In History Class: Recent Episodes
Samantha Futrell
A podcast for teachers and students who just can't find the right resources for their history classes. Each season is a "unit" and the episodes cover the major topics within those units. Use these episodes as jumping off points, then, create your own in-class activities based on these episodes. Or, better yet, check out our Teachers Pay Teachers page "In History Class" and download the interactive materials for each episode!
When Union and Confederate troops met at Bull Run Creek for the first battle of the Civil War in 1861, few there considered that the fight between these two nations would last for longer than a few months. In fact, swift victory for either side was so assured that the general public even pinicked on the periphery of the fighting at Manassas. On those gentle hills, the nearby townsfolk spread tablecloths and ate sandwiches, while men shed each other's blood on the ground below them-- the spectacle akin to gladiators fighting in the Colosseum, just for show and nothing more.
But as we know the Civil War lasted much longer, four whole years, because each side engaged in what is now known as "total war". Neither the Union or the Confederacy would accept a simple defeat, and so the war had to encompass every aspect of society, from battlefields to kitchen tables. Stonewall Jackson, a Confederate General, seemed to predict this, when he said that when the time for war would come the South would have to, "draw the sword and throw away the scabbard." Once the war began, there was no going back.
This episode, we're breaking down this process of total war from 1861-1863-- focusing on each side's military tactics and strategy.
Some historians have argued that a civil war in the United States was somewhat inevitable, considering the hypocrisy of America’s foundations as a nation built on the glorious principle of equality and the hideous practice of slavery-- the conflict within the nation had been brewing since the creation of the Constitution in 1783.
In this episode, we will be examining the individual catalysts that caused southern states to secede from the Union, all of which directly connect to the debate over the ownership of black and brown bodies in the United States between 1854 and 1861-- sectionalism, Bleeding Kansas, the Dred Scott decision, Uncle Tom’s Cabin and The Abolitionist Movement, and,finally, the 1860 election.
The first enslaved Africans arrived to the English colony of Virginia in 1619. In 1860, almost 250 years later, the colony of Virginia had become a state, America a new nation--founded on liberty and justice, and four million people were legally being used as human chattel under the bonds of slavery. It is common that in history classes we hear about the economic and social implications of slavery's presence in the United States prior to the Civil War. It is less common that we learn about the humans within the system. Who were those 4 million people? What were their lives like? And how did they emerge from more than two centuries of oppression in 1865 with any sort of culture and identity to speak of? These are the questions we're going to explore in today's episode-- American Slavery.
A casual, but wholehearted welcome to the first season of In History Class! Get the details on the concept of the show and what you can expect from upcoming episodes. We are so happy you're here.