Every year in my United States history survey course we spend three or four class periods talking about the meaning of democracy in antebellum America. During a small seminar I introduce students to Alexis De Tocqueville, the author of Democracy...
Do you do genealogical research? In this episode, historian Francesca Morgan talks about her new book A Nation of Descendants: Politics and the Practice of Genealogy in U.S. History. She discusses Americans’ fascination with tracking family lineage through three centuries and how the...
On Friday (tomorrow) to be exact. Here is Michael Ruane at The Washington Post: On April 1, 1950, an army of 140,000 census enumerators, equipped with fountain pens and government forms, started fanning out across the country to paint a...
Check out DESCENDANTS, a Washington Post series about African-Americans searching for their roots. Here is a description: For many Americans, blended ancestry is an integral part of their identity. The mosaic of hyphenated heritages preserves cultural connections beyond the United States,...
Read all about it at the Atlanta Black Star. Here is a taste of Tanasia Kenney’s report: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced this week that it’s donating $2 million to the International African-American Museum in Charleston, S.C., to create...
Always good to see a fellow history blogger on television! Recently Historiann, aka Ann Little of Colorado State University, appeared as an expert historian on the television show “Who Do You Think You Are.” She helped television personality Tom Bergeron...
“Far more people know that Ben Affleck is descended from slave-owners now than would have known if he had just cooperated as everyone else did.” –Kevin Gutzman, Western Connecticut State University (via Facebook). Need some context for this quote? Try...
I just saw this article at The New York Times: An index to more than 10 million New York City birth, marriage and death records from 1866 to 1948 is available free online thanks to a collaboration between the city’s...
This week’s edition of the History News Network includes a special forum on the recent research by Ancestry.com claiming that Barack Obama’s family tree on his mother’s side can be traced to a “slave” in colonial Virginia named John Punch....
…on his mother’s side of the family. According to new genealogical research by Ancestry.com, Barack Obama’s family tree on his mother’s side can be traced to a slave in colonial Virginia named John Punch. The New York Times is on...
It is amazing the things you find out (or others find out for you) about the historical characters who you spend a chunk of your life studying. Shortly after I published The Way of Improvement Leads Home: Philip Vickers Fithian...
National Public Radio’s “Weekend Edition” has a nice piece (audio and web) on the new exhibit currently housed at the Museum of American History called “Slavery at Jefferson’s Monticello: Paradox of Liberty.” Here is a video that is part of...
I just came across this great post by history teacher Nate Kogan at his very interesting blog, The History Channel This is Not. As part of his U.S. history survey course, Kogan has students research their family history. Here is...
After The Way of Improvement Leads Home appeared in 2008, I began to receive invitations to speak at ancestral societies connected with the American Revolution. I usually accept the invitations. Philip Vickers Fithian is a character of special interest to...
Professional historians tend to have little patience for genealogists. It is not that they do not like what genealogists do. (In fact, I know many historians who are interested in the search for their family roots.). What bothers them is […]
