Person

Frederick Douglass

Related Excerpts

The Internationalist History of the US Suffrage Movement

What we miss when we tell the story of women's rights activism as a strictly national tale.

How the Daughters and Granddaughters of Former Slaves Secured Voting Rights for All

A look at the question of race versus gender in the quest for universal suffrage.
Cruise ship depicted on Red Star Line dinner menu.

Traveling While Black Across the Atlantic Ocean

Following in the footsteps of 20th century African Americans, Ethelene Whitmire experiences a 21st century transatlantic crossing.

The Costs of the Confederacy

In the last decade, taxpayers have spent at least $40 million on Confederate monuments and groups that perpetuate racist ideology.

America’s Struggle for Moral Coherence

The problem of how to reconcile irreconcilable values is what led to the Civil War. It hasn’t gone away.

Sentinel

From the day it was inaugurated, the Statue of Liberty has symbolized the tensions between national independence and universal human rights.

"Though Declared to be American Citizens"

The Colored Convention Movement, black citizenship, and the Fourteenth Amendment.

When the Fourth of July Was a Black Holiday

After the Civil War, African Americans in the South transformed Independence Day into a celebration of their newly won freedom.

Trumpism, Realized

To preserve the political and cultural preeminence of white Americans against a tide of demographic change, the administration has settled on a policy of systemic child abuse.

Black Athletes, Anthem Protests, and the Spectacle of Patriotism

The NFL's response to player protests reflects decades of League and U.S. attempts to portray false images of post-racial harmony.
Uncle Sam standing at center, gesturing to the left toward American soldiers boarding ships to return to America after defeating the Spanish in the Philippines, and gesturing to the right toward a group of matronly women, one labeled "Daughters of the Revolution", who have just arrived to educate the peoples of the Philippines.

The Left's Embrace of Empire

The history of the left in the United States is a history of betrayal.

The United States & 'The Young and Fearless of Heart'

The March for Our Lives organizers are not an anomaly, but follow in a long tradition of youth activism in America.
Martin Luther King Jr. speaking into news microphones.

Against National Security Citizenship

By connecting liberation at home with an end to U.S. militarism abroad, today's black activists are picking up where MLK left off.
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Racism Has Always Driven U.S. Policy Toward Haiti

On Haiti, Donald Trump sounds a lot like Thomas Jefferson.
Children playing stick ball in the alley.

How the U.S. Government Locked Black Americans Out of Attaining the American Dream

The wealth gap between white Americans and black Americans is stark.

Women's Suffrage @100

We date the expansion of voting rights to women in 1920, but the real story is a lot more complex.

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.

Making Sense of the Violence in Charlottesville

Was the white-nationalist march better understood as a departure from America’s traditional values, or viewed in the context of its history?
Fourth of July fireworks over the Brooklyn Bridge.
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Partisans Often Try To Claim July 4 As Their Own. It Usually Backfires.

Independence Day has always been a political battlefield.

The Making of an Antislavery President

Fred Kaplan's new book asks why it took Abraham Lincoln so long to embrace emancipation.