Monument: “Lincoln and Child,” Harlem, New York, by Charles Keck

July 7, 2015, 10:26 am

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Lincoln and Child Monument, Harlem, New York; by sculptor Charles Keck Image Source: NYC Civil War Monuments Blog; see here and here for more images As described on Google Plus, the “President Abraham Lincoln Houses in Manhattan, one of the New York City Housing Authority’s nearly 350 developments, has fourteen buildings, 6 and 14-stories tall with 1,283 […]

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The Demographics and Geography of Free Blacks before the Civil War: North & South, East & West

July 11, 2015, 4:48 am

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Map of Free States and Slave States, 1861. During the Antebellum Era, the term “slave states” was synonymous “the South,” and the term “free states” was synonymous “the North.” In the latest (2010) US Census, all the states which had slaves before the war are listed as part of the South except Missouri and New […]

Would You Choose Freedom or Your Wife?

July 16, 2015, 9:36 am

≫ Next: Pro-secessionist Minister Benjamin Morgan Palmer: Our God-given “trust… is to conserve and to perpetuate the institution of domestic slavery”

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Letter from runaway slave/freedman John Boston to his wife Elizabeth. John tells his wife he has escaped to freedom with the Union army — and might never see her again. Image Source: National Archives Would you leave your wife and family to gain freedom for yourself? That dilemma was faced by hundreds, perhaps thousands, of slaves during the Civil […]

Pro-secessionist Minister Benjamin Morgan Palmer: Our God-given “trust… is to conserve and to perpetuate the institution of domestic slavery”

July 18, 2015, 9:49 am

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Southern/Confederate religious leader Benjamin Morgan Palmer (January 25, 1818 – May 25, 1902) Image Source: Wikipedia Commons “The argument which enforces the solemnity of this providential trust (slavery) is simple and condensed. It is bound upon us, then, by the principle of self preservation, that “first law” which is continually asserting its supremacy over all […]

Studio portrait of African American man with walrus mustache

July 20, 2015, 9:07 am

≫ Next: Gen W T Sherman: Stop recruiting for soldiers from my black laborers; “I must have (negro) labor and a large quantity of it.”

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Studio portrait of African American man with walrus mustache; circa late 19th century/early 20th century; probably in Natchez, Mississippi Image Source: Photograph courtesy Louisiana State University Libraries, Thomas H. and Joan W. Gandy Photograph Collection, Item Number 37780413106a; see details below This fine portrait of an African American male, perhaps named Alex Mazique, is from […]

Gen W T Sherman: Stop recruiting for soldiers from my black laborers; “I must have (negro) labor and a large quantity of it.”

July 22, 2015, 8:44 pm

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Union General William T. Sherman Image Source: Old Pictures.com On June 21, 1864, Union General William T. Sherman was in a foul mood. The cause of his exasperation this day was the loss of black labor due to the aggressive soldier recruitment efforts of Union General Lorenzo Thomas. Thomas had been tasked with enlisting former […]

Frederick Douglass: He knew why the caged bird sang

July 27, 2015, 7:06 am

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From YouTube: This is a clip from the film 12 Years a Slave. The slaves sing “Roll Jordan Roll” during a funeral for one of their own. Frederick Douglass, as I like to say, was the most eminently quotable man of his generation. This 19th century abolitionist, writer, publisher, orator, community activist, civil servant, and […]

Sympathy (‘I know why the caged bird sings’), by Paul Laurence Dunbar

August 16, 2015, 7:11 am

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Caged Bird in Tree; No credited illustrator; from an unknown book by author Alfred Gatty (1809-1873), published by Bell and Daldy, London Source: Wikipedia Commons Sympathy, by Paul Laurence Dunbar I know what the caged bird feels, alas!     When the sun is bright on the upland slopes; When the wind stirs soft through the […]

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The Grand Review of the Armies: 1865 and 2015

August 17, 2015, 3:25 pm

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As noted in Wikipedia, “The Grand Review of the Armies was a military procession and celebration in Washington, DC, on May 23 and May 24, 1865, after the close of the American Civil War. Elements of the Union Army paraded through the streets of the capital to receive accolades from the crowds and reviewing politicians, […]

Portaits from Natchez, Mississippi

August 20, 2015, 4:25 pm

≫ Next: Flag, Freedom, and Fury: African American Soldier Tells his Wife “the black man is… coming… with all the terrible trappings of war.”

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Studio portrait of African American young girl; circa late 19th century/early 20th century; by Norman Studios in Natchez, Mississippi (Click on the picture to get a full screen view of the image) Image Source: Photograph courtesy Louisiana State University Libraries, Thomas H. and Joan W. Gandy Photograph Collection, Item Number 37780413114a These fine portraits of African […]

Flag, Freedom, and Fury: African American Soldier Tells his Wife “the black man is… coming… with all the terrible trappings of war.”

