Gregory P. Downs

A new book argues that we misunderstand the forces that drove the notorious slave rebel.

The anxiety about “Mexicanization” that ran through Reconstruction-Era politics, as Americans saw disturbing political parallels with their southern neighbor.

Since Trump took office, the park service — charged with preserving American history — has changed how it describes key moments from slavery to Jim Crow.

A new history cuts against stereotypes, to show a region constantly changing—and whose future is up for grabs.

An accounting of racist murders in nineteenth-century America.

On the promises and perils of very recent history.

Exploring freedpeople’s struggle against police brutality during Reconstruction.

A new three-part PBS documentary explores the failure of Reconstruction and the Redemption of the South.

The recent unrest in Charlottesville, Virginia, after a white-supremacist rally has stoked some Americans’ fears of a new civil war.