Stephen Kantrowitz

About the Author

Stephen Kantrowitz is Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the author of several books, including Ben Tillman and the Reconstruction of White Supremacy.

Author Archive Page

Benjamin Ryan Tillman. (Photo: Library of Congress)

Tillman Is Still With Us

July 23, 2015By Stephen Kantrowitz

Ben Tillman reminds us that the defeat of the Confederacy was not the end of our reckoning with slavery.

An Amalgamation Waltz. Edward Williams Clay, 1839 (Photo: American Antiquarian Society)

America’s Long History of Racial Fear

June 24, 2015By Stephen Kantrowitz

Calling Wednesday’s shootings in Charleston a “tragedy” makes this explosion of murderous violence seem like an accident. It isn’t.

Group of young white men turn a car on its side during Detroit riots of 1943

Rioting: An American Tradition

Looking at the rioters in Baltimore, or any other place, in isolation misses the point.

The Story of America in Twelve Cemeteries

Our Past is Written in Stone

Mother’s Day or Mothers’ Day

Mothers’ Day did not start as a way to encourage people to be nice to their mothers, but as an impassioned effort by women to end war forever.

The Compensated Emancipation Act of 1862

Exploring an important step toward the abolition of slavery in the United States

Bruce Gillers - October 13, 2021:
The Boy Scout Council in Chinle Arizona was the name of the [...]

Carolyn Marvin - February 11, 2021:
Example: no proof of any silk dress...part of the poem written later. [...]

KateThomas - December 8, 2020:
Thank you. This has given me a greater insight into the historian [...]

Michael C. Lucas - August 5, 2020:
The American Government did not make a deal for Forty Acres and [...]