August 24, 2015, 11:18 am

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Regimental flag of the 22nd Infantry Regiment, United States Colored Troops, circa 1863-1865. Art by David Bustill Bowser, an African American artist who designed several USCT flags. The motto at the top of the flag is “Sic semper tyrannis,” a Latin phrase meaning “thus always to tyrants,” and sometimes translated as “death to tyrants” or […]

Have We Learned Anything from the Sesquicentennial?: the Case of Sherman’s March into Columbia, SC

August 31, 2015, 12:52 pm

≫ Next: Outmanned and Outgunned: African Americans’ Separate and Unequal Experience with the Right to Bear Arms and Gun Control

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“RAISING THE STARS AND STRIPES OVER THE CAPITOL AT COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA. – [SKETCHED BY DAVIS]” Image Source: Civil War Harper’s Weekly, April 8, 1865; from here. We are now in the closing days of the 150th (Sesquicentennial) Anniversary of the American Civil War. By the end of August 1865, the shooting war between the […]

Outmanned and Outgunned: African Americans’ Separate and Unequal Experience with the Right to Bear Arms and Gun Control

September 1, 2015, 11:39 am

≫ Next: Street Scene – Savannah, Georgia circa 1880s

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African American Union Soldier with Pistol, circa Civil War era (1860s). It was very common for Civil War soldiers to take pictures with their firearms, or props of firearms. Image Source: Library of Congress; Reproduction Number: LC-DIG-ppmsca-11298; see more information about the photo here. **** A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of […]

Street Scene – Savannah, Georgia circa 1880s

September 3, 2015, 9:49 am

≫ Next: A Labor Day question: What would the South – and America – have been like without slave labor?

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“The lightening express, Savannah, Georgia”; African American with bull-drawn wagon; by photographer George Baker, 1886. Image Source: Art and Picture Collection, The New York Public Library. “The lightening express, Savannah, Georgia.” The New York Public Library Digital Collections, retrieved from “http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47e2-ee5d-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99” on September 3, 2015. The American Civil War and the end of slavery wrought […]

A Labor Day question: What would the South – and America – have been like without slave labor?

September 7, 2015, 7:57 pm

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Planting Rice in the South. From Harper’s Monthly Magazine (1859), vol. 19, p. 726; accompanies article by T. Addison Richards, “The Rice Lands of the South” (pp. 721-38). Image Source: From the website “The Atlantic Slave Trade and Slave Life in the Americas: A Visual Record”; Image Reference NW0078, as shown on www.slaveryimages.org, compiled by […]

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The Forgotten: The Contraband of America and the Road to Freedom

September 9, 2015, 6:38 am

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This video, from the National Trust for Historic Preservation, talks about the “contrabands” of the Civil War – slaves who escaped their masters or otherwise found asylum from bondage behind Union lines during the Civil War. From YouTube “As we celebrate the Sesquicentennial of the American Civil War, it is important that we not just […]

At the Dedication of the Freedmans Village Bridge, Arlington, Virginia

September 12, 2015, 8:40 am

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Civil War reenactors/living historians Ed Gantt, Marquett Milton, and Michael Schaffner at the dedication of Freedmans Village Bridge in Arlington, Virginia. Milton is holding the regimental flag of the XXV Army Corps of the United States army. The XXV Corps, which was created during the American Civil War, was composed entirely of soldiers from the United States Colored […]

“The fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you”: Leviticus 25: 10-12

September 13, 2015, 4:09 pm

≫ Next: Monuments to the Civil War-era Freedom Colonies in coastal North Carolina: the Hotel De Afrique

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Consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you; each of you is to return to your family property and to your own clan. The fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you; do not sow and do not reap what grows of […]

Monuments to the Civil War-era Freedom Colonies in coastal North Carolina: the Hotel De Afrique

September 16, 2015, 8:11 pm

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Monument to the Hatteras Island’s Hotel De Afrique, a freedom colony in North Carolina; Image was taken during the dedication of the monument in July 2013. Image Source: Blog for OuterBanksVacations.com. The role of African American soldiers in the American Civil War has received a goodly amount of attention in the past several decades. The 1989 movie […]

Civil War Contraband Art

September 18, 2015, 1:40 pm

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Figure 1: “Contraband, Changing Quarters” In this image, a determined-looking slave exercises his agency and escapes from his master in the Confederate army to seek freedom with the Union army. Presumably, the fine white stallion belongs to his master; so the Union has gotten two properties for the price of one. The cap, I guess, is a fashion […]