Slavery Abolition

I recently reread one of my favorite books, Uncle Tom's Cabin.  I'm fond of the book, partly because I spent my early 20s living on Forest Street in Hartford, Connecticut, and got to gaze at the beautiful Harriet Beecher Stowe house daily.  Because of this pr…

It was December 1861, a Tuesday at noon, when President Abraham Lincoln sent his first annual message  — what later became the State of the Union — to the House and Senate. By the next day, all 7,000 words of the manuscript were published in newspapers acros…

I’d call it a remarkable legacy for a poet to have, whose work, over time, time and again, has allowed playwrights and musicians to plumb it for more. Admittedly I’ve read only a little of Langston Hughes’ poetry. He is the kind of writer whose language is so…

The San Francisco School Board recently confronted perhaps the greatest crisis in the city’s history. Forget fire, earthquake, fear of Japanese attack, and murder of the mayor by a disgruntled ex-city councilman. Washington High School sports an extensive…

Republicans have a go-to line when it comes to deflecting charges of racism: Were the party of Lincoln! For instance, after President Trump spewed divisive, racist rhetoric toward Democratic Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley, Ilhan Omar, and Ra…

The trailer for the upcoming Harriet Tubman biopic, Harriet, was released on July 23 to great anticipation. The film stars 2016 Tony winners Cynthia Erivo as the eponymous Harriet and Leslie Odom Jr. as friend and ally William Still. If the trailers are an in…

Culture is the product of man's care and praise.  Culture, from the Latin word cultus, means care and praise.  What one cares about is ultimately what one praises.  To care for and praise something presupposes something to scorn and mock.  That which one does…

Republicans have a go-to line when it comes to deflecting charges of racism: Were the party of Lincoln! For instance, after President Trump spewed divisive, racist rhetoric toward Democratic Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley, Ilhan Omar, and Ra…

Nicole Hemmer is the author of "Messengers of the Right: Conservative Media and the Transformation of American Politics." She hosts the history podcast "Past Present" and created the podcast "A12." The views expressed in this commentary are solely those of th…

Theres nobody in American movies who can turn a phrase quite like Quentin Tarantino. And with Once Upon a Time in Hollywood hitting theaters this week, the canon of great Tarantino one-liners is about to get an update. While Tarantinos certainly got a one-ma…