The Forgotten Fifth

The Forgotten Fifth PDF

Author: Gary B Nash

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 2009-06-30

Total Pages: 248

ISBN-13: 0674041348

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As the United States gained independence, a full fifth of the country's population was African American. The experiences of these men and women have been largely ignored in the accounts of the colonies' glorious quest for freedom. In this compact volume, Gary B. Nash reorients our understanding of early America, and reveals the perilous choices of the founding fathers that shaped the nation's future. Nash tells of revolutionary fervor arousing a struggle for freedom that spiraled into the largest slave rebellion in American history, as blacks fled servitude to fight for the British, who promised freedom in exchange for military service. The Revolutionary Army never matched the British offer, and most histories of the period have ignored this remarkable story. The conventional wisdom says that abolition was impossible in the fragile new republic. Nash, however, argues that an unusual convergence of factors immediately after the war created a unique opportunity to dismantle slavery. The founding fathers' failure to commit to freedom led to the waning of abolitionism just as it had reached its peak. In the opening decades of the nineteenth century, as Nash demonstrates, their decision enabled the ideology of white supremacy to take root, and with it the beginnings of an irreparable national fissure. The moral failure of the Revolution was paid for in the 1860s with the lives of the 600,000 Americans killed in the Civil War. "The Forgotten Fifth" is a powerful story of the nation's multiple, and painful, paths to freedom.

Map of Flames (The Forgotten Five, Book 1)

Map of Flames (The Forgotten Five, Book 1) PDF

Author: Lisa McMann

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2022-02-22

Total Pages: 385

ISBN-13: 0593325419

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X-Men meets Spy Kids in this instant New York Times bestseller! Here’s the first book in a new middle-grade fantasy/adventure series from the author of The Unwanteds. Fifteen years ago, eight supernatural criminals fled Estero City to make a new life in an isolated tropical hideout. Over time, seven of them disappeared without a trace, presumed captured or killed. And now, the remaining one has died. Left behind to fend for themselves are the criminals’ five children, each with superpowers of their own: Birdie can communicate with animals. Brix has athletic abilities and can heal quickly. Tenner can swim like a fish and can see in the dark and hear from a distance. Seven’s skin camouflages to match whatever is around him. Cabot hasn’t shown signs of any unusual power—yet. Then one day Birdie finds a map among her father’s things that leads to a secret stash. There is also a note: Go to Estero, find your mother, and give her the map. The five have lived their entire lives in isolation. What would it mean to follow the map to a strange world full of things they’ve only heard about, like cell phones, cars, and electricity? A world where, thanks to their parents, being supernatural is a crime?

Race and Revolution

Race and Revolution PDF

Author: Gary B. Nash

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Published: 1990-12-01

Total Pages: 225

ISBN-13: 1461641640

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The most profound crisis of conscience for white Americans at the end of the eighteenth century became their most tragic failure. Race and Revolution is a trenchant study of the revolutionary generation's early efforts to right the apparent contradiction of slavery and of their ultimate compromises that not only left the institution intact but provided it with the protection of a vastly strengthened government after 1788. Reversing the conventional view that blames slavery on the South's social and economic structures, Nash stresses the role of the northern states in the failure to abolish slavery. It was northern racism and hypocrisy as much as southern intransigence that buttressed "the peculiar institution." Nash also shows how economic and cultural factors intertwined to result not in an apparently judicious decision of the new American nation but rather its most significant lost opportunity. Race and Revolution describes the free black community's response to this failure of the revolution's promise, its vigorous and articulate pleas for justice, and the community's successes in building its own African-American institutions within the hostile environment of early nineteenth-century America. Included with the text of Race and Revolution are nineteen rare and crucial documents—letters, pamphlets, sermons, and speeches—which provide evidence for Nash's controversial and persuasive claims. From the words of Anthony Benezet and Luther Martin to those of Absalom Jones and Caesar Sarter, readers may judge the historical record for themselves. "In reality," argues Nash, "the American Revolution represents the largest slave uprising in our history." Race and Revolution is the compelling story of that failed quest for the promise of freedom.

Forging Freedom

Forging Freedom PDF

Author: Gary B. Nash

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 1988

Total Pages: 372

ISBN-13: 9780674309333

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This book is the first to trace the fortunes of the earliest large free black community in the U.S. Nash shows how black Philadelphians struggled to shape a family life, gain occupational competence, organize churches, establish social networks, advance cultural institutions, educate their children, and train leaders who would help abolish slavery.

