Thoughts of a Grad Student
Stephen Kantrowitz, More than Freedom: Fighting for Black Citizenship in a White Republic, 1829-1889 Boston black activists in the nineteenth century were more than just abolitionists, like they are often portrayed. Instead, they sought to establish their rights as “colored citizens” so that they could truly be members of the United States. Stephen Kantrowitz’s More… Continue reading More than Freedom
The U.S. Government was driven, in large part, by opportunism during the Mexican American War. They desired more territory and were willing to go to war to obtain it. However, they were not the only ones being motivated by opportunism. Paul Foos’ A Short, Offhand, Killing Affair argues that men were enticed to become… Continue reading “A Short, Offhand, Killing Affair”
I can’t help but starting this post with a nod to pop culture, specifically the 2004 Hollywood blockbuster, Mean Girls. Karen (Amanda Seyfried) asks the new girl, Cady (Lindsey Lohan), “So if you’re from Africa, why are you white?” Yes, Karen was the dim-witted girl of the bunch but she was hardly the only one… Continue reading Becoming “White”
Fugitive Landscapes: The Forgotten History of the U.S. – Mexico Borderlands Arizona and Sonora have been intricately linked for centuries—well before they were divided by an international boundary and well beyond the establishment of the United States and Mexico boundary. Samuel Truett’s Fugitive Landscapes aims to bring these “forgotten” borderlands to the fore by explaining… Continue reading Arizona & Sonora’s Border People
Don H. Doyle, The Cause of All Nations: An International History of the American Civil War (New York: Basic Books, 2015). The impact of the American Civil War extended well beyond the confines of the Union and Confederacy—reaching countries in Europe and the Atlantic World. Historian Don H. Doyle’s The Cause of All Nations explores… Continue reading The American Civil War as “The Cause of All Nations”
Bondspeople resistance to slavery in the antebellum South was subtle, more often than not. For both men and women it was not common for resistance to take the form of outright violence but instead, as Stephanie Camp’s Closer to Freedom illustrates, was shaped by smaller, every day defiance. These defiance’s included truancy, the use of… Continue reading Southern Slavery and the Diversity of Female Resistance