“Fugitives from Oppression”
One hundred fifty years ago today the Ripley (OH) Bee reported that three families from central North Carolina had recently passed through Ripley, Ohio on their way to Indiana. These families, as the...
View ArticleWhy is February 1st Designated as National Freedom Day?
February 1 is National Freedom Day in the United States and has been since 1948. The question is why? The story begins with a bit of presidential trivia but then turns into a fascinating tale of an...
View ArticleArt Versus History in the Lincoln Movie Opening
The main narrative of Steven Spielberg’s “Lincoln” movie opens with a dream that Abraham Lincoln describes to Mary Lincoln in early January 1865. This is historical in nature, but not true in every...
View ArticleHow the “Lincoln” Movie Invented Its Lobbying Scenes
Although “Lincoln” is a serious movie with a high moral purpose, there is still a great deal of comic relief provided mostly by an amusing trio of corrupt lobbyists. What students might find confusing...
View ArticleHow the “Lincoln” Movie Reconstructed Thaddeus Stevens
In the scene in Spielberg’s “Lincoln” which introduces the audience to Rep. Thaddeus Stevens (R, PA), the chairman of the House Committee of Ways and Means, the script describes the setting in Stevens’...
View ArticleDid Abraham Lincoln Really Slap His Son?
No single film could ever hope to capture the range of historical interpretations that have been offered to explain the complicated Lincoln family dynamics. Some historians consider the marriage...
View Article15 Examples of Fiction in “Lincoln” Movie Climax
According to the “Lincoln” movie script, Friday, January 27, 1865 was an action-packed and pivotal day. It was the day of Thaddeus Stevens’s controlled performance in the House, declaring himself...
View ArticleUnderstanding What “Lincoln” Movie Changed About 1865 Peace Talks
One of the several critical strands in the “Lincoln” movie concerns the controversy surrounding the Hampton Roads peace talks (February 3, 1865), where President Lincoln and Secretary of State Seward...
View ArticleTeaching the Story of Bayard Wilkeson
As a summer intern with the House Divided Project of Dickinson College, I’ve been assigned the task of coming up with a lesson plan for the incredible story of how the tragic death of Bayard Wilkeson...
View ArticleTeaching History: Engaging the Past Through the Story of Amos Humiston
Standing on the ground at the battlefields of Gettysburg is both a breathtaking, yet unsatisfying experience. Realizing that your feet are touching the same ground as men who died for a heroic cause...
View ArticleNew Details about the “First Draft” of the Gettysburg Address
On Tuesday evening, July 7, 1863, Abraham Lincoln responded to a “serenade” from a crowd outside the White House celebrating the wonderful news received in Washington earlier that day that Vicksburg...
View ArticleWho is the real Sam Wilkeson?
As readers of Blog Divided are well aware, we have been fascinated by the story of Samuel and Bayard Wilkeson, a father and son who were both at Gettysburg, one as a correspondent for the New York...
View ArticleWeek 1 from Lincoln Course –The Railsplitter
[View the story "Week 1: Understanding Lincoln, The Railsplitter" on Storify]
View ArticleLincoln Course Heats Up with Honest Abe and War Powers Panel
[View the story "Week 2: Understanding Lincoln as Honest Abe" on Storify]
View ArticleOnline Course Explores Lincoln’s Toughest Relationships
[View the story "Week 3, Father Abraham and the Challenges of Leadership" on Storify]
View ArticleOnline Course Examines Emancipation, Gettysburg
Sam Wilkeson [View the story "Understanding Emancipation and Gettysburg" on Storify]
View ArticleLincoln’s Fremont Problem
According to historian Louis Masur, Abraham Lincoln was “upset” by Union General John Fremont’s decision on August 30, 1861 to announce from his headquarters in St. Louis the general emancipation of...
View ArticleWhere was William Lloyd Garrison?
Exactly four years after he had surrendered Fort Sumter to the Confederates, Union officer Robert Anderson returned to Charleston to help once again raise the U.S. flag over the now-ruined harbor...
View ArticleStereo Cards and the Science of Preserving History
This post is part of a new summer 2017 “DIY” (do-it-yourself) series by House Divided Project interns Rachel Morgan and Sam Weisman on how to make various types of primary source facsimiles; see posts...
View ArticleSocial Networks in the House Divided Era
This post is part of a new summer 2017 “DIY” (do-it-yourself) series by House Divided Project interns Rachel Morgan and Sam Weisman on how to make various types of primary source facsimiles; see posts...
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