slavery

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• 8/2/2020
  

  Constitutional Textualism, Slavery and Undocumented Immigrants

  by Alan J. Singer

  Just reading the Constitutional text, without context, does not help us understand what Antonin Scalia called “the fairly understood meaning of those words.”

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• 8/2/2020
  

  Yes, Even George Washington Can Be Redeemed

  by Richard Lim

  While we cannot ignore Washingon's participation in slavery, we shouldn’t discount his remarkable transformation into someone who wished for its abolition and took steps personally to make things right, becoming the only major founder to free his slaves.

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• SOURCE: Washington Post
  7/30/2020
  

  Tom Cotton Wants To Save American History. But He Gets It All Wrong.

  by Malinda Maynor Lowery

  Senator Cotton’s remarks and his proposal to revise history obscure the violence, death and displacement that slavery caused in both Black and Indigenous communities.

• 
• SOURCE: Current Affairs
  7/28/2020
  

  Policing Can’t End Violence in the U.S., But Reparations Might

  Because American police have always upheld racial capitalism through violence, anti-racist public safety requires police abolition—and police abolition requires reparations.

• 
• SOURCE: Historicly
  7/27/2020
  

  Tom Cotton's Slave-Owning Ancestors

  If we dig into records of slave ownership, we can see that Tom Cotton’s family owned slaves.

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• SOURCE: Huffington Post
  

  Sen. Tom Cotton Calls Slavery Nation’s ‘Necessary Evil’ In Shocking Interview

  Slavery “was the necessary evil upon which the union was built,” the Arkansas senator said in an interview.

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• SOURCE: Washington Post
  7/27/2020
  

  Sen. Tom Cotton Wants to Take ‘The 1619 Project’ out of Classrooms. His Efforts Have Kept it in the Spotlight

  Senator Cotton's comments ignited a war of words on social media Sunday; historians including John Kaminski and Joshua D. Rothman weigh in. 

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• SOURCE: Washington Post
  7/27/2020
  

  At 88, He is a Historical Rarity — the Living Son of a Slave

  Although the one-generation link between Dan Smith and his formerly enslaved father is remarkable, historian Hilary Green reminds readers that the time passed since Emancipation is still relatively short. 

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  7/23/2020
  

  Large DNA Study Traces Violent History of American Slavery

  Historian Alondra Nelson praised the application of genetics to narrating the history of the slave trade, but cautioned that historians should be an integral part of any project making claims about human ancestry.

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• SOURCE: Smithsonian Magazine
  7/22/2020
  

  The Notorious ‘Yellow House’ That Made Washington, D.C. a Slavery Capital

  by Jeff Forret

  Located right off the National Mall, the jail lent institutional support to slavery throughout the South.

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• SOURCE: Barrons
  7/22/2020
  

  Row Over 'Misrepresentation' Of Slavery In UK Citizenship Test (Agence France Presse)

  Nearly 200 historians on Wednesday denounced what they said was the "misrepresentation of slavery and empire" in the history section of Britain's citizenship test, calling for it to be corrected.

• 
• 7/26/2020
  

  "You Sold Me to Your Mother-in-Law...": An Ongoing Quest to Reconnect a Family

  by Ken Lawrence

  David Jackson had been forcibly separated from members of his family with no word of their subsequent fates for more than two decades, yet he had not given up hope of finding them. Can today’s historians shed light on his quest?

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• SOURCE: Washington Post
  7/20/2020
  

  ‘Woefully Uninformed’: Kanye West Slammed for Saying Harriet Tubman ‘Never Actually Freed the Slaves’

  “Kanye West is in desperate need of a crash course in American History,” said historian Erica Armstrong Dunbar.

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• SOURCE: Memphis Commercial Appeal
  7/19/2020
  

  Memphis Marker Noting Nathan Bedford Forrest's Slave Trading Apparently Vandalized

  Historian Tim Huebner, who was involved in the placement of the marker, believes it was broken intentionally.

• 
• SOURCE: New York Times
  7/15/2020
  

  Statue of Black Protester Is Raised in Place of Bristol Slave Trader

  The debate over what should permanently replace the Colston statue has percolated since last month. Historians have suggested a statue of Paul Stephenson, a Black activist who organized a successful boycott of a Bristol bus company in the 1960s. 

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• 7/19/2020
  

  "No Longer Just Lincoln and a Slave": Consider Mary McLeod Bethune's Lincoln Park Statue

  by Jenny Woodley

  Thinking of the Mary McLeod Bethune memorial in Washington's Lincoln Park in tandem with the controversial Emancipation memorial suggests ways in which commemorative spaces can operate as places of dialogue. 

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• SOURCE: Washington Post
  7/9/2020
  

  During the Civil War, the Enslaved Were Given an Especially Odious Job. The Pay Went to Their Owners.

  The National Archives has made available online a trove of almost 6,000 Confederate government payroll records that account for money issued to hundreds of owners and others for the work of the enslaved.

• 
• SOURCE: WTOP
  7/7/2020
  

  Historical Association Schools Teachers on White House History

  Over 200 teachers in the DC area are learning about White House history this week, through a five-day online program presented by the White House Historical Association.

• 
• 7/12/2020
  

  What Comes After the Fall of Pro-Slavery Monuments?

  by Ana Lucia Araujo

  In nearly two decades studying monuments, memorials, and museums memorializing slavery in Europe, Africa, and the Americas, I learned several lessons. When groups decide to erect a monument to remember an event or a person from the past, they are always driven by present-day motivations.

• 
• SOURCE: The New York Times
  7/6/2020
  

  ‘Hamilton’ and the Historical Record: Frequently Asked Questions

  The Disney+ filmed version has fans wondering what’s accurate. Historians are fans, too, and they have answers, along with caveats.