Many of you know that I struggle with the moderation of comments on this site. On the one hand I hope to promote civil and intellectual discourse, which means that on occasion I have to edit or delete a comment entirely. At the same time many of these abusive/insulting comments reflect a wide range of [...]
Memory
You can imagine my surprise when I returned from my trip to Shepherd University to find an email from Prof. Gregory Pfitzer of Skidmore College. Prof. Pfitzer is currently teaching an American Studies course that focuses on Civil War Memory and has been using this blog as a resource. Students are focusing specifically on a [...]
For some of my older readers this post may bring back some fond memories of childhood and the Civil War Centennial. Below is a small selection of Civil War cards that was released in 1962 by Topps. Two additional collections of Civil War cards were also released which you can read about here. Of course, [...]
I have enjoyed following the debate over at Richard Williams’s blog re: my handling of Earl Ijames’s research. Much of the give and take relates to my decision to publicly request Ijames’s presentation as well as my decision to Cc: the director at the North Carolina Office of Archives and History. I’m still not sure [...]
I think we need to lighten things up a little around here. This is a funny, but interesting little interview with a Lincoln impersonator. You can also read this recent piece on Daniel G. Storck in the Washington Post.
One of the reasons why it is important for serious historians to publish in peer-reviewed journals is that it provides the community with stable reference points. Scholarly publications are intended to add to our knowledge of the past by providing rich interpretation along with supporting documents that can be verified. In this setting interpretation can [...]
Looks like Earl Ijames is taking his “black Confederate” roadshow out once again. We first met Mr. Ijames, who works as a curator at the North Carolina Museum of History, in the summer of 2008 in a series of posts I did on Weary Clyburn [and here]. In a comment contained in the second link [...]
I have been giving this question some thought since our recent discussion surrounding the upcoming movie about Patrick Cleburne and the broader black Confederate narrative. As many of you know I’ve been committed to responding to some of the more outlandish claims in the news and on numerous websites. My goal has not been simply [...]
