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Our Commemoration of the Civil War’s End Celebrates a Myth

The emancipation of black Americans has been written out of our celebration of the Civil War's end.
cannabis plant

Marijuana's Early History in the United States

Smokeable pot's proliferation in North America involves the Mexican Revolution, the transatlantic slave trade, and Prohibition.
Lucindy Lawrence Jurdan stands at her spinning wheel.

Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936 to 1938

A collection of more than 2,300 first-person accounts of slavery and 500 photos of former slaves.

How Watermelons Became a Racist Trope

Before its subversion in the Jim Crow era, the fruit symbolized black self-sufficiency.
Frederick Douglass.
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"What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?"

Frederick Douglass’ 1852 speech is widely known as one of the greatest abolitionist speeches ever.

The Case for Reparations

Until we reckon with our compounding moral debts, America will never be whole.
Painting of Hannah.

Hannah, Andrew Jackson’s Slave

A favorite of Old Hickory, she made him seem kinder than he was. Why?
Cover of "Empire of Necessity" featuring a painting of violence being wrought on enslaved men.

The Bleached Bones of the Dead

What the modern world owes slavery. (It’s more than back wages).

150 Years of Misunderstanding the Civil War

As the 150th of the Battle of Gettysburg approaches, it's time to question the popular account of a war that tore apart the nation.
Civil War reenactors.
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Telling the Untold Story 1

Why Marvin Greer spends his weekends playing the part of a slave at Civil War reenactments.
Waiter taking a plate of calas on from the counter to serve

Meet the Calas, a New Orleans Tradition That Helped Free Slaves

A path to freedom for enslaved blacks, an engine of economic independence, a treat for Mardi Gras revelers.
Illustration of a proslavery mob raiding a post office in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1835.
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How Much Is Too Much?

The dramatic story of the abolitionist mail crisis of 1835.

The Ledger

In researching his family's past, the author learns of his ancestors' efforts to thrive despite the confines of racial oppression.
Harriet Beecher Stowe imagining her characters.

“Uncle Tom’s Cabin” and the Art of Persuasion

Stowe’s novel shifted public opinion about slavery so dramatically that it has often been credited with fuelling the war that destroyed the institution.
Creole in a Red Headdress. Amans, Jacques Guillaume Lucien (Artist).

Creoles

The word "Creole" invites debate because it possesses several meanings, some of which concern the innately sensitive subjects of race and ethnicity.

Atlas of the Transatlantic Slave Trade

Nine maps of the transatlantic slave trade between 1500 and 1900.
Eagle on the front cover of Lynd's "Origins of American Radicalism" book
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The Return of Staughton Lynd

A look back at the historian's work suggests that contemporary radicals may be all too invested in the myth of American consensus.

Phillis Wheatley: an Eighteenth-Century Genius in Bondage

Vincent Carretta takes a look at the remarkable life of the first ever African-American woman to be published.
A painting by J. M. W. Turner depicting a slave ship throwing its dead into the stormy waters.

The Slave Trade and the Jews

Jews have long been feared as the power behind inexplicable evils. Responsibility for the African slave trade has recently been added to this list of crimes.
Black and white divided star on the cover of "Two Nations" by Andrew Hacker.

The American Dilemma

The moral contradiction of a nation torn between allegiance to its highest ideals and awareness of the base realities of racial discrimination.
Circus Sideshow, by Georges Seurat, 1887–88.

Unforgettable

W.E.B. Du Bois on the beauty of sorrow songs.

The Johnson Party

An 1866 essay presents Andrew Johnson as "the virtual leader of the Southern reactionary party."
A drawing of a church in Charleston, South Carolina, circa 1812.

The Story of Denmark Vesey

Against the backdrop of another conflict over slavery in 1861, Thomas Wentworth Higginson wrote an in-depth narrative of Denmark Vesey's planned slave revolt in Charleston, SC.
Painting of Abraham Lincoln

The Election in November

The Atlantic’s editor endorsed Abraham Lincoln for presidency in the 1860 election, correctly predicting it would prove to be “a turning-point in our history.”

A Letter From Frederick Douglass to His Former Owner

A spotlight on a primary source.
Olauda Equiano.

The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano

Olaudah Equiano, native of Africa, survivor of the Middle Passage and enslavement, tells his story.
A crowd at a Trump rally, holding signs and flags endorsing him, as well as a Confederate flag.

Trump Is Not an Aberration

America’s path has been contested since its founding, and realizing the promise of liberty required generations of struggle.
A Public Health Services physician checking a woman immigrating into the United States for illness.

How the Irish Became Everything

Two new books explore the messy complexities of immigration—from the era of Lincoln to Irish New York.
Statue of Jefferson Davis next to other leaders in Statuary Hall in the Capitol.

Many Wealthy Members of Congress are Descendants of Rich Slaveholders

Researchers measured lawmakers’ wealth and found that those whose Southern ancestors owned slaves before abolition have a higher net worth today.
Attendees look at a map of the U.S. electoral college during the Republican National Convention (RNC) near the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee.
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The Debate That Gave Us the Electoral College

John Dickinson's contributions to the Constitution continue to reverberate today.

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