One hundred and fifty years after the Civil War, Guardian photographer David Levene photographed the battle sites. Here the photos are superimposed with images taken during the war. Accompanied with audio, they help visualize the reality of the war. Have you visited any of these sites or others?
Listen to a discussion of Frederick Douglass’ famous speech which criticized the celebration of Independence Day celebrations in a time of slavery.
With more than 33 percent of ballots cast in an online poll, Harriet Tubman emerged as the face that people want to see on a new $20 bill.
Just who was Edmund Pettus, and why was the famous bridge in Selma named for him? Find out here.
Read about a four-day commemoration in Richmond, V.A. which will mark the 150th anniversary of the fall of the Confederacy’s capital on April 3, 1865.
A new book from Eric Foner, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, based on the discovery of journals containing interviews with fugitive slaves, sheds light on how the Underground Railroad really worked. Read about it here.
In 1833, Harriet Beecher Stowe witnessed the brutality of slavery on her first trip to the South. What she saw changed her and led to her writing her famous anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin, in 1852. Listen to a discussion about her legacy here.
Read about controversial abolitionist John Brown and the violent raid he and his men launched on a federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, 150 years ago; it set the stage for the Civil War.
You can read, watch, and listen to materials on the seven debates that took place between Stephen A. Douglas and Abraham Lincoln during the 1858 Illinois state election campaign. The prize was a seat in the Senate, but the debates mainly focused on the important and contentious issue of slavery.
Before the Civil War broke out, Maryland approved a so-called “shadow” 13th Amendment that made it impossible for the federal government to abolish slavery. Now, Maryland lawmakers want to re-vote on the amendment to clean up the historical record.
This page offers a brief history of Dred Scott’s fight for his family’s freedom. Read the overview of Scott’s case and then explore the rest of the collection to learn more about how and why the Dred Scott decision came to be such a landmark case in American judicial history.
Frederick Douglass’s contributions to the fight for freedom are beyond measure. This article and video provide a brief overview of some of the ways in which Douglass helped shape the course of our nation’s history.
President Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address is one of the most influential speeches in our nation’s history. It’s hard to believe, but when it was first delivered in 1863, one newspaper wrote that the speech was nothing more than “silly remarks.” Now, more than 150 years later, the paper has apologized for its dismissive words.
Americans known as abolitionists played a crucial part in the fight to end slavery in the United States. This site offers a wealth of information about abolitionists and their cause as well as art and personal narratives from former slaves.
When composer Nkeiru Okoye was a young girl, her mother shared stories about Harriet Tubman. Now, Okoye is paying tribute to Tubman with a folk opera that shows audiences Tubman’s life, both in slavery and in freedom.
A new exhibit at the Tennessee State Museum attempts to reconstruct the lives of slaves and slaveholders to give a better understanding of that time in history.