My American Revolution

My American Revolution PDF

Author: Robert Sullivan

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Published: 2012-09-04

Total Pages: 274

ISBN-13: 1429945850

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Americans tend to think of the Revolution as a Massachusetts-based event orchestrated by Virginians, but in fact the war took place mostly in the Middle Colonies—in New York and New Jersey and the parts of Pennsylvania that on a clear day you can almost see from the Empire State Building. In My American Revolution, Robert Sullivan delves into this first Middle America, digging for a glorious, heroic part of the past in the urban, suburban, and sometimes even rural landscape of today. And there are great adventures along the way: Sullivan investigates the true history of the crossing of the Delaware, its down-home reenactment each year for the past half a century, and—toward the end of a personal odyssey that involves camping in New Jersey backyards, hiking through lost "mountains," and eventually some physical therapy—he evacuates illegally from Brooklyn to Manhattan by handmade boat. He recounts a Brooklyn historian's failed attempt to memorialize a colonial Maryland regiment; a tattoo artist's more successful use of a colonial submarine, which resulted in his 2007 arrest by the New York City police and the FBI; and the life of Philip Freneau, the first (and not great) poet of American independence, who died in a swamp in the snow. Last but not least, along New York harbor, Sullivan re-creates an ancient signal beacon. Like an almanac, My American Revolution moves through the calendar of American independence, considering the weather and the tides, the harbor and the estuary and the yearly return of the stars as salient factors in the war for independence. In this fiercely individual and often hilarious journey to make our revolution his, he shows us how alive our own history is, right under our noses.

The Invisible Spy (The Forgotten Five, Book 2)

The Invisible Spy (The Forgotten Five, Book 2) PDF

Author: Lisa McMann

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2022-11-08

Total Pages: 337

ISBN-13: 0593325451

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X-Men meets Spy Kids in the thrilling second installment in The Forgotten Five fantasy/adventure series that began with the instant New York Times bestseller Map of Flames. The forgotten five have made it to Estero to search for their missing supernatural criminal parents. With the help of their new allies, Lada and The Librarian, they’ve managed to find Birdie and Brix’s mother, Elena, and free her from captivity in the presidential palace. Now the president’s henchmen are searching everywhere for the children who broke out Elena, driving the group into hiding in the ancient underground tunnels beneath the city. Meanwhile, President Fuerte is making headlines for his nighttime flights to other countries accompanied by an invisible man. But why would the president who outlawed supernaturals be working with the people he supposedly hates? And could it be that some of the five’s own parents are helping him? The fantasy adventure that began with the New York Times and Indie bestseller Map of Flames continues as the five join the fight against the oppression of supernaturals in Estero, face off against an unexpected enemy, and undertake a new mission that will put all of their abilities—and their loyalties—to the test.

The Last of the Doughboys

The Last of the Doughboys PDF

Author: Richard Rubin

Publisher: HMH

Published: 2013-05-21

Total Pages: 549

ISBN-13: 0547843690

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“Before the Greatest Generation, there was the Forgotten Generation of World War I . . . wonderfully engaging” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review). “Richard Rubin has done something that will never be possible for anyone to do again. His interviews with the last American World War I veterans—who have all since died—bring to vivid life a cataclysm that changed our world forever but that remains curiously forgotten here.” —Adam Hochschild, author of To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion, 1914–1918 In 2003, eighty-five years after the end of World War I, Richard Rubin set out to see if he could still find and talk to someone who had actually served in the American Expeditionary Forces during that colossal conflict. Ultimately he found dozens, aged 101 to 113, from Cape Cod to Carson City, who shared with him at the last possible moment their stories of America’s Great War. Nineteenth-century men and women living in the twenty-first century, they were self-reliant, humble, and stoic, never complaining, but still marveling at the immensity of the war they helped win, and the complexity of the world they helped create. Though America has largely forgotten their war, you will never forget them, or their stories. A decade in the making, The Last of the Doughboys is the most sweeping look at America’s First World War in a generation, a glorious reminder of the tremendously important role America played in the “war to end all wars,” as well as a moving meditation on character, grace, aging, and memory. “An outstanding and fascinating book. By tracking down the last surviving veterans of the First World War and interviewing them with sympathy and skill, Richard Rubin has produced a first-rate work of reporting.” —Ian Frazier, author of Travels in Siberia “I cannot remember a book about that huge and terrible war that I have enjoyed reading more in many years.” —Michael Korda, The Daily Beast

Forgotten New York

Forgotten New York PDF

Author: Kevin Walsh

Publisher: Harper Collins

Published: 2006-10-03

Total Pages: 388

ISBN-13: 0061145025

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Forgotten New York is your passport to more than 300 years of history, architecture, and memories hidden in plain sight. Houses dating to the first Dutch settlers on Staten Island; yellow brick roads in Brooklyn; clocks embedded in the sidewalk in Manhattan; bishop's crook lampposts in Queens; a white elephant in the Bronx—this is New York and this is your guide to seeing it all. Forgotten New York covers all five boroughs with easy-to-use maps and suggested routes to hundreds of out-of-the-way places, antiquated monuments, streets to nowhere, and buildings from a time lost. Forgotten New York features: Quiet Places Truly Forgotten History Happened Here What is this Thing? Forgotten People And so much more. No matter if you are a lifelong New Yorker, recent resident, or weekend visitor, this magical book is the only guide to true New York.

