slavery

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How 'Washington' Became America's 'Blackest Name'

Were former slaves honoring George, embracing America?

(Newser) - George Washington’s name is synonymous with America—and of the people who bear his surname today, 90% of them are African-American, according to the 2000 census. How did “Washington” become, as Jesse Washington, writing for the AP calls it, the “blackest name" in America? It could be...

Beck: It Was 'Cowardly' to Skip Slaves in Constitution Reading

Beck wanted GOP to read the document 'scars' and all

(Newser) - Glenn Beck was not satisfied with Congress' constitutional read-along yesterday, because House leaders left out a couple of parts: namely, the three-fifths compromise, and the 18th Amendment, which declared prohibition. “They didn’t want to offend anybody ... which shows their cowardice for not reading it,” Beck fumed of...

Stop Denying It: the Civil War Was About Slavery

As anniversary approaches, EJ Dionne says we too often skirt slavery issue

(Newser) - We’re approaching the 150th anniversary of the Civil War’s beginning, and at a time like this, we can’t afford to forget its real cause. “There remains enormous denial over the fact that the central cause of the war was our national disagreement about race and slavery,...

Civil War Sesquicentennial: South Will Celebrate Secession, Not Slavery, on 150th Anniversary
In South, How to Celebrate Secession, Not Slavery?
civil war sesquicentennial
Nov 30, 2010 7:59 AM CST

In South, How to Celebrate Secession, Not Slavery?

150th anniversary events include mock swearing-in of Jefferson Davis

(Newser) - How do you celebrate the Confederacy and secession without implicitly celebrating slavery? The South is attempting to do just that, as it plans to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the four-year-long Civil War over the next four years. Events include “secession balls,” re-enactments, a parade, and a mock...

Textbook Says Thousands of Slaves Fought for South

Author Joy Masoff read about it on the Internet

(Newser) - A Virginia 4th-grade textbook has come under fire for claiming that thousands of slaves fought for the Confederacy during the Civil War—something an overwhelming majority of historians say isn’t true. The book’s author, Joy Masoff, isn’t a trained historian, and says she did most of her...

Bachmann: Obama Has Created a 'Nation of Slaves'
Bachmann: Obama Has Created a 'Nation of Slaves'
BY REFORMING HEALTH CARE
Jul 13, 2010 9:01 AM CDT

Bachmann: Obama Has Created a 'Nation of Slaves'

Rep's running with health reform=slavery

(Newser) - Looks like the far right is running with this health care reform-as-slavery meme. Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann accused President Obama of “turning our country into a nation of slaves,” this weekend at a conservative summit in Denver, Politico reports. She was riffing on a quote from Revolutionary War...

Ala. Tea Partier: Health Reform Is 'Slavery'

Candidate Rick Barber ups ante with even crazier ad

(Newser) - Tea party Republican Rick Barber has outdone himself. In a kind of sequel to his last crazy ad , the Alabama congressional candidate has released a new video in which a man dressed like Abraham Lincoln declares that paying taxes amounts to slavery. “Hey Abe,” Barber asks, “If...

Steele Fires Opening Salvo Against Kagan

Her crime? Quoting Thurgood Marshall against slavery

(Newser) - If you were hoping for a quick, bipartisan approval process for Elena Kagan, keep dreaming. Michael Steele has put out a statement leaving little doubt that Republicans intend to challenge Kagan any way they can. He criticizes her for trying to bar military recruiters from Harvard Law School's campus, “...

Miss. Gov: Proclamation Slave Diss Is 'Diddly'

Controversy over omission is 'just a nit'

(Newser) - Mississippi's governor defended the omission of slavery from a Virgina Confederate History Month proclamation, saying the oversight meant "diddly." Asked on CNN if Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell's failure to mention slavery was a mistake, Republican Gov. Haley Barbour responded: "I don't think so. It's trying to make...

McDonnell Apology 'Incredibly Important Step'

Ta-Nehisi Coates isn't joining in on the criticism

(Newser) - Ta-Nehisi Coates doesn’t want to fight with conservatives over race all the time. “I want so bad to take up skiing,” he writes, “to drive across Montana and think of nothing of being the only black person for miles.” That’s why he’s giving...

