The historian and his wife Abby recently toured “the quiet farmlands and serene towns along the Erie Canal” once known as the “burned-over district.” As Ayers writes in this piece at Bunk: “Religious revivals, reform movements, and political conflict had […]
Frederick Douglass
Rep. Scott Perry references Frederick Douglass from the House floor. Historian David Blight is having none of it.
I have never voted for Scott Perry, but he does represent me in the United States House of Representatives. Perry is the chairman of the right-wing House Freedom Caucus. He refused to cooperate with the House committee investigating January 6th […]
No Virginia, Frederick Douglass did not debate Abraham Lincoln in the Lincoln-Douglas debates
A delegate of the General Assembly of Virginia wants better citizenship education for the students of the Commonwealth. Earlier this week Wren Williams proposed a bill (House Bill 781) to amend the Code of Virginia to strengthen “student citizenship skills.” […]
David Blight coming to Messiah University!
On Tuesday, October 12, Yale historian David Blight will deliver the 2021 Messiah University American Democracy Lecture. Free tickets are still available. They can be reserved at the Messiah ticket office: 717-691-6036. On Wednesday, October 13, I will join my […]
The Author’s Corner with Robert S. Levine
Robert S. Levine is Distinguished Professor of English at the University of Maryland. This interview is based on his new book, The Failed Promise: Reconstruction, Frederick Douglass, and the Impeachment of Andrew Johnson (W. W. Norton & Company, 2021). JF: […]
Juneteenth is the answer to Frederick Douglass’s question: “What to the slave is the Fourth of July?”
Here is historian Peniel Joseph at CNN: Juneteenth commemorates the June 19, 1865, announcement of the end of slavery by a Union major general in Texas. Long celebrated in Black communities from coast to coast, it has been a Texas state holiday […]
Frederick Douglass: “We must never forget that victory to the rebellion meant death to the republic”
150 years ago yesterday, Douglass delivered this Decoration Day speech at Arlington National Cemetery. Decoration Day was the predecessor of Memorial Day. Learn more about it here. Here is Douglass: The Unknown Loyal Dead Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia, on Decoration […]