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Kevin Kruse vs. Dinesh D'Souza: Dixiecrat Edition

A conservative pundit questioned the prevalence of Dixiecrats switching to the GOP. Historian Kevin Kruse accepted the challenge.
Harry Truman speaking at the 1948 Democratic National Convention.

The 1948 Democratic National Convention Is the Missing Link in Civil Rights History

Civil rights activists failed to expel an all-white, segregationist delegation. But their efforts foreshadowed later milestones in the fight for equality
A shack on Eastland's plantation, as it appeared in the 1964 film

He Risked His Life Filming A Mississippi Senator's Plantation In 1964

Fannie Lou Hamer is among the sharecroppers interviewed in this unauthorized documentary about the plantation of Dixiecrat James Eastland.

How the Republican Majority Emerged

Fifty years after the Republican Party hit upon a winning formula, President Trump is putting it at risk.

The Southern Paradox: The Democratic Party Below the Mason-Dixon Line

How the region switched from being the stronghold of one party to the base of its adversary.

The Racist Politics of the English Language

How we went from “racist” to “racially tinged.”
People holding antiwar signs at the 1968 Democratic National Convention.

A Brief History of the Democratic Party

The Democratic Party, and the US political system as a whole, is a very strange beast.
A large crowd listening to Harry Truman give a speech on a train.

Harry Truman's Train Ride

A whistle-stop train tour, and some plain speaking spur Harry Truman's come from behind win in 1948 over Thomas Dewey.
Bayard Rustin speaks from the Lincoln Memorial during the March on Washington.

Bayard Rustin Showed the Promise and Pitfalls of Coalition Politics

Bayard Rustin tried to forge a mass coalition to deliver progressive change. His failure to do so in the 1960s tells us much about building one today.
Hubert Humphrey addresses the Democratic National Convention in July 1948.

The Speech That Turned Democrats on Civil Rights and Lost Them the South

The president didn’t want to go too far on civil rights in 1948, fearing it would cost him reelection. But an obscure mayor changed the race — and his party.
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.
Illustration of a black mother working, doing housework, and caring for a child

Daddy Issues

The murderous hysteria over white patrimony is inseparable from the private capture of both economic opportunity and political authority.
Senator Chuck Schumer walking to the Senate floor through a room filled with cots in preparation for an all-night debate in an attempt to break a Republican filibuster, July 2007

Can the Senate Restore Majority Rule?

The filibuster, invented to uphold slavery, must be eliminated if Democrats hope to deliver progressive legislation.

Why the Confederate Flag Flew During World War II

As white, southern troops raised the battle flag, they showed that they were fighting for change abroad—but the status quo at home.

The Dual Defeat

Hubert Humphrey and the unmaking of Cold War liberalism.

Myths & Misunderstandings

Understanding the complex history of the Confederate flag.

The Party of Hubert Humphrey

The Democratic leader believed that the ordinary American was open to a message of collective responsibility and common purpose.

Remembering the Freedom Train

In an effort to awaken Americans to their own history, the Truman Administration conceived of a moving museum.
Coretta Scott King.

Why Coretta Scott King Fought for a Job Guarantee

She saw economic precarity as not just a side effect of racial subjugation, but as central to its functioning.
Delegates on the floor at the Democratic National Convention at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, August 26, 1964.

How to Steal an Election

The crazy history of nominating Conventions.
Book cover of "Let the Glory Out: My South and its Politics" by Al Gore

The Chaotic Politics of the South

For three quarters of a century the South was the geographic base of Democratic Presidential hopes.

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