A list of resources and websites compiled by librarians at the Free Library of Philadelphia for their website in honor of the Philadelphia Civil War Sesquicentennial.
On Sunday, January 9, the Washington Post published James W. Loewen's op-ed article, "5 Myths about Why the South Seceded." At its website, the Post dates the article at the stroke of midnight Saturday, but by 7PM that evening Loewen had received at least thirty emails about it. It remained the most viewed article at the Post for two more weeks, now with more than 1,500,000 hits.
In this article, Loewen articulates the reasons behind the frenzy created over his original article.
Washington PostOpinions article written by Sociologist James W. Loewen, author of “Lies My Teacher Told Me” and co-editor, with Edward Sebesta, of “The Confederate and Neo-Confederate Reader.” Loewen polled thousands of high school history teachers and spoke about the war to audiences across the country, and there is little agreement even about why the South seceded. Was it over slavery? States’ rights? Tariffs and taxes?
The Civil War drawings in the Becker Collection cast a new light on the dramatic events that divided and defined a nation. As is expected, the drawings record significant battles and leaders but also offer a new window onto the social customs, cultural landscape, and built environment that existed in and around the war.
FirstHand is co-curated by Judy Bookbinder and Sheila Gallagher from the Department of Fine Arts at Boston College. The exhibition was organized and premiered at the McMullen Museum at Boston College.
This exhibit showcases Frederick Douglass' life at Cedar Hill, Anacostia, Southeast Washington, D.C., his last home. He lived here from 1878 until his death in 1895. His home provided the backdrop to his active political and warm family life. The spacious estate and well-furnished rooms are a testament to Douglass' lifelong struggle to overcome entrenched prejudice. His personal belongings, home furnishings, books, photographs of family and friends can be seen in the very place where Douglass and his family used them.
Available from the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) a PDF version of the Emancipation Proclamation along with tips for teaching using documents, and related lesson plans for the Civil War and Reconstruction.
Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
This online exhibition, based on a document booklet of the same title produced in partnership with President Lincoln's Cottage at the Soldiers' Home in Washington DC (www.lincolncottage.org) traces his evolution from antislavery advocate to emancipator through speeches, letters, and acts from the speech at Peoria in 1854 to his second inaugural address in 1865.
Presented by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
This exhibition examines John Brown’s beliefs and actions in the context of growing national divisions over slavery in the 1850s. Frederick Douglass, like most African Americans and abolitionists, saw John Brown as a martyr and a hero. Others saw him as a terrorist who attacked legal institutions and was willing to kill to achieve his goals. The exhibition concludes with documents and images highlighting the gradual acceptance by Americans of John Brown’s vision of racial equality for the America of today.
