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: […]
Frederick Douglass
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 […]
Blight: “Congressman McCarthy, cherish your portrait of Douglass, but leave his history alone”
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
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
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 […]
Who freed the slaves?
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
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
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?
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: […]
Thursday night court evangelical roundup
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?”
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”
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
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
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
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 […]
How African Americans in the early republic celebrated July 4th
Many of us are familiar with Frederick Douglass’s speech “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July.” If you are serious about understanding the plight of African Americans in this country, Douglass’s speech is a good place to start. […]
Wednesday Night Court Evangelical Roundup
Since my last update, a few things have changed in court evangelical land. Neil Gorsuch, one of two Donald Trump Supreme Court nominees, has defended LGBTQ rights and has proven he may not be the best court evangelical ally when […]