White Christian supremacy, by definition an intersectional system of oppression, has influenced all aspects of American society since the time before the country's founding, as it was used to justify the stealing of native lands through colonization and the enslavement of African peoples. White Christian supremacist influences persist today, even…

As Americans contend with the question of which statues and markers belong (or don't) on public land, government leaders, civic groups, and citizens must be prepared to engage these conversations and answer a range of related questions. In this article, the authors view arguments over public statues--statues of persons that reside on public…

"Uncle Tom's Cabin" is a reputed anti-slavery novel in American literary history. Tom, an unusually loyal and submissive slave, was sold to different slave masters again and again until he was tortured to death. Tom's tragic fate had multi-faceted roots. This paper tends to give an objective interpretation of Tom's personality so as to…

Freedom for most of the 4 million enslaved Black Americans in the United States was not granted when Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863. Freedom came about in numerous ways and at different times. The status of Maryland's enslaved population was not decided until October 1864, when a statewide referendum on a…

This article is a conversation with Juliet King, EdD, the AMS 2022 Living Legacy. Dr. King began her career in South Florida some five decades ago, teaching in Miami-Dade County when public schools were beginning to desegregate. She transferred to an inner-city school with a Title I Montessori program; this was her first introduction to the…

The 1619 Project by "The New York Times" asks American History teachers to revise their history curriculum to recognize the influence of Blackness, and of slavery, as foundational to the development of the United States. In this article I share a practical approach, including lesson plans and learning activities, to a similar revision of…

Some barriers to teaching Black history in elementary classrooms include inadequate teacher preparation and the misguided view that elementary students are too young to learn the unvarnished truth about America's historical injustices. Legislative efforts to prevent teachers from discussing race-related topics labeled "divisive"…

Kentucky's elementary social studies curriculum includes introductory knowledge in state and national history, providing an opportunity for teachers to include instruction on the influence of slavery on society before and after the Civil War, and sometimes on current events. For example, following the violent events in 2017 in Charlottesville,…

The real story of slavery's end involves one of the most significant social movements in the history of the United States and the heroic actions of the enslaved themselves. Revealing this history helps students begin to answer fundamental questions that urgently need to be addressed in classrooms across the country: How does major social change…

In 2015, the mass murder of nine people in a South Carolina church by a White supremacist led to greater public questioning of symbols of the Confederacy. This questioning led to action in the spring of 2017 when four large Confederate monuments were removed in New Orleans, Louisiana, and the citizens of Charlottesville, Virginia, voted to remove…

Seeking to expand program offerings and cultivate repeat visitation at a mostly volunteer-run historic site, the Harriet Beecher Stowe House has partnered with retired Xavier University professor John Getz to lead a monthly literary discussion series, "Visiting 'Uncle Tom's Cabin'." This article presents how the series has created space…

Historians have long appreciated the value of the U.S. Census as a source of statistical data for studying nineteenth- and twentieth-century American history. However, in ways that many other primary source documents do not, the census reflects and addresses social, political, and economic issues on national, state, and community levels…

Because of a long tradition of children's literature depicting enslavement, elementary teachers have an expansive assortment of books from which to choose. These books, however, can be filled with inaccuracies, troubling illustrations, and dubious interpretations of the "peculiar institution." The recent controversy over "A Birthday…

Stacy Boldrick is a Lecturer in Art Museum and Gallery Studies at the University of Leicester, where she conducts research in iconoclasm and its significance for social groups and institutions. She is the author of "Iconoclasm and the Museum" (Routledge, 2020). In 2013, she collaborated with Tabitha Barber to curate Art Under Attack:…

"Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power" is an exhibition of American Black artists from the 1960s through 1980s. Originally developed by the Tate Modern in London, the exhibition travelled to Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas, in early 2018. When we visited the exhibition, we intended to study how…