Virginia Is for Lovers (of Revisionist History)

States seems content to forget the facts, Collins says

(Newser) - Virginia might not be so much for lovers as for haters, writes Gail Collins—or at least crazy revisionists of history. Gov. Bob McDonnell's celebration of "Confederate History Month," which failed to acknowledge the existence of slavery in its "love affair with all things Confederate," is...

Va. Gov: Sorry I Omitted Slavery in Confederacy Celebration

Bob McDonnell backtracks under fire

(Newser) - Under fire from Democrats, Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell apologized this afternoon to “any fellow Virginian who has been offended or disappointed” that he didn’t mention slavery yesterday when he announced that the state would celebrate Confederate History Month in April. “Slavery was an evil, vicious and inhumane...

Catholics Push Sainthood for First Black US Priest

Rev. Augustus Tolton led Chicago mission

(Newser) - Chicago’s Roman Catholic leader is making a case that the faith’s first known black priest in the US should be made a saint, with Cardinal Francis George today asking a commission to bring the Vatican evidence of the “heroic virtues” of the Rev. Augustus Tolton. Tolton, the...

Arizona Rep.: Blacks Better Off as Slaves

Current policy killing community, GOP's Trent Franks says

(Newser) - Asked today by a conservative blogger about the role of race in the hyper-partisan, talk-radio-addled atmosphere in Washington, Republican Rep. Trent Franks took the opportunity to say that he thinks African Americans were better off under slavery. Go here for the full interview. Some excerpts:

Pyramids Not Built by Slaves: Scientists

Tombs found near king's suggest laborers were free workers

(Newser) - The Great Pyramids of Egypt were built not by slaves, as is commonly believed, but by free workers of such high status that their tombs lie near the king's. The laborers built the Khufu and Khafre pyramids, and the research made public today sheds new light on graffiti describing the...

Glenn Beck Calls 'African-American' a 'Bogus' Term

Shock jock offers vocabulary lesson

(Newser) - Glenn Beck doesn’t like the 2010 US Census form one bit, because it allows people to identify themselves as “African-American,” a “bogus, PC, made-up term” that is “not a race.” Speaking on his Fox News show, the host offered his objections to the designation....

EU Court Labels Sex Trafficking As Slavery

Panel slams Russia, Cyprus in death of 20-year-old woman

(Newser) - Sex trafficking constitutes slavery and is a violation of treaties demanding action to stop the crime, an EU court has ruled. It's the first time the EU Human Rights Court has outlined the responsibilities of authorities in cracking down on the crime. If police have a "credible suspicion" that...

Counting Blacks as 3/5? OK by Glenn Beck
 Counting Blacks 
 as 3/5? OK by 
 Glenn Beck 
CONSTITUTION ACCORDING TO ...
Dec 15, 2009 9:13 PM CST

Counting Blacks as 3/5? OK by Glenn Beck

Founding Fathers had abolition in mind, says pundit

(Newser) - Glenn Beck today put his spin on a provision in the US Constitution that once counted slaves as three-fifths of a person, painting it as a tool by which Northern abolitionists meant eventually to outlaw the practice. An African-American caller took issue with Beck’s reliance on the founding fathers,...

Reid Compares Health-Reform Opponents to Segregationists

... to predictably furious Republican reaction

(Newser) - Not that the health-reform debate needed more fuel for its rancorous fire, but Democrat Harry Reid tossed some on today anyway, comparing conservatives who would block the current measure to those who tried to stop the emancipation of slaves and universal suffrage. The GOP reaction was swift and angry, with...

Columnist Backtracks, Slightly, on Limbaugh Quote

Rush still has no business trying to own the Rams

(Newser) - Columnist Bryan Burwell acknowledges that he is among those who ran with an old quote attributed to Rush Limbaugh on the "merits" of slavery without verifying it. Limbaugh insists he never said it, and Burwell is fine taking him at his word on that. It doesn't change his view...

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