Random Thoughts on History

This set of three barber advertisements struck me as intriguing when I ran across it in an 1846 issue of the Frankfort Commonwealth . I...

I truly believe that it is essential to read primary sources in order to comprehend (as much as possible) the experiences that Civil War s...

In my ongoing search for references to Kentucky's African American antebellum barbers, I came across the short article above. It wa...

In this photograph an unidentified African American boy wearing a military cap and trousers stands in front of Union army camp scene back...

Are you looking for something productive to do? Do you want to make a contribution that really counts? If so, Saturday, April 5, 2014, ...

I have recently enjoyed reading a couple of books that were published during the antebellum era. A previous post briefly discussed slave h...

In contemplating the reach of my research on African American barbers, I did not know how far back I would be able to find information....

Back last spring, while I was researching slavery advertisements in Kentucky's Civil War newspapers, I occasionally came across adv...

Locating secondary sources on the history of black barbers has not been easy. It appears that until recently not much scholarship has been...

After looking through pages and pages of listings of the 1860 Kentucky census, I think I have located most all of the free black barbers....

I had hoped that I might find some mention of Kentucky free black barbers in some of the numerous slave narratives that were published ...

Free black barbers in Kentucky used their tangible skills and business acumen to become African American community leaders during the a...

I have been finding it somewhat difficult to locate primary sources for enslaved barbers. While free black barbers left a fairly clear hi...

I have turned up some interesting incidents while conducting research on black barbers in antebellum and Civil War Kentucky. The above sh...

Over the last several years I have grown to really enjoy reading local historical studies. Luckily, many communities have retained excelle...

It is not surprising to read that a Northerner expressed racist sentiments in the antebellum era. Just because those states decided to do ...

I apologize for the lack of posts over the last few days. I took an extended-weekend vacation that got extended even more than planned ...

This past Saturday I finished reading The Birth of the Banjo: Joel Walker Sweeney and Early Minstrelsy by Bob Carlin. This interesting boo...

I just started reading A South-Side View of Slavery this morning and have already found the author commenting on the slave quarters he e...

Unidentified Union Cavalryman with banjo and pipe. Courtesy of the Library of Congress I'm still learning, so I am certainly ...