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Biden bestows Medal of Honor on Union soldiers who helped hijack train in Confederate territory
Read full article: Biden bestows Medal of Honor on Union soldiers who helped hijack train in Confederate territoryA descendent of a Union soldier getting the Medal of Honor from President Joe Biden for conspicuous gallantry during the Civil War says it’s an opportunity for his ancestor to be remembered as “a brave soldier who did what he thought was right.”.
'Civil War' might be the year's most explosive movie. Alex Garland thinks it's just reporting
Read full article: 'Civil War' might be the year's most explosive movie. Alex Garland thinks it's just reportingThe new film “Civil War” is an ominous attempt to turn widely held American anxieties into a violent, unsettling big-screen reality.
'Civil War,' an election-year provocation, premieres at SXSW film festival
Read full article: 'Civil War,' an election-year provocation, premieres at SXSW film festival"Civil War,” Alex Garland’s election-year provocation, debuted at the SXSW Film and TV Festival, unveiling a violent vision of a near-future America at war with itself.
Nikki Haley doesn't mention slavery when asked what caused the Civil War. She later walks that back
Read full article: Nikki Haley doesn't mention slavery when asked what caused the Civil War. She later walks that backRepublican presidential candidate Nikki Haley is walking back an answer she gave to a voter about the reason for the Civil War that didn’t include a mention of slavery.
St. Mary’s student researches little-known Civil War hero who became first Black Texan to earn Medal of Honor
Read full article: St. Mary’s student researches little-known Civil War hero who became first Black Texan to earn Medal of HonorA St. Mary's University student is researching the story of a freed slave who would become the first Black Texan to earn the nation's highest military honor.
Marjorie Taylor Greene hostile in testimony over eligibility
Read full article: Marjorie Taylor Greene hostile in testimony over eligibilityU.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene was hostile during testimony in a hearing on her eligibility to run for reelection, saying she did not remember liking and making various social media posts surrounding the attack on the U.S. Capitol last year.
Treasure hunters sue for records on FBI's Civil War gold dig
Read full article: Treasure hunters sue for records on FBI's Civil War gold digTreasure hunters who believe they found a huge cache of fabled Civil War-era gold in Pennsylvania are now on the prowl for something as elusive as the buried booty itself: government records of the FBI’s excavation.
Award-winning Civil War historian Stephen Oates dies at 85
Read full article: Award-winning Civil War historian Stephen Oates dies at 85Stephen Oates has died after a life that saw him become an award-winning Civil War historian who wrote biographies of Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr., Clara Barton, William Faulkner and others.
Affidavit: FBI feared Pennsylvania would seize fabled gold
Read full article: Affidavit: FBI feared Pennsylvania would seize fabled goldAn FBI agent applied for a federal warrant in 2018 to seize a cache of gold that he said had been “stolen during the Civil War” while en route to the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia, and was “now concealed in an underground cave” in northwestern Pennsylvania.
Emails: FBI was looking for gold at Pennsylvania dig site
Read full article: Emails: FBI was looking for gold at Pennsylvania dig siteFILE-This Sept. 20, 2018 file photo, Dennis Parada, right, and his son Kem Parada stand at the site of the FBI's dig for Civil War-era gold in Dents Run, Pennsylvania. Government emails released under court order show that FBI agents were looking for gold when they excavated Dent's Run in 2018, though the FBI says that nothing was found. FBI agents were looking for an extremely valuable cache of fabled Civil War-era gold — possibly tons of it — when they excavated a remote woodland site in Pennsylvania three years ago this month, according to government emails and other recently released documents in the case. The legal maneuvering generated emails between Newton and Audrey Miner, chief lawyer for the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. It's indicative, it's suggestive, but it can’t prove it.”To prove it, the FBI needed to dig.
Descendants reclaim land that was part of lost family cemetery
Read full article: Descendants reclaim land that was part of lost family cemeterySAN ANTONIO – The original Hockley-Clay Family Cemetery in Northeast San Antonio is now complete. The Northern Hills subdivision borders the cemetery on one side and Northern Hills Elementary on the other. “Now, the family has custody of the entire original cemetery property,” said Everett Fly an architect and landscape architect nationally known for his preservation work. Fly said the Hockley-Clay Cemetery actually had been there for more than 100 years before they actually bought their homes. It was the curiosity of a retired Air Force major, James Michael Wright, a Northern Hills homeowner, that led to the discovery of the lost cemetery while walking his children to school in 2014.
