James Henry Hammond

The idea of "Black jobs" owes to 18th and 19th century divisions of labor designed to uphold slavery and white supremacy.

Ed Ayers heads south in search of stories from two centuries ago. Traces are there, but larger meanings remain elusive.

A new book charts the long contest between elites and the forces of democracy seeking to dismantle their power.

On the fragile facade of republicanism in 19th century America.

Descendants of the west Africans who picked the cotton that made Manchester rich are struggling to keep their distinct culture alive.

How will they interpret the past?

Racism — not reformers demanding redress — is the source of American strife.

A review of "How the South Won the Civil War: Oligarchy, Democracy, and the Continuing Fight for the Soul of America."

The dangerous myth that blacks in bondage chose not to be free in revolutionary America.

The New York Times’ series on slavery relies on bad scholarship to make an argument with an inauspicious history.

Was the white-nationalist march better understood as a departure from America’s traditional values, or viewed in the context of its history?

The meaning of the Confederate flag is best discerned in the words of those who bore it.

The Atlantic’s editor endorsed Abraham Lincoln for presidency in the 1860 election, correctly predicting it would prove to be “a turning-point in our history.”