Category Archives: History Lab

Warning: Artists at Work

This gallery contains 3 photos.

By Matthew Pinsker                                 GO TO “LINCOLN” MOVIE TEACHER’S GUIDE Introduction A film like Steven Spielberg’s “Lincoln” (2012) is considered a work of fiction even … Continue reading

More Galleries | Leave a comment

The Unofficial Teacher’s Guide to Spielberg’s “Lincoln” (2012)

Few Hollywood films have ever been as well suited for discussion within American history classrooms as Steven Spielberg’s “Lincoln” (2012).  The movie tackles some of the biggest issues in the study of the Civil War and Abraham Lincoln’s legacy but … Continue reading

More Galleries | Comments Off on The Unofficial Teacher’s Guide to Spielberg’s “Lincoln” (2012)

Spielberg’s “Lincoln” (2012): The Unofficial Scene-by-Scene Summary

This gallery contains 42 photos.

GO TO “LINCOLN” MOVIE TEACHER’S GUIDE Steven Spielberg’s “Lincoln” (2012) is a two-and-a-half hour film that zeroes in on a defining moment from near the end of the Civil War –January 1865 and the debate over the proposed amendment to … Continue reading

More Galleries | Comments Off on Spielberg’s “Lincoln” (2012): The Unofficial Scene-by-Scene Summary

Insights from James Oakes’s, “Freedom National” (2012)

This gallery contains 1 photo.

James Oakes’s Freedom National: The Destruction of Slavery in the United States, 1861-1865 (Norton, 2012) profoundly challenges the way most American history textbooks and classrooms have been presenting the story of Civil War emancipation.  The nearly 500-page book contains a host of … Continue reading

More Galleries | 1 Comment

North Carolina Slaveholder Comments on Emancipation

This gallery contains 2 photos.

James Rumley was a 50-year-old government clerk living in Beaufort, North Carolina when President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation.  Rumley, a single man, had owned two slaves at the outset of conflict and had spent most of the previous year … Continue reading

More Galleries | Leave a comment

“Contraband” Remembers Summer of Emancipation

This gallery contains 2 photos.

During Christmas week in 1936, a ninety-two-year-old woman from Washington, D.C. created a local incident that drew the attention of the Washington Post.  The woman had walked a few miles out to the Soldiers’ Home, a federal retirement community for … Continue reading

More Galleries | Leave a comment

Emancipation Among Black Troops in South Carolina

This gallery contains 1 photo.

January 1, 1863 was an important day at the former plantation of John Joyner Smith near Port Royal, South Carolina.  Thousands of people, white and black, gathered to celebrate “Emancipation Day” and the resulting newspaper reports, diary accounts and recollections … Continue reading

More Galleries | 3 Comments

Senator’s Diary Describes Emancipation Evolution

This gallery contains 1 photo.

Orville H. Browning was an old friend of President Lincoln’s from Illinois who became a United States senator in June 1861 following the death of Stephen A. Douglas.  Browning served in the Senate until January 1863.   He then continued … Continue reading

More Galleries | Leave a comment

Union Recruiting Agent Spreads the “Good News”

This gallery contains 5 photos.

This remarkable story comes from the wartime diary of Union recruiting agent James T. Ayers, edited by John Hope Franklin (Illinois State Historical Society, 1947) and that has been featured in James Oakes’s new book, Freedom National: The Destruction of Slavery … Continue reading

More Galleries | Leave a comment

Contraband of War

This gallery contains 2 photos.

The story of how runaway slaves helped launch the movement toward wartime emancipation in spring 1861 is becoming better known, yet it remains one that is typically not featured in history textbooks or classrooms.  However, students and teachers can find … Continue reading

More Galleries | Leave a comment