Expert on monuments and cultural history
Professor of History
- U.S. Civil War
- Reconstruction
- Civil rights
- 14th Amendment
- Author of “From the Revolution to Reconstruction,” which will be published by W.W. Norton in spring of 2021
“Last week’s attack on Congress brings to mind other times that Americans — predominantly white Americans — have resorted to violence rather than accept political outcomes they didn’t like. In 1860-61, southern slaveholders led a movement to secede from the Union rather than accept the results of Lincoln’s election to the presidency. After the Civil War, Congress demanded that former Confederate states permit Black men to vote, and white southerners responded with cries of election fraud and organized campaigns of violence and intimidation designed to force African Americans and their white allies from political power. Much has changed since then.
“The 2020 elections were far more orderly and fairer than those of Reconstruction, thanks in large measure to the professionalism of local election officials. But familiar currents persist, as a segment of Americans continue to value preserving their own power and privilege over supporting democracy and the rule of law.”