Forgotten Black Soldiers Who Served in White Regiments During the Civil War

Forgotten Black Soldiers Who Served in White Regiments During the Civil War PDF

Author: Juanita Patience Moss

Publisher:

Published: 2014

Total Pages:

ISBN-13: 9780788455407

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In 1998, the author learned about a new monument in Washington, D.C., created to honor the black soldiers and sailors who had served in the Civil War. What she was about to learn; however, was that her great grandfather's name would not be among those remembered there. Why not? Because he had not served in one of the segregated units whose members' names are engraved on the memorial wall. Instead, Crowder Pacien/Patience had served in a white regiment. An identifiably "Col'd" man, he had been a private in the 103rd Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. After having been told that there had been no black soldiers serving in white regiments, the author made a hypothesis that if there had been one such black soldier in a white regiment, as she knew, then there might have been others. This series traces the author's journey to such proof. The hundreds of names listed here should be proof enough for the "nay-sayers" to conclude that black men indeed did serve in white regiments. Chapters in Volume II include: Difficulties with Finding Facts, C-Span Book TV Presentation, Mixed Race Regiments, Honoring Civil War Ancestors, Recruitment of Black Soldiers, General Orders No. 323 and the Undercooks, Three Undercooks Garrisoned at Plymouth, N.C., A Trip to the Carlisle Barracks, Finding the Gravesites of Black Soldiers, A Gravesite Lost in North Carolina, One Descendant's Determination, and Conclusion. Chapters are followed by lists: Additional Black Soldiers Alphabetized, Additional Black Soldiers by States, and Final Resting Places. Numerous photographs and illustrations, End Notes, Sources, and an index to full-names, subjects and places add to the value of this work. Historians and Civil War "buffs" alike will find new information revealed in this series, even though so many years have passed since the last shot of the war was fired.

Down and Out in the Great Depression

Down and Out in the Great Depression PDF

Author: Robert S. McElvaine

Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Press

Published: 2009-11-30

Total Pages: 276

ISBN-13: 0807898813

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Down and Out in the Great Depression is a moving, revealing collection of letters by the forgotten men, women, and children who suffered through one of the greatest periods of hardship in American history. Sifting through some 15,000 letters from government and private sources, Robert McElvaine has culled nearly 200 communications that best show the problems, thoughts, and emotions of ordinary people during this time. Unlike views of Depression life "from the bottom up" that rely on recollections recorded several decades later, this book captures the daily anguish of people during the thirties. It puts the reader in direct contact with Depression victims, evoking a feeling of what it was like to live through this disaster. Following Franklin D. Roosevelt's inauguration, both the number of letters received by the White House and the percentage of them coming from the poor were unprecedented. The average number of daily communications jumped to between 5,000 and 8,000, a trend that continued throughout the Rosevelt administration. The White House staff for answering such letters--most of which were directed to FDR, Eleanor Roosevelt, or Harry Hopkins--quickly grew from one person to fifty. Mainly because of his radio talks, many felt they knew the president personally and could confide in him. They viewed the Roosevelts as parent figures, offering solace, help, and protection. Roosevelt himself valued the letters, perceiving them as a way to gauge public sentiment. The writers came from a number of different groups--middle-class people, blacks, rural residents, the elderly, and children. Their letters display emotional reactions to the Depression--despair, cynicism, and anger--and attitudes toward relief. In his extensive introduction, McElvaine sets the stage for the letters, discussing their significance and some of the themes that emerge from them. By preserving their original spelling, syntax, grammar, and capitalization, he conveys their full flavor. The Depression was far more than an economic collapse. It was the major personal event in the lives of tens of millions of Americans. McElvaine shows that, contrary to popular belief, many sufferers were not passive victims of history. Rather, he says, they were "also actors and, to an extent, playwrights, producers, and directors as well," taking an active role in trying to deal with their plight and solve their problems. For this twenty-fifth anniversary edition, McElvaine provides a new foreword recounting the history of the book, its impact on the historiography of the Depression, and its continued importance today.