I recently learned that I will not be returning to the classroom for the upcoming school year. This is certainly disappointing given the upcoming presidential election as well as the ongoing debate about Civil War monuments. What an exciting and challenging time to be teaching American history. My loss, however, is your gain. Without having Read more
As you might imagine it’s been a busy summer on the Confederate monuments front. Rarely does a week go by that I am not contacted by the media to comment for a story. It certainly takes time from other projects, but it’s nice to be able to help out and share my interest in this Read more
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania is best remembered as the site where Union and Confederate armies fought between July 1-3, 1863. When it was all said and done the Army of the Potomac could claim a decisive victory. Tourists and history buffs travel each year to the battlefield to mark its anniversary, but this year the COVID19 pandemic Read more
My reading has been all over the place of late with very little of it related directly to the Civil War. Edward Ball, Life of a Klansman: A Family History in White Supremacy (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2020). Vincent Brown, Tacky’s Revolt: The Story of an Atlantic Slave War (Harvard University Press, 2020). Shane Hamilton Read more
On July 4 heavily armed right-wing militia arrived at Gettysburg National Military Park to confront an Antifa/Black Lives Matter rally that never materialized. News media reported a few confrontations, but thankfully it never turned violent. Gettysburg is a quiet town and has largely steered clear of the controversy and demonstrations surrounding Confederate monuments that have Read more
On this day in 2015 the Confederate battle flag was permanently removed from the capitol grounds in Columbia, South Carolina. It touched off a wave of flag and monument removals across the South. Not everyone was happy about the decision, especially the Sons of Confederate Veterans. In Charleston they attempted to sway public opinion against Read more
This has been a monumental week on Richmond’s Monument Avenue. The city wasted no time taking advantage of a new law that allows communities to decide the fate of their Confederate monuments. On Wednesday crews removed the Stonewall Jackson monument at the intersection of Arthur Ashe Boulevard and Monument Avenue. The following day Matthew Fontaine Read more
Yesterday I tweeted out the following message. I received a number of thoughtful responses, which I did my best to respond to, but I think it might be helpful to share my thoughts here for future reference. It is much more powerful to watch local governments remove monuments than a handful of protesters. — Kevin Read more
Last night I sat in on a Boston Arts Commission meeting about Thomas Ball’s Freedmen’s Memorial located on Park Square. This is a copy of the original that was dedicated in Washington, D.C. in 1876. The memorial is once again in the news after a young Black resident called for its removal a few weeks Read more
If you had asked me not too long ago how to go about dealing with the debate about Confederate monuments I would have said that they need to be contextualized. By that I mean they need to be placed in their proper historical context through the use of wayside markers or some other medium, which Read more