The past is never dead. It's not even past
John Salmon “Rip” Ford had a long military career as a soldier of the Texas Republic (1836-46). He was a volunteer in the Mexican War, a Texas Ranger on Texas’s borders, and commander of a Confederate Cavalry Regiment in the Civil War. Ford’s archive at UT-Austin’s Center for American History, contains records of his activities as a physician and newspaper editor, as well, revealing an uncommon breadth of occupational skills.
By Tania Sammons This essay is reproduced from the book we are featuring this month, Slavery and Freedom in Savannah, edited by Daina Ramey Berry and Leslie Harris. If you would like to know more about the book and especially about the sidebars that feature short essays on interesting figures and events related to the […]
Savannah is a prime location for understanding the centrality of slavery and race to the national and world economy, and the importance of the city to southern landscapes and the southern economy.
Today -- September 29 -- is the 150th anniversary of the Civil War battle of Chaffin's Farm. The battle is significant because Milton Holland, a mixed race native of Texas was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions during the battle.
“May God be pleased with all the Companions of His Prophet.” With these words, the 12th century mayor of Aleppo, al-Zahir, carved in stone a sentiment that powerfully reflects the nuanced, negotiated sectarian history of Islam in Syria and elsewhere in the Islamic world.
by Brian McNeil #BringBackOurGirls has become ubiquitous on the internet, with a wide gamut of politicians and celebrities taking up the cause of the nearly 300 Nigerian schoolgirls kidnapped by the terrorist organization Boko Haram. While the efficacy of this sort of hashtag activism, or slacktivism, has been questioned by scholars—and openly mocked by some […]
by Andrew Villalon In 2014, we enter the centennial of one of history’s most terrible conflicts. Originally (and quite appropriately) named The Great War, the four-year conflict claimed roughly eight and a half to nine and a half million lives on the battlefield, not to mention millions of civilian war deaths as well as many […]
What’s new and interesting on World War 1? In this Centennial year, you may want to read up on World War I. Here are a few suggestions from UT History faculty who have been studying and teaching about the First World War: David Crew, Philippa Levine, Mary Neuburger, Charters Wynn, and Emilio Zamora. Here are their suggestions.
By Charley S. Binkow For centuries Egypt has inspired awe in the West. From Napoleon to Anderson Cooper, westerners have found an intrinsic fascination with Egypt’s rich culture, history, art, and politics. Since they first arrived, Egypt’s visitors have tried to capture its incredible landscape and document its complex beauty. The Travelers in the Middle […]
Photographs, primary documents and personal recollections offer important glimpses, but one digital history site specifically wants to understand how it sounded.