The massive records of the Freedmen’s Bureau (more formally, the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands) are now available online. FamilySearch, the National Archives, and the mobilization of thousands of volunteers made this effort possible. Among these records are more »
Life, war, and survival during this era was extremely brutal and cruel. The film Free State of Jones is not for the squeamish. One of the first things that strikes you about this film is its intense brutality. And that’s more »
At one of my presentations, while speaking of the high proportion of slaves present in the river parishes in northeast Louisiana, I was asked about the Texas slave population in the regions where the regiments of McCulloch’s Brigade were raised, more »
It didn’t take long after the end of the Civil War for the white leaders of Monroe, Louisiana, to enact repressive measures against blacks in their midst. Just two months after Lee surrendered at Appomattox, blacks were faced with the more »
The case seemed solid enough. Three individuals – Kate Shields (widow), Padon Turner, and Henry Woods – all agreed on the details. Anderson Shields, who was Kate’s husband, had joined the Union army with his friends near Grand Gulf, Mississippi more »