The Jim Crow Era: A Stain On America’s Past

Wondrium: "An African American named Homer Plessy predated Rosa Parks' famous refusal to comply with racist transportation laws by more than 60 years. The Supreme Court upheld his conviction for sitting in a whites-only train car in Plessy v. Ferguson, leading to the Jim Crow era. Discover hard history and how "separate but equal" was …

‘Vanderbilt’ By Anderson Cooper

CBS Sunday Morning: In his 2021 book, CNN anchor and "60 Minutes" correspondent Anderson Cooper "tells the story of the Vanderbilt family dynasty – from his great-great-great-grandfather, Cornelius 'Commodore' Vanderbilt, once the richest man in America who built his fortune through steamships and railroads, to his mother, socialite Gloria Vanderbilt. Cooper talks with correspondent Mo …

The Readjusters: Virginia’s Radical Reformers After Reconstruction

For a brief period after Reconstruction, ex-Confederates allied politically with ex-slaves to "stick it to the rich," in a kind-of populist rebellion, a coalition of poor whites and poor blacks. Google has quite a few links on this movement. It was particularly popular in Virginia, and in the town of Petersburg, which seemed to birth …

Reconstruction: A Concise History

Nearly every American and every student of Reconstruction after the US Civil War finds something to regret about it, writes Allen C. Guelzo, formerly a professor of History at Gettysburg College, PA. In 2018 produced Reconstruction: A Concise History for Oxford University Press. Wikipedia article about Dr. Guelzo.

Why Study Reconstruction?

Facing History, Facing Ourselves: "The Reconstruction Era was a pivotal moment in American history. Civil rights were set in motion as Americans grappled to rebuild after the division and trauma of the Civil War. Facing History’s three-week unit explores essential questions about freedom and citizenship at the heart of this history. Find out more: https://www.facinghistory.org/reconst..." …

What Happened to Confederates After the Civil War?

The Armchair Historian: An animated history of the post-civil war period. 16 minutes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S66Bs8ixvdQ Sources: Blair, William A. With Malice Toward Some: Treason and Loyalty in the Civil War Era. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2014. Franklin, John Hope. Reconstruction After the Civil War. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2013. Herbert, Paul N. …

President Grant in 1872 Was Arrested for Speeding His Horse Twice on DC Streets. President Harding Paid Hush Money in the 1920s

Former President Donald Trump may be the first president or former president to be indicted, but he's not the first president to be arrested. U.S. Grant liked to speed his horse on the streets of Washington when he was president. He was warned numerous times, and finally ticketed and then arrested in 1872. Details from …

Civil War by Other Means: America’s Long and Unfinished Fight for Democracy

Jeremi Suri, PhD, a professor of history at the University of Texas in Austin, has produced Civil War by Other Means: America’s Long and Unfinished Fight for Democracy. Summary: "The Civil War may have ended on the battlefield, but the fight for equality never did."In 1865, the Confederacy was comprehensively defeated, its economy shattered, its …

Women Insisted on Voting Nearly 50 Years Before They Got the Right To Do So

In 1872, women attempted to vote in the presidential election though they didn't explicitly have that right. The 14th amendment gave the right to vote to men, including Black men, but white women were excluded, and many of them were outraged. In New York, suffragist Susan B. Anthony led a group of women to vote …

12 Fascinating Stories About Some of the Giants of History

Writer George Spencer has published more than a dozen outstanding pieces on some amazing characters in history on his Substack site, "Courage 101: True Tales of Grit and Glory." They could be part of a gripping package for beginning students of history or anyone with an interest in the topic. "Hey Bulldog! His Destiny: Save …