his vile racism, his willful ignorance, his vicious contempt for the free […]
David Blight: “And the many need government”
One of our finest American historians, Yale’s David Blight, reminds us that Americans have always relied on the government in times of crisis. Here is a taste of his piece at The Atlantic: In August 1861, several months after the secession […]
Former Democratic Presidential Candidate Michael Bennet Reads Books
I really enjoyed this New York Review of Books interview with Colorado Senator Michael Bennet. Susannah Jacob writes about Bennet: “Before he ran, he read history and journalism for “six or eight months” to moor himself by gaining a long view […]
More Historians Weigh-In on the Trump Acquittal
Politico has gathered historians Michael Kimmage, Claire Potter, Mary Frances Berry, David Blight, Allan Lichtman, Brooks Simpson, and Jeremi Suri. Here is Blight: The impeachment and acquittal of Trump in 2020 left the country’s political culture in spiraling decline. For the […]
David Blight: The GOP is No Longer the Party of Lincoln
David Blight teaches history at Yale University and is the prize-winning biographer of Frederick Douglass. In a recent op-ed at The New York Times he argues that today’s Republican Party would be unrecognizable to Abraham Lincoln, the party’s first president. […]