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Mark Isero's avatar

I’ll get things started! Here’s one thing I learned: Even though I’ve studied (and even taught!) Bacon’s Rebellion of 1676, now I can say that I know a little bit about it – specifically, how Virginia elites knew they could keep power if they convinced poor white workers of their racial superiority (by codifying it into law). It was even better for them to sell this as “freedom” and “liberty” and “democracy” (for white people) when really it was a slavocracy (19).

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Steven Karaiskos's avatar

I learned so much more than I even thought I would. I would have to say that the new learning was around the intricacies of so many historical moments that were so simplified with a "white" focus. The beginnings of the American Revolution, the reality of the evolution Emancipation Proclamation, and so much more. I also have been circling on and reflecting on and digesting the quote, "No one cherishes freedom more than those who have not had it." Just in the last week of current events, this quote still reverberates.

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