As all the major media outlets have not reported this story, I thought I would mention it here. On Tuesday (July 29, 2008) the House of Representatives approved a resolution that apologized for slavery. This resolution (H. Res. 194) notes that “the system of slavery and the visceral racism against persons of African descent upon […]
29
Jul
08
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23
Jul
08
Fergus Bordewich on Essential Underground Railroad Figures
Posted by Published in Antebellum (1840-1861), Lists, Recent ScholarshipNo activist of the Underground Railroad served longer or with more distinction than Levi Coffin. Coffin was raised in the Quaker enclave in Guilford County North Carolina, where in 1819-1820 he helped to organized the only documentable UGRR operation beyond the upper South. From then until about 1850, Quakers with the assistance of local African […]
23
Jul
08
Kate Larson on Essential Underground Railroad Figures
Posted by Published in Antebellum (1840-1861), Lists, Recent ScholarshipThe three characters I would teach – given very limited time – would be, of course, Harriet Tubman, William Still, and Thomas Garrett. These three people were incredible forces on the UGRR as individuals and as accomplices and colleagues. Harriet Tubman tapped into Thomas Garrett’s and William Still’s extensive and sophisticated UGRR network that encompassed […]
23
Jul
08
Exploring the Truth of the Underground Railroad
Posted by Published in Antebellum (1840-1861), Lesson Plans, Letters & DiariesExplorepahistory.com is a great resource for teachers of Pennsylvania, BUT it is also useful to ALL scholars, historians, teachers and students of the UNDERGROUND RAILROAD. The website provides images and explanations of every historical marker in Pennsylvania including The Christiana Riot, William Still, Frederick Douglass and John Brown. There are also lesson plans focused on […]
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Jul
08
Was the Civil War the result of conflict between small militant anti-slavery and pro-slavery groups? The questions is still debated today. To allow your class to join in on the debate, History Now provides a lesson plan for high school level students exploring Militancy in the Abolition Movement. The lesson provides primary source documents to […]
22
Jul
08
As a NEH participant in the URR workshop, I want to recognize John Brown’s link to Iowa by pointing out that Brown, on his way east to prepare for Harper’s Ferry, stopped among the Quaker community in Iowa near Springdale. A couple of Quakers from that community, “abandoning their pacifist principals to fight with Brown,” […]
22
Jul
08
Connecting Spirituals to the Slave Experience
Posted by Published in 19th Century (1840-1880), Antebellum (1840-1861), Recent ScholarshipThough the use of spirituals as coded ‘road maps’ for the Underground Railroad is contentious, it can be fruitful to use these ‘documents’ in the classroom as a key to understanding how songs were important in the lives of slaves. One site that examines the different purposes and meanings of these historical records is Sweet […]
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Jul
08
Slave Resistance at Christiana, Pennsylvania
Posted by Published in Antebellum (1840-1861), General Opinion, Recent ScholarshipElla Forbes, former professor of African American studies at Temple University and author of “But We Have No Country: The 1851 Christiana, Pennsylvania Resistance,” has written an article on the use of violence at the Christiana Resistance. Forbes argues that the use of violence at Christiana is “…an indication of the alienation blacks felt in […]
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Jul
08
History Now, an online journal of the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, provides essays studying a variety of issues and events throughout history. Abolition of slavery is one among them. In the September 2005 issue of History Now, abolition is the topic. Robert Abzug, a professor of History at the University of Texas at […]
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Jul
08
The National Park Service presents a website explaining the history of the Underground Railroad and listing sites throughout the United States, in twenty-one states. The site gives brief overviews of topics in the history of American slavery. For each site listed, a brief overview is given. Visiting information is given for sites open to the […]
