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Mary Virginia Montgomery

The Montgomerys of Mississippi: How a Once Enslaved Family Bought Jefferson Davis’ Plantation House

In 1872, former slave Mary Virginia Montgomery, now a cotton plantation owner, records her life’s changes after moving from slavery to self-sufficiency.
by Neely Tucker via Library of Congress Blog on July 10, 2025
Group of freedmen and women posing for a picture.

How Could ‘Freedmen’ Be a Race-Neutral Term?

An opinion from Justice Clarence Thomas exposed the limits of originalism.
by Adam Serwer via The Atlantic on July 7, 2023
The Freedmen’s Bureau drawn by A.R. Waud, 1868.

Social Welfare and the Politics of Race in the Post-Civil War South

The politicized rhetoric linking race and welfare has a long, ingrained history.
by Ryan W. Keating via Black Perspectives on May 24, 2023
Painting of ships in Boston Harbor.

Pressured to Leave

Black refugees’ journey from Virginia to Boston after the Civil War.
by Jacqueline Jones via Lapham’s Quarterly on January 11, 2023
A group of the newly emancipated working with the US army, 1862.

The Promise of Freedom

A new history of the Civil War and Reconstruction examines the ways in which Black Americans formed networks of self-reliance in their pursuit of emancipation.
by Elias Rodriques via The Nation on October 3, 2022
Map of Freedmans Village
partner

The Long Afterlife of Freedman’s Village

Freedman's Village, created in Arlington, VA at the end of the Civil War, became a thriving community of Black residents as part of Reconstruction.
by Lindsey Bestebreurtje, Livia Gershon via JSTOR Daily on February 23, 2022
John Marshall Harlan and Robert James Harlan

The Black Hero Behind One of the Greatest Supreme Court Justices

John Marshall Harlan's relationship with an enslaved man who grew up in his home showed how respect could transcend barriers and point a path to freedom.
by Peter S. Canellos via Politico Magazine on June 6, 2021
Illustration of black calvary officers with a Native American, circa 1874

Is This Land Made for You and Me?

How African Americans came to Indian Territory after the Civil War.
by Alaina E. Roberts via Lapham’s Quarterly on May 26, 2021
Corey Lea, a beef and pork rancher in Murfreesboro, Tenn., who also advocates for Black farmers.
partner

Black Farmers Have Always Faced Injustice. Will the American Rescue Plan Help?

This plight dates back to the era of slavery.
by David W. Dangerfield via Made By History on April 1, 2021
Map of Oberlin Village in Raleigh, NC.

Vanishing Neighborhoods

The fate of Raleigh's 11 missing freedman's villages.
by Heather Leah via WRAL on January 21, 2021

The Electoral Politics of "Migrant Caravans"

To alleviate voters' fears during the Civil War, Northern governors refused to open their states to formerly enslaved refugees.
by Amy Murrell Taylor via Muster on December 18, 2018
Freed slaves Wilson, Charley, Rebecca, and Rosa, New Orleans, 1864.

The Origins of Birthright Citizenship

The Fourteenth Amendment captures the idea that no people born in the United States should be forced to live in the shadows.
by Robert L. Tsai via Boston Review on November 9, 2018
original

"What is Sport to You is Death to Us."

In 1867, African-Americans in Virginia stood up for their new political rights in the face of threats from their white neighbors.
by Ed Ayers on October 31, 2017
A line of prison laborers by a railroad.

“One Continuous Graveyard”: Emancipation and the Birth of the Professional Police Force

After emancipation, prison labor replaced slavery as a way for white Southerners to enforce a racial hierarchy.
by Keri Leigh Merritt via Black Perspectives on July 11, 2016
Black family outside their homestead, Nicodemus, Graham County, Kansas.

Exodusters

Migration further west began almost immediately after Reconstruction ended, as Black Americans initiated the "Great Exodus" outside the South toward Kansas.
by Todd Arrington via National Park Service on April 10, 2015
British flag with writing that says, "Liberty for Slaves."

