Harriet Tubman funded her trips in part by cooking, and during the journeys she acted as provider to the slaves she helped escape.
Category Archives: A New Birth of Freedom
Building the Transcontinental Railroad
View the photo gallery and read the captions for an overview of the settlers and workers affected by the transcontinental railroad. Explore the links on the left for more information on the topic.
The Civilian Experience in the Civil War
This essay describes the hardships faced by civilians during the Civil War.
A War of Words
Dartmouth College professor Colleen Glenney Boggs discusses the impact of literature on the Civil War.
Dred Scott decision
Read about the 1857 Supreme Court case of Dred Scott v. Sandford and why people cite it today.
A Civil War journal, up close and personal
An American literature class at California University of Pennsylvania recently undertook the digital transcription of a journal written by a Civil War soldier. The task required them to decipher a text that was not only faded, but written in a style of English different from what we speak today.
Black Leaders During Reconstruction
Learn how former slaves and black leaders joined the political process after the Civil War.
Where the Buffalo No Longer Roamed
While the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad connected the East coast and the West coast, it also led to the further decrease of the Native American population, as well as that of buffalo herds.
Remembering the fight for women’s rights: Suffragists at Seneca Falls laid groundwork for others in the struggle for equality
The first convention for women’s rights in the United States took place in Seneca Falls, New York, in 1848. Writer Michael Sainato remembers the people who met there and highlights the influence they had on those that followed.
On front porches, some still divided on Confederate flag
This article from a Charleston, South Carolina, newspaper outlines conflicting views on the Confederate flag.
Lincoln and Douglass Shared Uncommon Bond
In this interview, John Stauffer, author of the book Giants: The Parallel Lives of Frederick Douglass and Abraham LIncoln, discusses the two men’s friendship and their mutual respect for each other.
How Technology Shaped the Civil War
Besides weapon technology, other innovations, such as newspapers and prosthetics, flourished in the Civil War era.
Building the First Slavery Museum in America
In December 2014, a museum dedicated to the story of slavery in the United States opened on the grounds of the Whitney Plantation in Louisiana.
Congress Passes 13th Amendment, 150 Years Ago
Read about the journey of the passage of the 13th Amendment, which ensured that slavery would not exist in the United States.
Baseball and the Civil War
Before the Civil War, baseball was a regional sport played mostly around New York. Union soldiers then spread the game by playing it during long periods of encampment and in prisoner of war camps.
Hiram R. Revels Biography
Hiram R. Revels was the first African American to serve in the United States Senate. An academic and a minister, he supported integrated schools and equal opportunities for black workers.
Old Friends Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony Made History Together.
Though the contributions of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony were invaluable in the fight for women’s rights, letters between the two reveal that each was aware of the long road toward equality that would have to be traveled by future generations.
From Divided States, A ‘United’ Nation—Thanks To These Men
In this interview, we hear from Simon Winchester, author of The Men Who United The States: America’s Explorers, Inventors, Eccentrics, and Mavericks, and the Creation of One Nation, Indivisible, about the people who made the United States such a great nation.
Pulling Down the Statue of King George III, New York City
In 1852–1853, artist Johannes Adam Simon Ortel painted Pulling Down the Statue of King George III, New York City, a work depicting an event that took place shortly after the signing of the Declaration of Independence. How did the era in which Ortel lived and painted affect Ortel’s depiction? Visit this site to view Ortel’s painting and learn the answer.