Watch American History tv, tonight and over the weekend, on cspan3. All right. Since we have a very ontime sort of calming of the room, i am going to go ahead and kick us off. Thank you, so much, for coming to the violence in american politics panel. As i think we will see it as an incredibly timely panel. And a really good time to be putting these topics into the context of a broader American History. So im going to start off by introducing our panel. And then everyones going to give their opening statement. And then, we will start the conversation. So who is sitting right next to me is t. Cole jones. Assistant professor at purdue university. He is author of captives of liberty prisoners of war and the politics of vengeance in the American Reserve lugz, which will be released this fall by the university of pennsylvania press. In addition to his book, hes published articles in the journal of the early republic, the journal of military history and the new england quarterly. He is curren
Just so you know you are not on the wrong flight. Im brian balogh and ive been a cohost for backstory for over ten years now. Im going to introduce the panel and then were each going to say a few words about our quite different roles well, nathan and i have the same role. Hes trying to steal the 20th century from me and doing a pretty good job of it, but we all have relatively different roles in backstory. Were going to talk about that a little bit. And then we are going to open it up to your questions. Just for starters, this is not what it looks like behind the scenes at backstory. In fact, were rarely in the same place at the same time. I had to Google Nathan to see what he looked like, for instance, even though i talk to him every week. So introducing myself, im a professor at the university of virginia, i cohost backstory and i direct the National Fellowship program at the jefferson scholars foundation. My cohost Nathan Connolly, of course, is known to most of you as an outstandin
Employers from their employees when they went to the polls. They were not passed in all states. Secret ball let polls lagged. So we have this kind of interesting phenomenon with the klan of the 20s. Even as this membership grows, klan violence declines. In fact, racial violence overall declines during the 1920s after a kind of sharp spike in lynchings post world war i. Certainly compared to whats effectively the paramilitary klan of reconstruction or the terrorism of the klan in the civil rights era, historians have written about the klan of the 1920s as less physically environment, though of course still driven by the same fundamentally violent ideology. Thats not the whole picture though. To correct that misunderstanding, what we need to do is look at the klans political involvement. I think its particularly interesting to look at this from the federal level. Now if we focus on electoral success, its pretty easy to dismiss the influence of the ku klux klan on the politics of the 1920
American history from john hopkins and prisoners of war and politics of vengeance in the American Revolution which will be released this fall by the university of Pennsylvania Press. Articles in the journal and the new england quarterly and working on a project that is titled patrick henrys war the struggle for empire in the revolutionary west. Kellie Carter Jackson is from wellesley college. Out from university of Pennsylvania Press provides the first historical analysis exclusively focused on the tactical uses of violence among black activists. She is coeditor of race, politics and memory and featured in the History Channel documentary roots a history revealed which was nominated for an image award in 2016. Gideon cohnpostar the causes and consequences of economic voter intimidation in the late 17th century and the institute of American History and the andrew w. Melon foundation and the social Science Research council. And finally Felix Harcourt is from Austin College and his researc
History of our nation. Wow, i will use the word hate. Back is a little daunting. Trace the art. Im to do the historian thing and speak generally. I guess it would save your looking an american in politics, from the beginning straight through, we could even go past the civil war, youre talking about paradoxes and conflict and prop. The period that i tend to focus on is the early part of the arc, and its the improvisational nature of the the really fascinates more than anything else. The nation was founded in a world of monarchy. The United States was a republic. What the means was was not clear at the moment and people knew the they were trying to do something the wasnt act. Were not going to be creating monetary and the president isnt going to be a king but beyond the there was open ground. Theres a lot of improv in those early decades about with the nation is and how it functions, the tone of the government, how the station is going to stand up amongst nations of the worlds and other