Civil War

A portrait of 19th-century abolitionist Frederick Douglass is unveiled at the Maryland governor's residence in Annapolis on Sept. 15, 2014.

Voters Face A Big Decision In 2020: Could A Lesson From Frederick Douglass Help?

6:01am January 13, 2020

by Steve Inskeep

In 1856, Frederick Douglass had a choice to make: support the big change he believed in — abolition of slavery — or settle for a less sweeping shift from a candidate better positioned to win.

In An Election Year, Reflecting On A Political Power Couple From The 1800s

5:14pm January 12, 2020

by Michel Martin

NPR's Steve Inskeep, discussing his book Imperfect Union: How Jesse and John Fremont Mapped the West, Invented Celebrity and Helped Cause the Civil War, touches on parallels to U.S. politics in 2020.

Kehinde Wiley's statue Rumors of War spent several weeks at New York's Times Square in late September. The work was unveiled Tuesday in Richmond as a permanent installation.

National

New Statue Unveiled In Response To Richmond's Confederate Monuments

7:56pm December 10, 2019

by Paolo Zialcita

Kehinde Wiley's new sculpture mimics one of Confederate Gen. J.E.B. Stuart. The new work stands in front of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, a mile from its inspiration.

Elon Poll: Majority Wants Confederate Monuments To Remain In Place

5:03pm November 20, 2019

by Bethany Chafin

A new poll from Elon University finds most people surveyed want to keep Confederate monum

Pastor Earnie Lucas of Friendship Baptist Church in Appomattox, Va., posted this message on his church sign around the same time that President Trump tweeted that four Democratic members of Congress — all women of color — should "go back and help fix

In Virginia, 2 Churches Feel The Aftermath Of Trump's Racist Rhetoric

6:40am August 12, 2019

by Sarah McCammon

Two small-town Virginia churches with the same name, but very different congregations, recently found themselves tangled in controversy related to the president's tweets.

A now-closed Irish pub in Lawrence, Mass., displayed an old "Help Wanted/No Irish Need Apply" — a common sight across the country in the mid-1800s.

Politics & Government

With Latest Nativist Rhetoric, Trump Takes America Back To Where It Came From

4:29pm July 16, 2019

by Ron Elving

By repeating that these immigrants are "not ... you," the president defined them as "the other" in stark terms. The battle lines could not be more clear in a conflict nearly as old as America itself.

Queue Listen Now

Freedom's Detective: The Secret Service, the Ku Klux Klan and the Man Who Masterminded America's First War on Terror, by Charles Lane

In 'Freedom's Detective,' A Flawed But Remarkable Hiram Whitley Infiltrates The KKK

11:49am April 11, 2019

by Michael Schaub

Journalist Charles Lane's account is endlessly gripping — and he does an excellent job of placing the operation in historical context, chronicling racism and resentment in the South post-Civil War.

What You Have Heard Is True, by Carolyn Forché.

Books
Arts

In 'What You Have Heard Is True,' A Poet Bears Witness To Devastating Civil War

2:04pm April 05, 2019

by Craig Morgan Teicher

Though it took poet Carolyn Forché half a lifetime to fully share in a memoir what she saw during her time in El Salvador in the 1970s and the lessons learned, now is precisely when we need to see it.

Confederate Statue In Winston-Salem Removed

9:25am March 12, 2019

by TOM FOREMAN Jr. and JONATHAN DREW, Associated Press

A North Carolina city removed a Confederate statue Tuesday from the grounds of an old courthouse, a rare move in a state where such monuments are largely protected by law.

Politics & Government

UPDATE: Winston-Salem Will Remove Controversial Confederate Statue, Denies Extension

11:25am February 01, 2019

by Keri Brown and Eddie Garcia