Eric Foner writes: "If the issue were simply heritage, why are there no statues of Lt. Gen. James Longstreet, one of Gen. Robert E. Lee’s key lieutenants? Not because of poor generalship; indeed, Longstreet warned Lee against undertaking Pickett’s Charge, which ended the battle of Gettysburg. Longstreet’s crime came after the Civil War: He endorsed … Continue reading BLOGROLL: Foner on Confederate Statues and ‘Our’ History
Eric Foner
Foner on the Underground Railroad (NYTimes.com)
Eric Foner on revisiting histories of the Underground Railroad: "That view largely held among scholars until 1961, when the historian Larry Gara published “The Liberty Line,” a slashing revisionist study that dismissed the Underground Railroad as a myth and argued that most fugitive slaves escaped at their own initiative, with little help from organized abolitionists. … Continue reading Foner on the Underground Railroad (NYTimes.com)
ESSAY: Foner on Lincoln & the Emancipation Proclamation
The Emancipation Proclamation is perhaps the most misunderstood of the documents that have shaped American history. Contrary to legend, Lincoln did not free the nearly four million slaves with a stroke of his pen. It had no bearing on slaves in the four border states, since they were not in rebellion. It also exempted certain … Continue reading ESSAY: Foner on Lincoln & the Emancipation Proclamation
Gates on Slavery “Blame Game” (and Response)
excerpt from Op-Ed by Henry Louis Gates (read rest at NYT): "The African role in the slave trade was fully understood and openly acknowledged by many African-Americans even before the Civil War. For Frederick Douglass, it was an argument against repatriation schemes for the freed slaves. “The savage chiefs of the western coasts of Africa, … Continue reading Gates on Slavery “Blame Game” (and Response)
Charles F. Irons reviews Gabor Boritt and Scott Hancock’s Slavery, Resistance, Freedom (2007)
"Gabor Boritt and Scott Hancock, editors of Slavery, Resistance, Freedom, have combined under one cover six fine essays that illustrate ways in which African Americans shaped the course of the Civil War and Reconstruction. The slim volume is a fine capstone to a generation of scholarship in which historians have come to understand black Americans … Continue reading Charles F. Irons reviews Gabor Boritt and Scott Hancock’s Slavery, Resistance, Freedom (2007)
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