Person

Eric Foner

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Painting of Lincoln and his cabinet by M.S. Carpenter, 1863.

Did the Constitution Pave the Way to Emancipation?

In his new book, "The Crooked Path to Abolition," James Oakes argues that the Constitution was an antislavery document.
Restaurant with 'Help Wanted' sign
partner

‘Help Wanted’ Signs Indicate Lack of Decent Job Offers, Not People Unwilling to Work

The 19th-century antecedent to today’s complaints of labor shortage.
Engraving of freedmen voting in New Orleans, 1867

Forging an Early Black Politics

The pre-Civil War North was a landscape not of unremitting white supremacy but of persistent struggles over racial justice by both Blacks and whites.
Stokely Charmichael with microphone, speaking to crowd. Supporters are standing behind him on stage.

The Birth of Black Power

Stokely Carmichael and the speech that changed the course of the civil rights movement.
The GOP elephant depicted as falling apart

What Is Happening to the Republicans?

In becoming the party of Trump, the G.O.P. confronts the kind of existential crisis that has destroyed American parties in the past.
Illustration of the Reconstruction era, with black men waving flags and listening to a speech in front of a governmet building while a white mob comes to attack them with clubs

America’s Political Roots Are in Eutaw, Alabama

When I think about the 1870 riot, I remember how the country rejected the opportunity it had.
A negative from a photo of Abraham Lincoln

How Historians Say Abraham Lincoln Is Quoted and Misquoted

As Presidents' Day approaches, historians look back at the most notable recent uses and misuses of "the Great Emancipator's" words.
Ted Cruz.

The Dangerous Historical Precedent for Ted Cruz’s Shameless Electoral College Gambit

The Texas senator claims to be moved by the spirit of 1876, but he’s just another huckster playing a risky game with democracy.

Born Enslaved, Patrick Francis Healy 'Passed' His Way to Lead Georgetown University

Because the 19th-century college president appeared white, he was able to climb the ladder of the Jesuit community.
A man plowing with a mule

Revisiting “Forty Acres and a Mule”

The backstory to the backstory of America’s mythic promise.

Trump and Lincoln Are Opposite Kinds of Presidents

History is not kind to those who divide and dither.

1619 and All That

The Editor of the American Historical Review weighs in on recent historiographical debates around the New York Times' 1619 Project.
Lithograph replacing Andrew Johnson with Trump giving a political speech from a train.

Trump's not Richard Nixon. He's Andrew Johnson.

Betrayal. Paranoia. Cowardice. We've been here before.

The Most Dangerous American Idea

No belief in the history of the US has been more threatening to democracy than the certainty that only white people are fit for self-government.
Lithograph of the Reconstruction-era Black Senators and Congressmen.

How the South Won the Civil War

During Reconstruction, true citizenship finally seemed in reach for black Americans. Then their dreams were dismantled.
Illustration of money burning

Obituary for a Billion-Dollar Boondoggle

Nearly two decades ago, historians embraced a hugely wasteful federal education program. It’s past time to reckon with that.

Ira Berlin, Transformative Historian of Slavery in America, Dies at 77

He “put the history of slavery at the center of our understanding of American history.”

The International Vision of John Willis Menard, the First African-American Elected to Congress

Although he was denied his House seat, Menard continued his activism with the goal of uniting people across the Western Hemisphere.
Robert E. Lee statue

The Fight Over Virginia’s Confederate Monuments

How the state’s past spurred a racial reckoning.

Yes, Gone With the Wind Is Another Neo-Confederate Monument

How the classic film helped promote a Reconstruction myth that was central to the maintenance of Jim Crow.