The history behind Black colleges and universities known as HBCU’s
Read full article: The history behind Black colleges and universities known as HBCU’sPrior to the Civil War, there was not a structured higher education system for Black students. Public policy and certain provisions prohibited the education of Blacks in various parts of the nation, which is why historically Black colleges and universities were so important. The first higher education institution for Blacks called The Institute For Colored Youth was founded in Cheyney, Pennsylvania in 1837, making it the first historically Black college and university. It was followed by two other Black institutions -- Lincoln University in Pennsylvania in 1854 and Wilberforce University in Ohio in 1856. By 1953, more than 32,000 students were enrolled in well known HBCU’s like Fisk University, Hampton Institute, Howard University and Morehouse College.
What is Confederate Heroes Day and why do Texans still celebrate it today?
Read full article: What is Confederate Heroes Day and why do Texans still celebrate it today?On Jan. 19 annually, state workers in Texas get the day after Martin Luther King Jr. Day off, with pay, to celebrate “Confederate Heroes Day.” The state requires agencies to keep “skeleton crews” so that they are operational on the holiday, unlike some others, including MLK Day, when state officers are closed. The state holiday was created less than a decade after the federal signing of the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act. Some Southern states this year removed Confederate symbols, statues and monikers that they had long resisted calls to disband. So, removing Confederate Heroes Day is not erasing history. According to the Texas Tribune, other states that observe “Confederate Heroes Day” as a holiday are: Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Louisiana, Tennessee and Virginia.
Some in the GOP parrot far-right talk of a coming civil war
Read full article: Some in the GOP parrot far-right talk of a coming civil warSome leftists have used similar language, which Republicans have likened to advocating a new civil war. “At the time of the Civil War, this took the form of Southern white men angry at the idea that the federal government would interfere with their right to own Black slaves. “The favorite son of this city was murdered because of a civil war as he was president. She resigned after she was barraged by calls from Trump supporters, some of whom demanded a military coup to keep Trump in office “no matter what it takes." Silber, the Civil War historian, said she is worried the attack on the Capitol wasn't the last stand for enraged Trump supporters.
Trinity University professor discusses historical riots contesting election results, significance of US Capitol breach
Read full article: Trinity University professor discusses historical riots contesting election results, significance of US Capitol breach“This is the day that we will remember,” said Carey Latimore, Ph.D., an associate professor of history at Trinity University. “One is the Wilmington riots of 1898, and that’s a case in Wilmington, North Carolina, in which you had some rioters who disputed an election. And so, they decided to go and try to take over a town and sort of decertify, by their own self, a local election,” Latimore said. As Congress moves forward with the certification of the electoral votes, Latimore said there needs to be an emphasis on vetting information. But, we found ways of moving forward,” Latimore said.
Film documents history of Underground Railroad in South Texas
Read full article: Film documents history of Underground Railroad in South TexasEDINBURG, Texas – A little known chapter of Civil War history makes for a dramatic story told in “Just a Ferry Ride to Freedom,” a documentary produced by the University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley. The film is based on the choice made by runaway slaves prior to the Civil War, to head south instead of north, to Mexico using another Underground Railroad. The route to freedom would be longer over treacherous terrain between the Nueces and Rio Grande Rivers. Instead, she relied on oral histories with the descendants of those who helped or decided to stay in South Texas, many of whom are now buried in the Rio Grande Valley. They helped other people.”Both he and Bacha-Garza said the people of the Rio Grande Valley should be proud of its history.
KSAT Kids: Today in History, Nov. 19
Read full article: KSAT Kids: Today in History, Nov. 19Today is Thursday, Nov. 19, the 324th day of 2020. Today’s Highlight in History:On Nov. 19, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln dedicated a national cemetery at the site of the Civil War battlefield of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania. 1919: The Treaty of Versailles is signed in Paris, bringing fighting to an end in between Germany and the Allies of World War I exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. (Public domain)In 1942, during World War II, Russian forces launched their winter offensive against the Germans along the Don front. Actor Reid Scott is 43.