The Black Loyalists

Thousands of African Americans fought for the British—then fled the United States to avoid a return to enslavement.
by Andrew Lawler via The Atlantic on October 8, 2025
Clarence Thomas and small sections of the Supreme Court's opinion in Students for Fair Admissions versus Harvard.

Clarence Thomas Accidentally Laid the Groundwork for Reviving Affirmative Action

In trying to shut the door on race-conscious affirmative action, he may have quietly left another affirmative action door wide open.
by Maureen Edobor, Brandon Hogan via Slate on October 7, 2025
James M. Hinds portraits shown blurry as if ink colors were misaligned during printing.

The Eloquent Vindicator in the Electric Room

No one remembers the assassination of Congressman James M. Hinds. What do we risk by making it just another part of American history?
by Drew Johnson via Longreads on September 9, 2025
Scaffolding behind the statue of the rule of law outside the Supreme Court building.

Trump Is Wrong About Birthright Citizenship. History Proves It.

Lawmakers knew the Fourteenth Amendment would apply to the children of immigrants.
by Joshua Zeitz via Politico Magazine on June 29, 2025
Diagram of a movement experiment studying abnormalities in walking

The Making of the American Culture of Work

Building the assumption of work’s meaningfulness happened across many different institutions and types of media.
by Max L. Chapnick via Commonplace on April 22, 2025
Collage of Abram Colby and his newspaper.

They Tried to Bury Him: The Hidden History of Abram Colby

The radical legacy of Abram Colby, one of Georgia’s first Black legislators, was almost erased by racist revisionists.
by Greer Brigham via Scalawag on March 26, 2025
A family of formerly enslaved people outside their house in Fredericksburg, Virginia, circa 1862–1865.

The Missing Persons of Reconstruction

Enslaved families were regularly separated​. A new history chronicles the tenacious efforts of the emancipated to be reunited​ with their loved ones.
by Joshua D. Rothman via The New Republic on February 26, 2025
New citizens swearing an oath to the US at a naturalization ceremony.

The Forgotten Meaning of the Citizenship Clause

Universal birthright citizenship was never the original intent.
by Amy Swearer via Law & Liberty on February 13, 2025
Black men stand on trains derailed by Sherman's destruction of infrastructure.

The Other Side of Sherman’s March

The general’s campaign through the South is known for its brutality against civilians. For the enslaved who followed his army, though, it was a shot at freedom.
by Scott Spillman via The New Yorker on January 29, 2025
partner

“In the White Interest”

Many founders expressed their hope that slavery would be abolished, while simultaneously exerting themselves to defend it.
by Timothy Messer-Kruse via HNN on September 18, 2024

40 Acres and a Lie

We compiled Reconstruction-era documents to identify 1,250 formerly enslaved Black Americans given land—only to have it returned to their enslavers.
by Alexia Fernández Campbell, April Simpson, Pratheek Rebala via Mother Jones on June 13, 2024
Portrait of Creek men.
partner

A Federal Court Has Ruled Blood Cannot Determine Tribal Citizenship. Here’s Why That Matters.

The struggle over blood and belonging in American Indian communities.
by Alaina E. Roberts via Made By History on March 9, 2024
Robert Smalls.

What a Teacher's Letters Reveal About Robert Smalls, Who Stole a Confederate Ship to Secure Freedom

Harriet M. Buss' missives home detail the future congressman's candid views on race and the complicity of Confederate women.
by Jonathan W. White via Smithsonian on February 13, 2024
People on Mason's Island
partner

Island in the Potomac

Steps from Georgetown, a memorial to Teddy Roosevelt stands amid ghosts of previous inhabitants: the Nacotchtank, colonist enslavers, and the emancipated.
by Amelia Roth-Dishy via JSTOR Daily on February 7, 2024
Black and white photograph of an abandoned house with bare trees surrounding it

This Peaceful Nature Sanctuary in Washington, D.C. Sits on the Ruins of a Plantation

Before Theodore Roosevelt Island was transformed, a prominent Virginia family relied on enslaved laborers to build and tend to its summer home.
by Sue Eisenfeld via Smithsonian on February 7, 2024
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