This is the story behind the creation of the Black Brigade Monument in Smale Riverfront Park. The monument honors the 718 black men who—after being brutally rounded up by provost guards and then set free—volunteered to build fortifications that eventually thwarted a Confederate attack on Cincinnati during the Civil War.
Public History
Like many of you I was saddened and outraged to hear that the Shaw Memorial here in Boston had been vandalized. The alleged perpetrator is a 38 yr. old black woman from nearby Quincy. While she admitted to having an interpretive issue with the memorial, following her arraignment yesterday it was learned that she will [...]
The question of how far we’ve come in expanding and correcting certain elements of our collective memory of the Civil War has come up on a number of occasions on this blog and elsewhere. I have stressed the extent to which we have moved beyond a strictly Lost Cause narrative of the war to one [...]
If I could do it all over again I would earn a degree in public history and work for the National Park Service at a historic site. Over the past ten years I’ve had a number of opportunities to help out with various NPS projects and the work is always rewarding. It has given me [...]
Inside Outside Click here for more on yesterday’s grand opening of the Museum of the Confederacy at Appomattox.
[H/T to Jubilo! The Emancipation Century] This popular Currier & Ives print from 1865, depicting the evacuation of Richmond, Virginia, is one of the most popular images of the city in April 1865. It is impossible not to drive north toward the city on I-95 without it entering your mind’s eye. Now it is being [...]
It’s hard to believe that just a few years ago the future of the Museum of the Confederacy was in doubt. There was a talk about a name change and even a move away from their location next to the Confederate White House. Now, all eyes are on Appomattox, where the museum will open a [...]
