The 19th-century Constitution
Description
Professor Robin Einhorn looks at the 19th-century understanding of the Constitution and the changes that were made to it following the Civil War.
Lost Museum
Image
Annotation
P. T. Barnum's American Museum burned down under mysterious circumstances in 1865 after nearly a quarter century of patronage. The original museum tried both to entertain and educate with exhibits on natural history, American history, and reform efforts along with attractions of a sensational nature. With the exception of African Americans, who were barred from entry until the Civil War, New Yorkers of diverse ethnic, gender, and class identities mingled in the museum's shared cultural space.
Visitors to this website can explore an interactive 3D recreation of the museum or an archive of images, documents, accounts, and essays on 16 original Barnum exhibits, including the Fejee mermaid; Joice Heth, a former slave advertised as George Washington's nursemaid; "Swedish Nightingale" Jenny Lind; John Brown; Jefferson Davis; the Lincoln assassination; the Civil War in New York; and phrenology. The website allows visitors to immerse themselves in the popular culture of Barnum's era.
Traveling the Freedom Road: From Slavery and the Civil War Through Reconstruction
Description
Linda B. Osborne discusses her book, Traveling the Freedom Road, which draws on interviews with former slaves in the Library of Congress collections to convey the aspirations, sorrows, courage, and hopes of ordinary people living through this period. More than 80 archival images complement the text. Major events covered include the rise of the domestic slave trade, the Emancipation Proclamation, and the Republican Congress' Reconstruction policies.
United States Colored Troops
Description
John David Smith of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte considers Abraham Lincoln's reasons for allowing black troops to fight in the Civil War and for issuing the Emancipation Proclamation.
Lincoln's Address at Independence Hall and Obama's Race Speech
Description
Historian Harold Holzer compares Lincoln's 1861 Address at Independence Hall and Obama's Race Speech at the Constitution Center.
To listen to this lecture, select "Historian Harold Holzer compares Lincoln's Address at Independence Hall and Obama's Race Speech at the Constitution Center" under "Supplemental Materials" in the right sidebar.
Lincoln's Cooper Union Speech and Obama's Race Speech
Description
Historian Harold Holzer compares Abraham Lincoln's 1860 Cooper Union Speech and Barack Obama's 2008 Race Speech at the Constitution Center.
To listen to this lecture, select "Historian Harold Holzer compares Lincoln's Cooper Union Speech and Obama's Race Speech at the Constitution Center" from the sidebar on the right side of the page.
Lincoln Bicentennial Symposium, Part Two
Description
Three speakers present in this second half of an all-day symposium commemorating the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln. Lucas E. Morel presents "Lincoln on Race, Equality and the Spirit of '76"; Lincoln's lifelong interest in language is the subject of a talk given by Douglas L. Wilson; and Elizabeth D. Leonard delivers the final presentation of the symposium, "Ally on the Team of Rivals: Lincoln and His Point Man for Military Justice," in which she discusses Judge Advocate General Joseph Holt, the president's chief of the War Department's Bureau of Military Justice.
The first half of this symposium may be found here.
Little Bighorn and Beyond: Black Elk, 1931
Description
This presentation, narrated partially from the perspective of Oglala Lakota Sioux medicine man Black Elk, describes the Battle of the Little Bighorn and the seizing of Native American land and the forcing of Native Americans onto reservations that followed.
Gold in the Black Hills: Annie Tallent, 1874
Anonymous (not verified)
Mon, 02/16/2009 - 12:34
Description
This presentation, told partially from the perspective of a prospector's wife, Annie Tallent, looks at the push of prospectors into the American West to find gold, focusing on the expedition of Tallent, her husband, and several other prospectors into the South Dakota Black Hills and on the tension between prospectors, the military, and Native Americans.
The Role of the Supreme Court in American History
Anonymous (not verified)
Thu, 01/29/2009 - 17:40
Description
Dr. Michael Klarman of the University of Virginia School of Law analyzes and interprets the Brown case and its impact on the Civil Rights Movement. He annotates Justice Douglas's conference notes on Brown, tells stories about the justices, details how justices decide cases, explains why Brown was a hard case for many of the justices, and makes conclusions on why they were nonetheless eventually able to reach a unanimous outcome. He discusses the various ways in which Brown mattered and did not matter by linking Brown with the rise of southern massive resistance, violence, and ultimately the enactment of civil rights legislation in the mid-1960s. Klarman includes lessons on how and why Court decisions matter, how historians tend perhaps to overemphasize the importance of the Court's contributions to racial change in the U.S., and important reminders about how violence was necessary to prompt most whites to care about the civil rights of southern blacks.