Besides my fascination with the mindset of slavery advocates, I’m starting to take a keen interest in Americans’ attitudes (if they have them) about the war. Again, the work of David Blight on Civil War in American Memory has been…
Civil War & Reconstruction Online Course
Dickinson College / Gilder Lehrman Institute
Blog Archives
Memphis – 2009
Reconstruction was about many things, but it’s hard to separate from the word, “legacy.” We talk about legacies in terms of current effects of past behaviors… history’s hand-me-downs. Reconstruction left legacies, of course, Jim Crow among the most prolific. One…
Posted in Discussion, Memory
on history and memory
I am a big fan of iTunes University, especially the many items found in the Gilder Lehrman section. The process is simple and I really don’t need to just watch someone talk… I’d much rather pop in the earbuds and…
Posted in Discussion, Memory
Lincoln, vampires and too much freetime on my hands
Ok, this is just silly … but I had a moment and wanted to play with the Google Ngram viewer. Is it a coincidence that we are seeing both an uptick in Lincoln books at the same time books about…
Posted in Discussion, Memory
A monument to slave traders or emancipation?
I showed the Freedman’s Monument to my students for the first time last year. It is one of the few monuments I have been to over and over again this past year. It’s probably a mile behind the Supreme…
Posted in Discussion, Memory
“150 years isn’t that much time…”
“…and students need to appreciate that.” Matt’s phrasing at the start of the Gettysburg tour is pretty spot on. I love thinking about history in this way, but it is one of the most difficult things for students to grasp.…
How sleep the brave …
There is a story told of a visitor to the cemetery at the Old Soldier’s Home who encountered President Lincoln walking among the grave stones reciting this poem. It has stuck with me since. How Sleep the Brave William Collins.…
Tagged with: Gettysburg National Cemetery, How Sleep the Brave, Old Soldier's Home, William Collins
Posted in Digital Storytelling, Discussion, Memory
Posted in Digital Storytelling, Discussion, Memory
Henry W. Spradley is not forgotten
I was quite impressed with Colin Macfarlane’s digital story about the black soldier Henry Spradley. It was refreshing to see this young student care about the past. He understood that finding out the story of this black soldier was important,…
Rodney King and the Civil War
Sorry… this isn’t a deeply introspective connection between the late Mr. King and the CW. I am thinking much more shallowly (there’s one for my Language Arts friends) about the famous video of his beating. Remember how obvious the issue…
They were people too.
My students sometimes complain that they are tired of learning about “dead people.” As a history teacher it is vital for me to help my students see the relevance. They have a misconception that history is dead along with its…
Posted in Discussion, Memory
