In simple terms, genocide is the mass killing of a specific group because of who they are or because of who the killers believe they are. In its terrible lived realities and its legal definition, genocide is so much more. As a Holocaust historian, Dr. Gibbs speaks about the origins of the term genocide in … Read more
Despite increasing distance in time and the passing of last witnesses and veterans, World War II still defines how Americans see themselves, how they view their own military, and how they think of their role in the world. The war in Europe, though only part of this worldwide inferno, is at the core of those … Read more
What did the National Socialist German Workers Party, NSDAP, or Nazi Party actually believe? What was the role of Adolf Hitler in shaping those views, and how did he and others at the top shape and use those ideas to lead Germany to total war and genocide? As white nationalist and white supremacist groups continue … Read more
For all too long, focus on Holocaust history excluded real explorations of Jewish resistance to Nazi tyranny and mass murder. The misunderstood reality is that Jews resisted Nazi actions at every turn. From early legal challenges and protests when it seemed there was still a state to listen, to later escape, evasion, and armed uprisings, … Read more
Nazi Germany murdered 6 million Jews and a total of 11 million people, counting all of its chosen so-called racial enemies, from 1933 to 1945. The German state did this with its own armed forces, the help of collaborators, and the silence of bystanders. How did the Nazi Party lead a nation to this devastation? … Read more
In October 1780, backcountry men from North and South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, and Virginia marched over the mountains to confront British commander Patrick Ferguson who had threatened to lay waste to their homes “with fire and sword.” British General Henry Clinton would call the remarkable Patriot victory at Kings Mountain the “first link of a … Read more
The American Revolution in the South is the South’s forgotten war, and it was a true civil war. Much of the fighting in the South took place in the southern backcountry, that frontier area 50-200 miles from the coast, and most of the fighters were ordinary backcountry settlers–some of them Loyalists and some of them … Read more
The Beaufort Volunteer Artillery is one of the longest-serving military units in the history of the United States. Its service includes the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Civil War, the Spanish American War, World War I and World War II. This presentation will focus on its Civil War exploits in over a dozen … Read more
General Sherman went to great lengths during the burning of Columbia, South Carolina to protect a friend whose family he had visited frequently while he was a bachelor stationed at Fort Moultrie between 1842 and 1846. The book and letters that Sherman sent to his friend along with an eyewitness account of his visits, finally … Read more