Lee descendant urges official removal of Confederate statues
Read full article: Lee descendant urges official removal of Confederate statues(AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)Democratic lawmakers and others urged official removal of Confederate monuments at the center of a politically fraught national debate, saying Tuesday that slow action was leading protesters to try to topple statues of defenders of slavery themselves. A descendant of Confederate military commander Robert E. Lee was among those joining Black historians at a hearing of the House subcommittee on national parks, forests and public lands to urge passage of legislation addressing Confederate statues at national parks and other federal sites. One of the bills would remove a statue of Lee erected this century at the battlefield of Antietam, the site of the deadliest day of fighting in the Civil War. Robert W. Lee IV, a descendant of the Souths military leader in the Civil War, cited his forebears testimony before Congress after the Civil War as evidence of the Confederate leader's unfitness for commemorative monuments. Trump increasingly has come out in defense of the Confederate statues and other historical tributes to the Civil Wars defeated side.
Confederate statue being moved at University of Mississippi
Read full article: Confederate statue being moved at University of MississippiFILE - In this Feb. 23, 2019 file photo a Confederate soldier monument stands at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Miss. A Confederate monument thats been a divisive symbol at the University of Mississippi was being removed Tuesday from a prominent spot on the Oxford campus. Its not going to create a shrine to the Confederacy, University of Mississippi Chancellor Glenn Boyce told The Associated Press on June 24 at the state Capitol. Since 2016, the university has installed plaques to provide historical context about the Confederate monument and about slaves who built some campus buildings before the Civil War. A plaque installed at the base of the Confederate statue says such monuments were built across the South decades after the Civil War, at a time that aging Confederate veterans were dying.
AP Explains: Confederate flags draw differing responses
Read full article: AP Explains: Confederate flags draw differing responsesFILE - In this Friday, July 3, 2020, file photo, Civil War reenactors marching with Confederate battle flags during their reenactment of Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg National Military Park in Gettysburg, Pa. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)Public pressure amid protests over racial inequality forced Mississippi to furl its Confederate-inspired state flag for good, yet Georgias flag is based on another Confederate design and lives on. The Confederate States of America had three different national flags during its brief existence from 1861 through 1865, and multiple other flags were used by individual states, army and naval groups. CONFEDERATE NATIONAL FLAGS LARGELY FORGOTTENWhile the battle flag is recognized almost universally as the Confederate flag, its association with hate and white supremacy has taken a toll. Meanwhile, Confederate national flags like the Stainless Banner and the Blood-Stained Banner" or the unofficial Bonnie Blue Flag are virtually unknown to many.
Dixie Chicks Change Name to The Chicks in Order to 'Meet This Moment'
Read full article: Dixie Chicks Change Name to The Chicks in Order to 'Meet This Moment'The Dixie Chicks are going by a new name. On Thursday, the country trio announced that they're dropping the word "Dixie" from their name and will thus be known as The Chicks. Along with the name change, The Chicks also released a timely new song and music video. Aptly titled "March March," the music video begins with the quote, "If your voice held no power, they wouldn't try to silence you." The Chicks' name change came after fellow country group Lady Antebellum amended its name to Lady A.
Race relations in Wisconsin capital are a tale of 2 cities
Read full article: Race relations in Wisconsin capital are a tale of 2 cities(Emily Hamer/Wisconsin State Journal via AP File)MADISON, Wis. In this college town that considers itself a bastion of progressive politics and inclusion, race relations are really a tale of two cities. Madison is a wonderful place, but it is a tale of two cities, said former Madison Police Chief Noble Wray, who is Black. Heg was an Norwegian immigrant who became an anti-slavery activist and a colonel in the 15th Wisconsin Regiment. The Forward statue represented Wisconsin at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. He called toppling the statues a setback for the Black rights movement but said there's no denying racial inequities in Madison.
Usher Advocates for Juneteenth to Become a National Holiday in Powerful Op-Ed
Read full article: Usher Advocates for Juneteenth to Become a National Holiday in Powerful Op-EdUsher is using his platform to talk about the importance of Juneteenth, specifically, why it should be recognized as an official national holiday. In an op-ed for The Washington Post published on Friday, Usher advocates to make Juneteenth a federal holiday. "Recognizing Juneteenth as a national holiday would be a small gesture compared with the greater social needs of black people in America. On Friday, Usher urged his followers on Twitter to sign a Change.org petition to make Juneteenth a national holiday. Make Juneteenth A National Holiday!
