Monthly Archives: April 2011

April 12, 1861 was the day hostilities commenced in the American Civil War. It also was the day William Lloyd Garrison published yet another issue of The Liberator, the most prominent and longest published abolitionist newspaper in the United States. … Continue reading →

The last edition of Civil War Emancipation covered two high-profile enforcement actions of the Fugitive Slave Act that took place in April 1861 just days before the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter. These actions did not escape the notice of the African-American press that existed on … Continue reading →

On April 8, 1861, the Richmond Dispatch ran a short item that would have given cheer to slaveholders. The piece simply read: The fugitive slaves taken from this city Wednesday morning were examined before Commissioner Cornean yesterday. The proof that they were fugitives … Continue reading →

As the United States careened toward Civil War, the British media took greater interest in the peculiar institution as it existed in the American South. In its April 6, 1861 edition, The London Illustrated News had two stories (with illustrations naturally) on slavery in … Continue reading →

Yesterday’s  Disunion in the New York Times, written by Nina Silber, asks a significant question. How can slavery be the cause of the Civil War, when in 1861 most southern households owned no slaves? It is a question that has … Continue reading →

In yesterday’s Disunion in the New York Times, Sven Beckert and Seth Rockman shared a piece entitled “Partners in Iniquity.” It basically explores how the northern states were complicit in and benefited from slavery throughout its existence. This is a fact well-known … Continue reading →

This weekend’s New York Times Magazine contains an article by Adam Goodheart, titled “How Slavery Really Ended in America,” adapted from his book, 1861: The Civil War Awakening. It tells the story of how in late May 1861, slaves began fleeing to the … Continue reading →

While Civil War Emancipation celebrates the end of African-American slavery in the Civil War, the fact remains that unfree labor persists around the world in the 21st Century, including sadly in the United States. Every June, the U.S. State Department issues a … Continue reading →