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Frederick Douglass

No Virginia, Frederick Douglass did not debate Abraham Lincoln in the Lincoln-Douglas debates

John Fea   |  January 13, 2022

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!

John Fea   |  October 11, 2021

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

Rachel Petroziello   |  September 9, 2021

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?”

John Fea   |  June 19, 2021

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”

John Fea   |  May 31, 2021

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...

Blight: “Congressman McCarthy, cherish your portrait of Douglass, but leave his history alone”

John Fea   |  February 20, 2021

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....

Liberty University’s Falkirk Center meets all expectations at its “Get Louder” event

John Fea   |  September 11, 2020

Yesterday, Liberty University’s Falkirk Center, the culture war wing of the largest Christian university in the world, held a 1-day conference titled “Get Louder: Faith Summit 2020.” Evangelical Trump supporters were encouraged to yell and scream more, fight more, and...

David Blight talks with MSNBC’s Chris Hayes about Frederick Douglass

John Fea   |  August 11, 2020

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”

John Fea   |  August 11, 2020

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...

Who freed the slaves?

John Fea   |  August 3, 2020

Princeton historian Matt Karp talks with Jacobin magazine’s Megan Day and Micah Uetricht about his recent Catalyst essay, “The Mass Politics of Anti-Slavery.” This is a wide-ranging discussion about abolitionism, Karl Marx, Abraham Lincoln, the Republican Party of the 1850s, and contemporary politics....

Harrisburg’s history of racial injustice

John Fea   |  July 28, 2020

Two of my colleagues in the Messiah University history department, Bernardo Michael and David Pettegrew, have an op-ed at PennLive today on their work on the African American communities of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Pettegrew is the director of the university’s Digital...

Yale acquires new Frederick Douglass documents

John Fea   |  July 20, 2020

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...

If a spiritual revival leads to more Christian Trumpism, is it really a spiritual revival? Or is it something else?

John Fea   |  July 17, 2020

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?

John Fea   |  July 15, 2020

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:...

Thursday night court evangelical roundup

John Fea   |  July 9, 2020

What have Trump’s evangelicals been saying since our last update? They are still coming for Jesus: As I said in an earlier tweet…. the left is coming after Jesus and the apostles next. Not the statues but the historic faith of Christianity https://t.co/wO8INqFk0v —...

Descendants read Frederick Douglass’s speech “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?”

John Fea   |  July 9, 2020

I have linked to this in a couple of posts over the course of the last week, but I just realized I never devoted a stand-alone post to it. Watch: [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBe5qbnkqoM&w=560&h=315]  ...

Thoughts on Trump’s Proposed “National Garden of American Heroes”

John Fea   |  July 6, 2020

  At his July 3, 2020 speech at Mount Rushmore, Donald Trump said: [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alEE-5Pk5DQ&w=560&h=315] More here. And here is the text of the executive order: By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws...

Thoughts on Trump’s Mount Rushmore speech

John Fea   |  July 5, 2020

In case you missed it, Trump gave a speech at Mount Rushmore, South Dakota on the night of July 3, 2020. Read the text here. Watch the entire event here: [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z61WalX3m_k&w=560&h=315] Thoughts: 1. Mary Hart 2. South Dakota governor...

Saturday night court evangelical roundup

John Fea   |  July 4, 2020

What have Trump’s evangelicals been saying since our last update? Samuel Rodriguez is upset about the prohibition on singing in California churches. You cannot permit tens of thousands to march in protest without masks and demand that 100 worshipers refrain from singing. That my...

Thursday night court evangelical roundup

John Fea   |  July 2, 2020

What have Trump’s evangelicals been saying since our last update? Court evangelical Tony Perkins joins several other evangelical Trump supporters to talk about the 2020 election: [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnEOG1basWI&w=560&h=315] A few quick comments: 15:58ff: Perkins says that Christians “have a responsibility” to vote along “biblical...

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