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Civil War

Statue of James Marion Sims in front of the Alabama State Capitol.

A Statue of a Doctor Who Experimented on Enslaved People Was Removed From Central Park

The discussion over the memorialization of James Marion Sims offers the opportunity to remember his victims

Djassi Johnson (left) and Kevin Boseman (right) perform the dance choreographed by Johnson.

Exclusive: Watch a Dynamic Reinterpretation of Joan Baez’s “Civil War”

Part of a visual album accompanying the folk icon’s new release, this choreographed performance takes a lyrical look at the American conflict

Roger Williams University in Nashville, Tennessee, was a historically black college founded in 1866.

First Museum Committed to Sharing the Stories of Historically Black Colleges Opens

The HBCU Museum in Washington, D.C., launched March 9 and has plans to expand to a second location in Atlanta

There's no rumor to the fact that a large elk population calls the north central Pennsylvania town of Dents Run home.

Was the FBI Searching for Lost Civil War Gold in Pennsylvania?

The agency was recently seen excavating a site where, according to some Elk County locals, a missing shipment of gold bars was buried

The names of 50 victims of the 1887 Thibodaux massacre in Louisiana are among those inscribed on the new memorial.

A New Memorial Remembers the Thousands of African-Americans Who Were Lynched

Next month’s opening of the monument in Alabama will be a necessary step in reckoning with America’s deadly past

'Cattle Kate' and Postmaster Averill, lynched. Stockmen a Sweetwater, Wyo., July 21, end the career of a lawless pair of depredators - swung from a cottonwood at the rope's end. Undated illustration.

Women Who Shaped History

The Tragedy of Cattle Kate

Newspapers reported that cowgirl Ella Watson was a no-good thief who deserved the vigilante killing that befell her, when in reality she was anything but

A statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee is lowered to a truck for removal Friday, May 19, 2017, from Lee Circle in New Orleans.

How I Learned About the “Cult of the Lost Cause”

The mayor of New Orleans offers his reading list for anyone looking to better understand the real history of Confederate monuments

Slave sale, Charleston, South Carolina

When Emancipation Finally Came, Slave Markets Took on a Redemptive Purpose

During the Civil War, the jails that held the enslaved imprisoned Confederate soldiers. After, they became rallying points for a newly empowered community

Battle of Clontarf, Hugh Frazer, 1826

New Research

Social Network Analysis Weighs in on Debate Surrounding One of Ireland’s Most Famous Battles

Researchers test it out on a medieval epic to investigate whether the Battle of Clontarf was fought against the Vikings or was part of an Irish civil war

Civil War Submarine Battles Were Often Suicide Missions

During the Civil War, the North imposed a suffocating blockade of a number of key Confederate port

Envelope for stationary packet, "Torch of Love," George W. Fisher Bookseller and Stationer, Rochester, New York.

How the Civil War Taught Americans the Art of Letter Writing

Soldiers and their families, sometimes barely literate, wrote to assuage fear and convey love

Limited Number of Critically Ill Evacuated from Besieged Syrian Region

29 people have been approved for evacuation from eastern Ghouta, but hundreds more are in desperate need of medical care

A 2010 picture of the statue of Nathan Bedford Forrest, which was removed from Health Sciences Park (formerly Nathan Bedford Forrest Park) in downtown Memphis last December.

Memphis Removes Two Confederate Statues

One was dedicated to Jefferson Davis, the other to Nathan Bedford Forrest

President Lincoln depicted on a Christmas card from the 1920s. Christmas wasn't as important of a holiday in Lincoln's time, but his personal Christmas story is worth telling.

President Lincoln’s Last Christmas

The character of American Christmas changed as a result of the Civil War

Civil War reenactors fire a salute in a public parade.

Civil War Reenactments Were a Thing Even During the Civil War

These ‘practice battles’ are the root of today’s Civil War reenactors

Mark Bradford's installation Pickett’s Charge at the Hirshhorn spans almost 400 feet and consists of eight canvases measuring 12 feet tall and more than 45 feet long.

Mark Bradford’s Paintings Scratch at the Surface of a Conflicted America

The Hirshhorn Museum hosts the artist’s first solo show in Washington

An artist's rendering of "the great rebel prison-pen at Andersonville, Georgia" that was included in a newspaper during Wirz's trial.

How the Trial and Death of Henry Wirz Shaped Post-Civil War America

A monument to Wirz still stands not far from the Confederate prison camp he commanded

An Eagle Brand Condensed Milk ad from 1891.

Like Condensed Milk? Try the ‘Meat Biscuit’

The meat biscuit was a practical idea but Gail Borden, also the inventor of condensed milk, never made it work

Ships involved in the American slave trade before the Civil War.

When Enslaved People Commandeered a Ship and Hightailed it to Freedom in the Bahamas

It’s been called the most successful slave rebellion in U.S. history

Adelbert Ames

Commentary

Is it Time We Built a Museum of the History of American History?

A better understanding of how we interpret our past, and what and who we choose to remember, would go a long way to healing our nation’s wounds

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