Videos

Spencer Crew, interim director of the National Museum of African Amercan History and Culture discussed the life of former Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall with legal historian Paul Fi…

Virginia Tech history professor Peter Wallensetin talked about the reconvening of Congress following the Civil War and how it attempted to address the end of slavery. “Restoration’s Unfin…

Albany Law School professor Paul Finkelman spoke about the practice of kidnapping freemen from the North and sending them South during the 19th century. He also discussed the wide-spread pra…

Historian Seymour Drescher talked about slavery being abolished throughout the British Empire in 1833. He noted that the Slavery Abolition Act became one of the driving forces toward emancip…

Professor Jenny Wahl argued that the institution of slavery was essentially an economic phenomenon. She used PowerPoint during her presentation and then responded to questions from members o…

Diane Barnes spoke about Frederick Douglass, the most prominent civil rights activist in the 19th century. His relationship with Abraham Lincoln helped convince the president that he must ac…

Michael Burlingame talked about Abraham Lincoln’s pre-presidential dealings with slavery and his abolitionist tendencies. “Abraham Lincoln: Reluctant Emancipator?” was part of the U.S. Capit…

Despite a federal law banning black soldiers from serving in the U.S. Army, they nonetheless fought during the Civil War in both northern and southern regiments. John Stauffer spoke about th…

Historian Gary Gallagher argued that the primary motive of the North during the Civil War was to preserve the “Union"-not to emancipate the slaves, but that Union forces were crucial in adva…

Panelists discussed President Lincoln’s timing of the release of the Emancipation Proclamation. They focused on the legal grounding for the proclamation and what it accomplished. The panelis…

Mitch Kachun spoke on the history of the celebrations after emancipation in Washington, DC. He responded to questions from members of the audience. Professor Finkelman, the spring symposium …

Professor Finkelman, the spring symposium program director, introduced the session. John Michael Vlach talked about his book, From Slavery to Tenancy: African-American Housing Options across…

During the luncheon session Felicia Bell spoke on the topic “'The negroes alone work:' An Overview of the History of the Enslaved and Free Black Labor Used to Construct the U.S. Capitol, 179…

Glen Crothers spoke on the topic, “The 1846 Retrocession of Alexandria: Protecting Slavery and the Slave Trade in the District of Columbia.” Stanley Harrold spoke on the topic, “Gamaliel Bai…

After opening remarks by Mr. Kennon, keynote speaker James B. Stewart opened the conference with “Christian Statesmanship, Codes of Honor and Congressional Violence: The Travails and Triumph…

The U.S. Capitol Historical Society 2006 Spring Conference “Congress and Slavery in the 1840s and 1850s” is the third in the series, “The National Capitol in a Nation Divided: Congress and t…

The U.S. Capitol Historical Society 2006 Spring Conference “Congress and Slavery in the 1840s and 1850s” is the third in the series, “The National Capitol in a Nation Divided: Congress and t…

The U.S. Capitol Historical Society 2006 Spring Conference “Congress and Slavery in the 1840s and 1850s” is the third in the series, “The National Capitol in a Nation Divided: Congress and t…

The U.S. Capitol Historical Society 2006 Spring Conference “Congress and Slavery in the 1840s and 1850s” was the third in the series, “The National Capitol in a Nation Divided: Congress and …