Billboard saying "Welcome to California Where Abortion is Safe and Still Legal"
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What Pre-Civil War History Tells Us About the Coming Abortion Battle

Fights over fugitive slave laws pitted states against each other and showcased the risks of the federal government not supporting liberty.
An map of the U.S. in 1857

Lessons From the Civil Rights Struggle That Began Before the Civil War

The path to equality in the free Northern states was inconceivably steep. But in time, the movement maneuvered from the margins into mainstream politics.
Two women protesting voter suppression.
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The Lack of Federal Voting Rights Protections Returns Us to the Pre-Civil War Era

The 13th, 14th and 15th amendments tried to remove the power of the states to impede key rights.
Painted photo of Northwest Territory

A Confusion of Language

On the legal foundations that spurred centuries of civil rights movements.
Man with a pistol at his hip carries the retired flag of Mississippi with a confederate battle emblem in it, and a Trump 2020 flag.
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Yes, Wednesday’s Attempted Insurrection Is Who We Are

While Wednesday's images shocked us, they fit into our history.
Colored Conventions Project exhibit banner with images of formerly enslaved peoples over map of Illinois.

Black Organizing in Pre-Civil War Illinois: Creating Community, Demanding Justice

Their main objective was to draw attention to racist state policies and demand their repeal.

How One Amateur Historian Brought Us the Stories of African-Americans Who Knew Abraham Lincoln

Once John E. Washington started to dig, he found an incredible wealth of untapped knowledge about the 16th president.
National Park Service Southeast Regional Director Stan Austin is given an official copy of the South Carolina State Senate Resolution honoring Reconstruction Era National Monument.

Monumental Effort: Historians and the Creation of the National Monument to Reconstruction

Two historians weigh in on President Obama's move to designate a national monument to Reconstruction in South Carolina.

There's No National Site Devoted to Reconstruction—Yet

The National Parks Service, which preserves many Civil War sites, is finally looking for a way to mark the struggles that defined its legacy.