Category: Slavery

  • “Free State of Jones” is the film Reconstruction historians have been waiting for. Reconstruction, which encompassed the decade following the Civil War, is perhaps the most overlooked era in American history. It is the only period that doesn’t have a National Park Service site commemorating it.

  • For Independence Day, a Look at Thomas Jefferson’s Egregious Hypocrisy The Scientific American 2016-07-01 John Horgan “While many of his contemporaries, including George Washington, freed their slaves during and after the revolution—inspired, perhaps, by the words of the Declaration–Jefferson did not,” historian Paul Finkelman writes. “Jefferson also “dodged opportunities to undermine slavery or promote racial…

  • Charles Blow blows his horn in the New York Times Renegade South: Histories of Unconventional Southerners 2016-06-27 Victoria Bynum, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of History Texas State University, San Marcos In today’s New York Times, opinion editor Charles Blow delivers a harsh critique of the movie, Free State of Jones, arguing that its treatment of slavery…

  • White Savior, Rape and Romance? The New York Times 2016-06-27 Charles M. Blow The movie “Free State of Jones” certainly doesn’t lack in ambition — it sprawls so that it feels like several films stitched together — but I still found it woefully lacking. The story itself is quite interesting. It’s about Newton Knight, a…

  • Free State of Jones: The Incredible True Story of Newton Knight and His Private Rebellion Against the Confederacy People Magazine 2016-06-24 Michael Miller Free State of Jones brings to life one of the Civil War’s most extraordinary and counterintuitive episodes, in which a Confederate deserter overthrew his former commanders and established a free “state” in…

  • Matthew McConaughey Can’t Stop Being a Badass White Savior in The Free State of Jones The Stranger 2016-06-22 Ijeoma Oluo Watch the magical negroes heal Matthew McConaughey from his wounds that he received while badassing his way into exile. Ever since the end of the first season of True Detective I’ve really been wanting more…

  • Review: Matthew McConaughey Rebels Against Rebels in ‘Free State of Jones’ The New York Times 2016-06-23 A. O. Scott, Film Critic Matthew McConaughey, left, and Jacob Lofland in “Free State of Jones.” Credit Murray Close/STX Entertainment “Free State of Jones” begins on the battlefield, with a flurry of the kind of immersive combat action that…

  • On The Free State Of Jones The Huffington Post 2016-06-20 Steven Hahn, Roy F. and Jeannette P. Nichols Professor of History University of Pennsylvania Three quarters of a century ago, “Gone with the Wind,” a film that mythologized an Old South of wealthy planters and obedient slaves, premiered in Atlanta amidst great fanfare and public…

  • Theatre Review: ‘An Octoroon’ at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company Maryland Theatre Guide 2016-06-05 Jennifer Minich We need to talk about An Octoroon: a razor-sharp, thought-provoking, radical, comical blast from the past. Playwright and DC native (bonus points) Branden Jacobs-Jenkins returns to Woolly Mammoth for the DC premiere of An Octoroon, an adaption of the 1859…

  • A prize-winning historian tells a new story of the black experience in America through the life of a mysterious entrepreneur.