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Kevin M. Levin

@civilwarmemory.bsky.social

13K followers 300 following 4.2K posts

Boston: Civil War historian, educator, and public speaker. Author: Searching For Black Confederates https://amzn.to/4c2KSuT. Bio of Robert Gould Shaw forthcoming with UNC Press (2026). Join my Civil War Memory newsletter: https://kevinmlevin.substack.com

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Kevin M. Levin @civilwarmemory.bsky.social · 1h

I guess my little attempt at a joke didn't work.

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Kevin M. Levin @civilwarmemory.bsky.social · 2h

If Confederate Statues Are Relocated to a Private Park and No One Sees Them, Do They Really Exist? 🗃️ open.substack.com/pub/kevinmle...

If Confederate Statues Are Relocated to a Private Park and No One Sees Them, Do They Really Exist?

We’ve seen very few Confederate statues and monuments come down over the past three years.

open.substack.com

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Kevin M. Levin @civilwarmemory.bsky.social · 14h

Statue of Thurgood Marshall unveiled in downtown Columbia, TN. www.newschannel5.com/news/statue-...

Statue of Thurgood Marshall unveiled in downtown Columbia

A statue of an important figure in Black history has just been unveiled in downtown Columbia. It's the centerpiece of a new roundabout, created to help share what's long been an undertold story.

www.newschannel5.com

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Kevin M. Levin @civilwarmemory.bsky.social · 16h

What matters is that these Confederate statues are no longer located on public property. Here is the Google Map view of Valor Memorial Park. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/07/u...

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Kevin M. Levin @civilwarmemory.bsky.social · 17h

The two of them are match made in heaven.

Kevin M. Levin @civilwarmemory.bsky.social · 17h

No. And no one who was born and raised here would think so either. LOL

Kevin M. Levin @civilwarmemory.bsky.social · 19h

I don't believe I ever suggested in my book that African Americans can't choose to dress up in a Confederate uniform and refer to themselves as a "Black Confederate."

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Kevin M. Levin @civilwarmemory.bsky.social · 20h

Definitely when you get the chance. Please let me know what I need to be thinking more carefully about.

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Reposted by Kevin M. Levin

Kevin M. Levin @civilwarmemory.bsky.social · 23h

Finding God and Slavery in the Wake of Confederate Defeat at Gettysburg and Vicksburg 🗃️ open.substack.com/pub/kevinmle...

Finding God and Slavery in the Wake of Confederate Defeat at Gettysburg and Vicksburg

By the summer of 1863 the Confederate army was in the throes of a religious revival.

open.substack.com

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Kevin M. Levin @civilwarmemory.bsky.social · 23h

Finding God and Slavery in the Wake of Confederate Defeat at Gettysburg and Vicksburg 🗃️ open.substack.com/pub/kevinmle...

Finding God and Slavery in the Wake of Confederate Defeat at Gettysburg and Vicksburg

By the summer of 1863 the Confederate army was in the throes of a religious revival.

open.substack.com

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Kevin M. Levin @civilwarmemory.bsky.social · 1d

open.substack.com/pub/kevinmle...

Robert Gould Shaw, Memorial Hall, and the Beauty of Music in this Fractured Nation

Last night my wife and I attended a concert at Sanders Theatre in Harvard’s Memorial Hall.

open.substack.com

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Kevin M. Levin @civilwarmemory.bsky.social · 4d

"A new National Park Service report shows that 819,000 visitors to Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park in 2024 spent $57.6 million in communities near the park. That spending had a cumulative benefit to the local economy of $78.1 million." #NationalParks tinyurl.com/5rd6x3v5

Tourism to Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania County Battlefields National Military Park contributes $78.1 million to local economy - Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park (U.S. National P...

tinyurl.com

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Kevin M. Levin @civilwarmemory.bsky.social · 4d

Thanks for sharing, Lisa.

Kevin M. Levin @civilwarmemory.bsky.social · 4d

The finalists for this year's Frederick Douglass book prize have been announced @yaleglc.bsky.social. 🗃️ macmillan.yale.edu/glc/stories/...

Yale Announces 2025 Frederick Douglass Book Prize Finalists

macmillan.yale.edu

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Kevin M. Levin @civilwarmemory.bsky.social · 4d

Glad you think so. Thanks for the feedback.

Kevin M. Levin @civilwarmemory.bsky.social · 5d

Here is a thread on my next book project. At this point I am not working with a specific publisher and I don't currently have an agent. I am open to talking about where this book might find a home. Thanka.

Kevin M. Levin @civilwarmemory.bsky.social · 5d

Took two days off after submitting the final draft of my Robert Gould Shaw bio, but now I am back to work on my new book project, which is a study of the Gettysburg Campaign from the perspective of the thousands of enslaved laborers forced to travel with Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia.

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Kevin M. Levin @civilwarmemory.bsky.social · 5d

Ultimately, I want to reconstruct the lives of the thousands of enslaved laborers, who experienced the battle of Gettysburg--an aspect of the campaign and the broader conflict that has long been obscured by the Lost Cause and Reunion narratives of the Civil War.

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Kevin M. Levin @civilwarmemory.bsky.social · 5d

I haven't found any women doing this work during the Gettysburg Campaign, but at other points, especially when armies were encamped for periods of time you will find a few of them.

Kevin M. Levin @civilwarmemory.bsky.social · 5d

Like I said, I don't have anything to do with the production of audio books.

Kevin M. Levin @civilwarmemory.bsky.social · 5d

...appreciate the myriad ways in which enslaved laborers supported the the work of soldiers while in camp, on the march, and even on the battlefield.

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Kevin M. Levin @civilwarmemory.bsky.social · 5d

...slaves. This somehow is supposed to determine whether they were fighting to preserve slavery. This debate is played out in my view. Instead of asking whether Confederates were fighting for slavery we should ask HOW they experienced slavery while in the army. This question allows us to better...

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Kevin M. Levin @civilwarmemory.bsky.social · 5d

Of course, I mean Cemetery Ridge. There is also the larger question about how acknowledging thousands of enslaved laborers shifts how we think about the relationship between Confederate soldiers and slaver. All too often this discussion begins and ends with whether a Confederate soldier owned...

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Kevin M. Levin @civilwarmemory.bsky.social · 5d

Thanks so much for the positive feedback.

Kevin M. Levin @civilwarmemory.bsky.social · 5d

I am glad you think so Thanks for such positive feedback. Just what I need to hear from fellow historians, whose work I respect.

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Kevin M. Levin @civilwarmemory.bsky.social · 5d

I want visitors to Gettysburg to walk the path of the Pickett-Pettigrew assault and when they reach Cemetery Hill turn around and imagine hundreds of enslaved laborers rushing out from Spangler Woods to meet retreating Confederates, not as "loyal slaves," but as an extension of slavery.

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