Virginia Legislature Passes Resolution Honoring Historian and Journalist Charlie Clark

I've previously posted about my friend, journalist, and historian Charlie Clark, who died in the fall of 2023 of a rare illness. Click. To honor him, the Virginia "House of Delegates, and the Senate concurring, That the General Assembly hereby note with great sadness the loss of Charles Stuart Clark, a venerated journalist and cherished …

Local Historian-Journalist Charlie Clark Lives On in the Vast Archive He Created

My dear friend Charlie Clark, 70, a journalist and historian in Arlington, Virginia, just outside the nation's capital, died November 15, 2023, after a brief illness from an extremely rare disease. But he lives on in his huge archive of local history and leaves a deep legacy of connections in the DC metro area, as …

Despite Backlash, This AP African American Studies Class Perseveres

Stay Tuned, an NBC News Brand: "Over a dozen states in recent years have implemented restrictions limiting how teachers discuss racism. We visit an AP African American studies class in Virginia that garnered significant backlash and almost didn’t happen. The teacher of the class says, “It’s just history,” but for a class in the political …

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 …

Virginians Debate Standards for Teaching History

WAPO: "At Mount Vernon, the historic estate where tourists flock to learn about George Washington, dozens of parents, teachers and education leaders tucked into a conference room to weigh one of Virginia’s hottest topics: how to teach history in public school.The comments stretched late into the night as more than 90 speakers took their two-minute …

History of Treason Charges in the US, Focusing on Abolitionist John Brown in 1859

Violent abolitionist John Brown, who led a slave rebellion in Harper's Ferry, VA (later WV), "was the first American to be executed for treason," explained historian Heather Cox Richardson in her Letter from An American. "Before 1859 the punishment for treason in America had not been clear. In the early years of independence, as colonies …

Nat Turner Slave Rebellion of 1831 and Its Legacy

In August of 1831, "enslaved American Nat Turner led about 70 of his enslaved and free Black neighbors in a rebellion to awaken his white neighbors to the inherent brutality of slaveholding and the dangers it presented to their own safety," wrote Boston College History Professor Heather Cox Richardson. She goes on to explain its …

New Respect for Native American History in DC Region?

As professional football season gets underway, history is made as a decades-long debate over the name "Washington Redskins" has ended, with the team re-branded as the "Washington Commanders." (News). "We can finally end the debate over our sports team’s exploitation of Native American culture, a controversy that threatened to spur barroom fights for 30 years," …

The Reformation Incited French Wars of Religion

For more than half a century, 1534 to 1598, France was engaged in wars of religion between Catholics and Huguenots. In this short 10-minute documentary, History Matters explains: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmcMVOKa2Os Recommended reading: The French Wars of Religion, 1562-1629 by Mack P. Holt. - Pretty much THE go to book about the French Wars of Religion. You …

Why Did West Virginia Break Away From Virginia?

Grunge: "So in the United States, we've got Virginia and West Virginia. Why do we need both? Well, turns out that American history reveals numerous regions for this division. "Virginia" existed as a large state comprising the land that now makes up the two states we know today, and it lasted this way for almost …