Tom Mackaman of the World Socialist Web Site is back with another interview. Here is a taste of his conversation with Stanford’s Jack Rakove: TM: You mentioned it before, and we will need to turn to the 1619 Project, whose...
slavery
A database of the 1,715 members of Congress who owned slaves
The Washington Post has published a database of American enslavers. It includes some familiar names: Thomas Hart Benton, John C. Breckinridge, Preston Brooks, Aaron Burr, Pierce Butler, John C. Calhoun, Charles Carroll, Henry Clay, De Witt Clinton, Davy Crockett, Jefferson...
James Oakes on what the 1619 Project gets wrong
City University of New York (CUNY) historian James Oakes was one of the early critics of the 1619 Project. He was part of the group of historians that agreed to an interview with historian Tom Mackaman at the World Socialist...
The Author’s Corner with John Harris
John Harris is McDonald-Boswell Assistant Professor of History at Erskine College. This interview is based on his new book, The Last Slave Ships: New York and the End of the Middle Passage (Yale University Press, 2020). JF: What led you...
From the archives: Jack Hibbs dabbles in American history and it is a disaster. We need another Dudley Rutherford moment
This post is from July 13, 2021: In 2011, Dudley Rutherford, the pastor of the Shepherd of the Hills Church in Porter Ranch, California, sat down in front of a camera and told the inspiring story behind the writing of “The Star-Spangled Banner.”...
The Author’s Corner with Damian Pargas
Damian Pargas is Professor of the History and Culture of North America at Leiden University. This interview is based on his new book, Freedom Seekers: Fugitive Slaves in North America, 1800–1860 (Cambridge University Press, 2021). JF: What led you to...
New Hampshire’s “An Act Relative to Teachers’ Loyalty” has little to do with the teaching of American history
Here is Eileen O’Connor of the Concord Monitor: Just one year after New Hampshire legislators first introduced a bill that banned the teaching or discussion of “divisive concepts” like systemic racism, another bill will be debated this legislative session that...
Do you think America is divided today? Consider the first Thanksgiving
The first official Thanksgiving in the United States did not take place in 1621. (How could it? There was no United States in 1621). It happened in 1863 when Abraham Lincoln, on October 3, proclaimed that Thursday, November 26 would...
Abigail, an enslaved woman owned by John Jay, died in Paris trying to win her freedom
Historian Martha Jones tells the story at The New York Times: Despite its many markers of memory there are some stories about the past that Paris does not tell. I am an African American historian who spends each summer in...
The 1619 Project and the latest battle over teaching history
Jake Silverstein, the editor of The New York Times Magazine, has published a helpful 8100-world piece on the origins of the 1619 Project and how it has triggered the latest debate over the teaching of American history in schools. Here...
The Author’s Corner with Fay Yarbrough
Fay Yarbrough is Professor of American History at Rice University. This interview is based on her new book, Choctaw Confederates: The American Civil War in Indian Country (University of North Carolina Press, 2021). JF: What led you to write Choctaw Confederates?...
The Author’s Corner with Jared Hardesty
Jared Hardesty is Assistant Professor of History at Western Washington University. This interview is based on his new book, Mutiny on the Rising Sun: A Tragic Tale of Slavery, Smuggling, and Chocolate (NYU Press, 2021). JF: What led you to...
David Barton’s son talks slavery and Black history with sportswriter Jason Whitlock. It is a train wreck.
Tim Barton, the son of David Barton, appeared on sports writer Jason Whitlock‘s show “Fearless.” The show is part of Glenn Beck’s “Blaze Media.” Whitlock joined Blaze Media because he “wanted to partner with people who wouldn’t look at me...
Albert Raboteau, RIP
Princeton University religion professor Albert Raboteau‘s book Slave Religion was the first book I ever read on the history of the religion and the African American experience. Here is Adelle Banks at Religion News Service: Albert J. Raboteau, an American...
The Author’s Corner with Eric Herschthal
Eric Herschthal is Assistant Professor of History at the University of Utah. This interview is based on his new book The Science of Abolition: How Slaveholders Became the Enemies of Progress (Yale University Press 2021). JF: What led you to write The Science...
Episode 89: The Heretical John C. Calhoun
John C. Calhoun is among the most notorious and enigmatic figures in American political history. In this episode we talk with Robert Elder, author of Calhoun: American Heretic. Elder shows that Calhoun’s story is crucial for understanding the political climate in...
Slavery at Boston’s Old North Church
Here is Artemis Moshtaghian at CNN: On Tuesday, the National Endowment for the Humanities announced that the Old North Church Foundation was awarded a $75,000 grant. Stewart says the foundation plans on creating a program that reinterprets the church and its congregation’s...
Pew Research: “Republicans are far more likely than Democrats to say increased attention to the history of slavery and racism is bad for the country”
Here is a taste of the recent Pew Research study: Among U.S. adults overall, 53% say increased attention to that history is a good thing for society, while 26% say it is a bad thing and another 21% say it...
What do Americans really think about critical race theory?
According to an Reuters-Ipsos poll 43% of Americans said they are “familiar” with critical race theory. 30% have never heard of it. Other findings from this poll: 24 % of Americans know about the 1619 Project. 22% know about the...
Annette Gordon-Reed talks race and American history
Here is a taste of Chauncey DeVega’s interview with Gordon-Reed at Salon: Why are so many (white) people upset by basic facts about the color line and its centrality to American history? Guilt. That is why there are people who...