Kevin M. Levin

@civilwarmemory.bsky.social

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Civil War historian, educator, and public speaker. Author: _Searching For Black Confederates_ https://amzn.to/4c2KSuT. Biography of Robert Gould Shaw forthcoming with UNC Press.

Join my Civil War Memory newsletter: https://kevinmlevin.substack.com

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Finished preparing for a week in DC at Ford's Theatre, where I will work with teachers from around the country on how to teach the history and legacy of Reconstruction. Our time together includes lectures and some really exciting tours in and around DC. It's going to be an exciting week. 🗃️

As a historian I know better than to draw comparisons between the mass deportation of German Jews to camps and ghettos, but as an American Jew raised on these stories, I can't but help but think about it. One thing I know for sure is that these people hope to instill the same fear and intimidation.

It occurs to me that one of the reasons why we embrace Robert Gould Shaw, the 54th Massachusetts, and their failed assault on Fort Wagner, #OTD in 1863, is that it represents the perfect marriage of bravery and purity of cause. No other assault of white Union soldiers occupies the same space. 🗃️

Registration is now open for next year's Civil War conference in Monterey, California. I am excited to be one of the speakers. I will deliver a talk on the battle of the Crater and another on Robert Gould Shaw. whtours.org/seldom-heard... 🗃️

Picked up this book to help me get ready to lead a group of teachers around DC next week. We will focus on the history and memory of the Civil War and Reconstruction. It was published in 1998 and it’s a pleasure to read as the analysis isn’t bogged down by more recent controversies. 🗃️

Need a little Otis fix?

This is common currency on social media, but these comparisons do nothing to illuminate the history of the modern Republican Party. In fact, they distort it by narrowing our focus to the Confederate South and the boogeyman of Nazi Germany. It rejects history rather than illuminates it. 🗃️

I am really enjoying John Ganz's new book. It's strange to read through a history in which I came of age, but as a historian, I can't help but think about how the search to explain the rise of Trump and his presidency shapes the analysis. 🗃️

Interesting to see the remains of earthworks on private property here in St. Andrews, New Brunswick Canada 🇨🇦. These pristine remains were once part of Fort Tipperary, constructed during the War of 1812. 🗃️

John Ganz’s con men and conspiracists are more fascinating and horrifying than I could have anticipated.

The view from our hotel room in St. Andrews, Canada. 🇨🇦

Finished reading David Austin Walsh’s fabulous new book. It filled in a number of gaps in my understanding of the modern conservative movement and introduced me to a number of new and disturbing characters. The chapter on McCarthy alone was worth the price of the book. 🗃️

Most Gettysburg anniversary posts emphasize that the 3-day battle culminated in a decisive United States victory, but the first day of fighting, #OTD in 1863, proved to be a decisive victory for Robert E. Lee's Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. Contingency matters. 🗃️

For all the Civil War buffs out there. Happy anniversary. #OTD 1863 #CivilWarMemory

As much as I recognize the importance of a presidential debate, it seems absurd to talk about anything else in front of a national audience other than the fact that one man instigated a riot to subvert the Constitution and the other who didn't. All roads lead back to this fundamental difference.

This just might be the best summation of the purpose of monuments that I have ever read. Thanks: @profgabriele.com and @lollardfish.bsky.social. 🗃️ buttondown.email/ModernMediev...

Whoever is in charge of social media for the National Park Service deserves a raise.

Little Round Top at Gettysburg National Military Park is once again open to the public after two years of restoration. Love the new signage. 🗃️

"How about George Washington high school? ‘We want the name removed from that high school.’ They don’t know why. You know, they thought he had slaves. Actually I think he probably didn’t."--Donald Trump 🗃️

In all of the talk about securing Black political rights during Reconstruction, through military occupation, we forget that the Republican Party never supported a large Regular army. According to Cecily Zander, Republicans stood in the way of its growth before, during, and after the Civil War. 🗃️

"The proposed revisions are an example of how political decisions have the potential to impact classroom content. The documents show that the review offered more than 40 suggestions to the curriculum outline and course content." 🗃️ www.washingtonpost.com/education/20...

The Duck Boats make their way passed Park Street Church during the Celtics victory parade in downtown Boston, where William Lloyd Garrison delivered some of his earliest anti-slavery addresses. [Source: The Boston Globe] 🗃️

I love it when people go out of their way to relive a moment of sheer ignorance and post it for all the world to see. 🗃️

(Ann Telnaes/The Washington Post)

A reminder, on this Juneteenth, that the events leading to the end of slavery in the South involved a complex process that included federal policies, armies in the field, and the actions of enslaved men and women. 🗃️ dsl.richmond.edu/emancipation/

In a nation that professes to love freedom, celebrating Juneteenth should be a no-brainer. 🗃️

What is worse than Republicans mistakenly referring to the Confederate monument in Arlington National Cemetery as a "Reconciliation monument," is the fact that they fail to acknowledge that the lie of the "faithful slave" helped to encourage that reconciliation between white Americans by 1914. 🗃️

Opponents of Confederate monuments love to point out that R.E. Lee worried that monument dedications would hamper reconciliation, but this must be placed in context. Lee spoke out during Reconstruction and before his death in 1870. We don't know what he might have said had he lived into the 1880s. 🗃️

Happy birthday, Otis.