In the About South podcast episode, “To Atlanta, with love,” Dr. Calinda Lee discussed her ideas of preserving and representing public history, specifically in Atlanta. An important topic she introduced was the sense of guilt descendants of confederates feel, due to them identifying with their transgressions despite being blameless. She comments, “[they] want to believe [their] […]
Forgetfulness is a common human foible effecting how historical figures are remembered and imagined. Their cosmic presence and specific cause related influence often eclipse their unaltered fons et origo. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was many things – an activist, religious leader, and orator. King’s personal life wasn’t particularly confidential, however, it was a victim […]
Beyond the American Revolution and the Pilgrims voyage to America, British History is wildly untaught in the United States. Nevertheless, England and her history have always conjured lily-white images of rivalries, monarchs, and colonization. Therefore, learning the story of Francis Barber was an interesting spin on my previous notions. Formerly enslaved in Jamaica, Barber was […]
Kieran Quinlan’s introduction, in conjunction with Gavan Lennon’s podcast appearance, delves into the complex parallels between Ireland and the U.S. South. Beginning with Quinlan’s book Strange Kin: Ireland & the American, we’re introduced to the unique connection Ireland and the Southern states in America share due to their historical similarities, while also elaborating on their […]
Before the genre existed, Frederick Douglass wrote an autobiography entitled Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, often referred to as the Narrative. Douglass chronicled his intervallic existence from a man turned into a “slave” and, through hardship, into a man with agency. Born to an enslaved black mother and white enslaver […]
A historical novel borrowed from historical truth, Clotel is the tragic tale of three generations of biracial women in the antebellum south, where William Wells Brown dives deep into the issues of enslavement, politics, and religion in America. He interweaves this dramatic tale where enslavement is justified due to religious doctrine that classified certain skin tones […]