My research

My latest research focuses on the persistence of racism in the Civil War North.  Through intensive research in Democratic Party newspapers, as well as the speeches of leaders in Congress and in state party organizations, I am documenting the fact that the Democratic Party campaigned as the party of white supremacy and fomented racist fears and hatreds.  The volume of racist propaganda and rhetoric was enormous.  In addition, I have analyzed the unwillingness of most Republicans to favor equality or voting rights and their strategies to convince voters that emancipation would not upset racial arrangements in the North.  Most Republicans emphasized that freed African Americans would stay in the South, move southward out of the United States, or be colonized.  This project includes a careful examination of major periodicals and magazines.