5 years after church massacre, S Carolina protects monuments
Read full article: 5 years after church massacre, S Carolina protects monumentsHe also left behind pictures of himself holding the gun used in the killings, posing at historic Civil War and African American sites and holding the Confederate flag. Outraged political leaders came together and overwhelmingly voted to take down a Confederate flag that flew near a monument to Confederate soldiers on the Statehouse lawn. The law protects all historical monuments and names of buildings, requiring a two-thirds vote from the state General Assembly to make any changes. The president of the University of South Carolina wants lawmakers to let the school remove the name of J. Marion Sims from a women's dorm. The time has come to take down the monuments that honor the evil that was done in the name of Charleston, in the name of South Carolina," Rivers said Tuesday at the foot of Calhoun's statue.
Queen Latifah Thinks 'Gone With the Wind' Should Be 'Gone'
Read full article: Queen Latifah Thinks 'Gone With the Wind' Should Be 'Gone'Gone With the Wind will soon be available once again on HBO Max, but Queen Latifah is fine with it remaining gone. "Let Gone With the Wind be gone with the wind," she tells the Associated Press in a recent interview. Ridley recently spoke with ET about Gone With the Wind, calling it "historical fiction." ...People talk about, 'Well, if you take away the film you're erasing history, making history go away. The Civil War happened.
A dozen Confederates are honored with US Capitol statues
Read full article: A dozen Confederates are honored with US Capitol statuesHouse Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is calling to have the statues of Confederates removed from the Capitol, though she cannot do so unilaterally. Each of the 50 states is allowed by law to place two statues in the collection. LOUISIANAEdward Douglass White (1955) -- He was a teenager when he enlisted in the Confederate army, only to be captured a short time later. SOUTH CAROLINAWade Hampton (1929) -- A state lawmaker before the war, he rose to the rank of lieutenant general in the Confederate army. WEST VIRGINIAJohn Kenna (1901) -- He was wounded at 16 while serving in the Confederate army and would later become a congressman and senator.
NFL plans to observe Juneteenth as league holiday
Read full article: NFL plans to observe Juneteenth as league holidayThe NFL plans to recognize Juneteenth as a league holiday. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell made the announcement to league employees on Friday in an internal memo obtained by The Associated Press. Juneteenth is considered the oldest known celebration commemorating the ending of slavery in the United States. Colin Kaepernick began raising awareness for these problems by kneeling during the national anthem in 2016. Juneteenth not only marks the end of slavery in the United States, but it also symbolizes freedom a freedom that was delayed, and brutally resisted; and though decades of progress followed, a freedom for which we must continue to fight.___More AP NFL: https://apnews.com/NFL and https://twitter.com/AP_NFL
HBO Max removes 'Gone With the Wind,' will add context
Read full article: HBO Max removes 'Gone With the Wind,' will add contextNEW YORK HBO Max has temporarily removed Gone With the Wind from its streaming library in order to add historical context to the 1939 film long criticized for romanticizing slavery and the Civil War-era South. Protests in the wake of George Floyd's death have forced entertainment companies to grapple with the appropriateness of both current and past productions. The BBC also removed episodes of Little Britain," a comedy series that featured a character in blackface, from its streaming service. "These racist depictions were wrong then and are wrong today, and we felt that to keep this title up without an explanation and a denouncement of those depictions would be irresponsible, said an HBO Max spokesman in a statement. Gone With the Wind has long been denounced for featuring slave characters who remain loyal to their former owners after the abolition of slavery.
Blacks, Mexicans cultivated relationships that led to liberation during 1800s, local professor says
Read full article: Blacks, Mexicans cultivated relationships that led to liberation during 1800s, local professor saysSt. Marys University professor Teresa Van Hoy said after the Civil War, black union soldiers traveled from Louisiana and helped to liberate Mexico from French control. After the war, they (union soldiers) snuck across to Mexico to help Mexicans and Mexican-Americans overthrow the French, Van Hoy said. Van Hoy said the relationship angered some White Texans, who began killing the wagoneers, until San Antonio Mayor A. The mayor of San Antonio protested because the merchants were unhappy because they couldnt get their goods out, Van Hoy said. A good place to explore southern history is at the San Antonio African-American Community Archive and Museum located at 430 N. Cherry St.