Today is the first day of the new trimester and I am once again teaching a course on Civil War Memory. I have two sections with a total of 12 students. Hopefully, the small sections will make for even more interesting discussions. This is a reference sheet that I put together for one of my [...]
Civil War Memory Class
Iam in the process of finalizing my elective for the next trimester, which begins after we return from Thanksgiving break. It’s a course that I am calling Civil War Memory. Last year I taught it as a straightforward readings course and this year the plan was to use it as a platform for doing some [...]
The new school year is off and running and after having met with all my classes on the first day I couldn’t be more pleased with my group of students. This trimester I am teaching two sections of Civil War history, which include roughly 9 students in each class. They seem eager to get started [...]
It’s true that you can’t always judge a book by its cover, but you can judge it by the number of black Confederates that are claimed to have loyally served. As a teacher I think it is important to stay up to date on new textbooks and other classroom resources, so with that in mind [...]
There is an interesting article in today’s Washington Post on the place of Civil War statues in a changing Virginia political landscape. It’s a fairly balanced look at how these sites are interpreted by different constituencies and it directly addresses the connection between political power and how our public spaces are used to remember the [...]
I‘ve got 55 exams to grade as well as end-of-the-trimester comments to write over the next few days. But for now I am enjoying the final projects from my students who spent this past trimester studying Civil War Memory. This was one of the most rewarding experiences for me to date. I had a wonderful [...]
Check out the excellent video that Caitlin, from Vast Public Indifference, put together in response to one of my recent posts on Civil War art. Caitlin’s commentary begins around 2:10. The video is here, but I encourage you to read her full post, which includes another video. Does anyone really believe that the images in [...]
The Sons of Confederate Veterans is still trying to find a home for their statue of Jefferson Davis and Jim Limber. The statue, which cost $100,000, was originally planned for the grounds at Tredegar in Richmond next to the statue of Lincoln and his son Tad. The American Civil War Museum accepted the statue, but [...]