Dred Scott: The Man Behind the U.S. Supreme Court’s Worst Decision

Dred Scott

TweetShareShareMany legal scholars believe the Dred Scott decision was the worst by a U.S. Supreme Court. Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes called it the Supreme Court’s “greatest self-inflicted wound.” But why did it happen? Who was Dred Scott? And why should we know his story?  DRED SCOTT was born a slave in Virginia (1799). His…

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The Oregon Trail: How Christianity Carved a New Path West

TweetShareShareOregon. Washington. Idaho. Parts of Montana and Wyoming. It’s nearly 300,000 acres of majestic, rugged land known as the Oregon Territory, a portion of the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. The infamous Oregon Trail snakes through this vast estate, connecting the Great Plains to the Pacific Ocean. Thousands of westward wagons once traveled its corridors and…

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Suicide or Murder? The Mysterious Death of Meriwether Lewis

TweetShareShareHe led one of America’s greatest expeditions and proved the apple of Thomas Jefferson’s eye.  To this day the name Meriwether Lewis sells books, inspires audiences and provokes pride. His leadership of the Corps of Discovery, along with William Clark, remains one our nation’s most enduring tales. In his post-expedition years he enjoyed fame and…

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Alexis de Tocqueville: The French Man Who Saw America’s Past, Present and Future

TweetShareShare “[It’s] the most comprehensive and penetrating analysis of the relationship between character and society in America that has ever been written.” That’s how one historian described Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America; a work considered among the most influential books of the 19th century. Published in two volumes between 1835 and 1840, Alexis de…

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Lewis and Clark: How Two Women Saved the Corps of Discovery

Sacagawea

TweetShareShare In May of 1804 the Corps of Discovery, led by captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark went on pursuit of a fabled Northwest passage. They’d be gone over two years. Along the way they’d meet dozens of Indian tribes, including the fierce Sioux and Blackfoot. They’d traverse on keelboat, canoe, horseback and by foot through…

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John Marrant: America’s First Black Preacher

John Marrant

TweetShareShareHe was among America’s first black preachers. A fiery Methodist who converted thousands—blacks, Indians, whites—to Christianity in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. His life story–of only 35 years–has inspired millions. John Marrant was born a free black June 15, 1755 in New York City. When his father died, at four, his mother moved…

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Biddy Mason: The Mormon Slave That Became a Californian Treasure

Biddy Mason

TweetShareShare“Biddy” spent nearly forty years as a slave for a Mississippi slave master. She never learned to read or write. And yet she saved her midwife salary to become a wealthy Black real estate magnate…and revered philanthropist. It’s quite the story. It’s also an inspiring tale that proves it’s not how you start life that…

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Robert James Harlan: Ohio’s Political Powerhouse

Robert James Harlan

TweetShareShareRobert James Harlan (1816-1897) may have been born a slave but he lived most of his life free as a bird. And this Ohio bird could sing…and travel…and succeed. Born in Virginia on December 12, 1816. Harlan’s mother was mulatto, and his father was white. Consequently, Robert’s light-skinned complexion often helped him. As a young…

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