Yesterday I had a wonderful phone conversation with a 7th grade history teacher from Boston. The subject of black soldiers in the Confederate army came up in his class as part of a discussion of USCTs. The teacher promised the class that he would look for information, which led him to my recent NYTs editorial. [...]
Teaching
Brooks Simpson has chosen to wade into the mire that is the black Confederate “debate”. In his most recent post he surveys a short list of the standard primary sources that have been used to prove the existence of black men in the Confederate army. As Brooks notes, they are all problematic for any number [...]
I don’t mind admitting that I am a sucker for the recent string of television shows that trace the family histories of our favorite celebrities. They perform an important function within the muck and mire that is popular entertainment. Most importantly, they present the study of history as an exciting process that often leads to [...]
For my second installment in this series I thought we would take a quick look at Ann DeWitt’s Black Confederate Soldiers site. It’s one of the more recent sites to appear and it is growing in popularity. Feel free to suggest websites that might be worth exploring at a later date. I apologize for the [...]
My American Studies course is currently making its way through Reconstruction as part of a broader look at the history of race. From here we move on to the twentieth century and the Civil Rights Movement. Reconstruction readings include Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington, and W.E.B. Dubois. For our Dubois selection we decided to read [...]
“In school (in Venezuela) we learned about the United States’ Civil War and slavery. I learned to have a negative view of the flag — I basically associated the image of the flag with slavery, racism and the KKK…. In 1983, I was a college student in Texas and saw a group of KKK clansmen [...]
I came across this question not too long ago on my Facebook News Feed. It was posted by a well-known Civil War historian, who was helping his 4th grader study for the Virginia Standards of Learning Test: Name the roles of the following 1) White Virginians 2) Freed African Americans 3) American Indians Choices: A) [...]
This post is the first in a short series of videos that will focus on some of the more popular black Confederate websites. I decided to do this as a follow-up to my recent New York Times editorial in which I discuss the importance of properly assessing information gathered Online. We begin with the Petersburg [...]
Today was one of those days that I live for as a historian and teacher. I spent the day in Virginia Beach with a group of 4th and 5th grade teachers as part of a workshop on the Civil War and historical memory. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to Fitz Brundage sketch out some of the [...]