Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

History Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

United States History

Gettysburg College

2013

Reconstruction

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in History

Jeff Davis, A Sour Apple Tree, And Treason: A Case Study Of Fear In The Post-Civil War Era, Brianna E. Kirk Apr 2013

Jeff Davis, A Sour Apple Tree, And Treason: A Case Study Of Fear In The Post-Civil War Era, Brianna E. Kirk

Student Publications

The end of the Civil War raised many questions, one being how to piece back together the violently torn apart Union. With such an unprecedented war in American history, the exact course of how to do so was unknown. Would the country survive through Reconstruction, and how would sectional reconciliation be achieved? An even larger question was who to blame for the four long years of violence. In the minds of many northerners, that man was Jefferson Davis. Davis had not only led the secessionist movement, but was a traitor to the Union. By analyzing the calls for and against …


Ole’ Zip Coon Is A Mighty Learned Scholar: Blackface Minstrelsy As Reflection And Foundation Of American Popular Culture, Cory Rosenberg '12 Jan 2013

Ole’ Zip Coon Is A Mighty Learned Scholar: Blackface Minstrelsy As Reflection And Foundation Of American Popular Culture, Cory Rosenberg '12

The Gettysburg College Journal of the Civil War Era

The blackface minstrel show is often disregarded in both popular and professional discourse when American popular culture is being examined. Often dismissed as a unilateral, purely racist spectacle, this paper argues for a more nuanced understanding of blackface minstrelsy and its formative role in the creation of a trans-regional American culture. Through an exploration of the ways in which ethnic minorities, women, language, and histrionics were presented on the blackface minstrel stage, an understanding of the ways in which popular entertainments both reflect and create popular sentiment can be formed. As the dominant American cultural output of the 19th century, …