Footnotes by Jemar Tisby

Montview knew its own history because somebody kept it. That is what I do every week in Footnotes: remind us to remember. Be part of this mission. Become a paid subscriber today. I preached about history while standing inside of it. That was the strange gift of this past weekend at Montview Boulevard Presbyterian Church in Denver. It was my third time with this congregation. Repeat visits do something a one-time appearance cannot.

I feel like a grad student again…and I mean that in the most positive way possible. During coursework for my PhD in history, I got to read at least three books a week and spend upwards of nine hours discussing them in our seminars. I overflowed with new ideas, connections, and patterns I learned from studying all that history. Out of that overflow came my first book The Color of Compromise. I feel similarly now—brimming with new stories I want to tell you.

I spent a week researching statutes and laws for this article. Paid subscribers cover the cost of that time. There's no other funder. If Footnotes has given you something worth having, consider upgrading today. Passing a law does not mean that law will be enforced. The gap between a law on the books and a law fulfilling its purpose is a prime reason why the Department of Justice was created in 1870.

This publication runs on paid subscriptions. No ads, no institution behind it, no one telling me what history is safe to write about. If Footnotes has given you something worth having, become a paid subscriber. In November 1867, Black men in South Carolina voted for the first time. They chose 124 delegates to write a new state constitution. Seventy-six of those delegates were Black. Forty-eight were white. Black people made up a majority of the body tasked with drafting the state constitution.

Right now, people are spending less under a volatile administration. But this is precisely the time to invest in the truth-tellers. If you believe that, become a paid subscriber today. In the first weeks of March 1965, as the campaign for voting rights reached its most decisive hour, two very different understandings of what it means to be a pastor collided in the streets of Selma and in churches across the nation.

History Rhymes: Democracy and Voting Edition traces the fight over the ballot from Reconstruction and Redemption through the Jim Crow and Civil Rights era. Every attack on democracy we face today has a precedent, and every precedent has a record of people inspired by the spirit of justice who met it. Each week from now through the midterms, you’ll receive a new installment that traces the history of the franchise, how it was challenged, and how people fought to keep and extend it.

Less than five percent of people who read Footnotes financially support me. You can access nearly all my articles for free, but they are costly for me to produce. Keep this work going. Become a paid subscriber today. Black voters are the most loyal constituency in the Democratic coalition and have been for about 60 years. Over that span, Democratic presidential candidates have averaged nearly 90 percent of the Black vote. No other racial or ethnic demographic comes close.

I could have let this story pass as a heartwarming moment. Instead I trace the 1915 ceremony, name the pattern, and bring it to you. That’s exactly what your support makes possible. Become a paid subscriber today. On Thanksgiving eve, a group of white men ascended to the top of Stone Mountain, Georgia. Etched on the front of the massive dome of rock were three figures sacred to Confederate lore: Confederate President Jefferson Davis, Gen. Robert E. Lee, and Gen.

Less than five percent of readers financially support this publication. Lately that number has been dropping. You can change that. Become a paid subscriber today. A lot happened on the Fourth of July this year. It was the nation’s 250th birthday, after all. So you may have missed the report the White House dropped on Independence Day.

No one can do everything, but everyone can do something. One thing you can do today: become a paid subscriber and help sustain independent scholarship that refuses to let the stakes be trivialized. Last Thursday, President Donald Trump gave a speech about preventing fraud and interference in the 2026 Midterm elections. Memory of the words themselves may fade, but what they set up could shape the country for years to come. That speech laid the groundwork to undermine the 2026 midterm elections.