We Legitimize the ‘So-Called’ Confederacy With Our Vocabulary, and That’s a Problem

Tearing down monuments is only the beginning to understanding the false narrative of Jim Crow.

Nature's Disastrous ‘Whitewashing’ Editorial

Science's ethos of self-correction should apply to how it thinks about its own history, too.
Outside of the New York Historical Society building.

Bringing It All Back Home: The Vietnam War in Public History and Personal Memory

Louise Mirrer reflects on the history and memory of the Vietnam War and a new exhibit at the New York Historical Society.

The Fallacy of 1619

Rethinking the history of Africans in early America.

The Long Summer of Love

Historians get hip to the lasting influences of ’60s counterculture

Forrest the Butcher

Memphis wants to remove a statue honoring first grand wizard of the KKK.
U.S. Marine Corps soldiers usher suspected Viet Cong members through the rubble of a village in 1965.

Ken Burns' New Documentary Exposes the Emotion Behind the Vietnam War

An interview with the filmmakers.

How Labor Scholars Missed the Trump Revolt

We thought we knew the white working class. Then 2016 happened.

The 'Slave Block' in a Town in Virginia: Should it Stay or Should it Go?

This is not a monument, it’s a piece of history. But should it be removed from view?

American Sphinx

Civil War monuments erased an emancipated Black population, but the Sphinx looked to an integrated Africa and America.

The Lost Dream of a Superhighway to Honor the Confederacy

Remnants of the dream of a coast-to-coast tribute to their vision of the South are still visible.
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We Need a New Museum that Tells Us How We Came to Believe What We Believe

The answers are just as important as the stories that our history books tell.
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(Still) Worrying About the Civil War

Why I decided to devote my professional life to something I wasn't very interested in.
Baltimore Confederate monument.
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History vs. Memory

What professional historians do – and don't – have to offer communities struggling with the Confederate monuments in their midst.
Civil War re-enactors at the Bentonville Battlefield in Four Oaks, N.C., March 21, 2015.

After Charlottesville, New Shades of Gray in a Changing South

Celebrations of the Confederacy have steadily ebbed, and the recent confrontations will accelerate this retreat among all but the extremists.

More Than a Statue: Rethinking J. Marion Sims’ Legacy

The "father of U.S. gynecology" is usually depicted as either a monstrous butcher or a benevolent healer. It's not that simple.

Where Donald Trump Learned His Tough Love for History

He professes admiration for "statues and monuments" but his family has a record of tearing down rather than preserving.

How About Erecting Monuments to the Heroes of Reconstruction?

Americans should build this pivotal post–Civil War era into the new politics of historical memory.
Microphone hovers over a portrait of George Washington.
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What Trump — And His Critics — Get Wrong About George Washington and Robert E. Lee

The two men owned slaves — but at vastly different moments in American history.
A plaque in Brooklyn commemorating Robert E. Lee.

It’s Hard to Get Rid of a Confederate Memorial in New York City

At least one monument has come down this summer, but two streets in Brooklyn have proved difficult to rename.

The Day White Virginia Stopped Admiring Gen. Robert E. Lee and Started Worshiping Him

Stripping Virginia of its Lee tributes is far harder than it is in other places.
Demonstrators hold signs arguing to "Save Sacco & Vanzetti"

Is There a Place in Public History for Sacco and Vanzetti?

Ninety years after the duo was executed, there are virtually no physical markers in Boston commemorating them.

Growing Up in the Shadow of the Confederacy

Memorials to the Lost Cause have always meant something sinister for the descendants of enslaved people.

The Monuments We Never Built

Why we must ask not only what stories our landscapes of commemoration tell, but also what stories they leave out.

A Most American Terrorist

The Making Of Dylann Roof.

The Confederate General Who Was Erased

There's a reason you won't find many monuments in the South to one of Robert E. Lee's most able deputies.

Falling Out of Love with the Civil War

America's unconditional love of the Civil War has blinded us to its true meaning.

Charlottesville and the Mississippi Flag

A group of historians takes a stand for the removal of the Confederate emblem from their state's flag.
Robert E. Lee statue

Confederate Statues Honor Timeless Virtues — Let Them Stay

Don’t let extremists on both sides destroy honor and valor, even as they seek to destroy everything else.

Charlottesville: Why Jefferson Matters

Annette Gordon-Reed explores the ways in which the many paradoxes of Jefferson make him a potent figure for racists and anti-racists alike.