When Freedom Is Oppression | Jefferson Cowie | TMR

Professor of history at Vanderbilt University, Jefferson Cowie, joins the program to discuss his book Freedom's Dominion: A Saga of White Resistance to Federal Power. The book explores the complicated history of freedom in America. It focuses on Barbour County, Alabama, and the role it played in shaping American history. White Americans in this area used the idea of freedom to justify their dominance over Native Americans, secession, overthrowing Reconstruction, challenging the New Deal, and resisting the civil rights movement. The book provides a different perspective on freedom in America and challenges our understanding of its meaning.

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Check out more from the MR crew:

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Emma Vigeland ESVN

Matt Lech LEFT RECKONING

Image Credit, A.R. Waud.

Image has been cropped and color has been altered.

On the Majority Report joining we returning to the Show Jefferson Cowie professor of history at Vanderbilt University. author of Freedom's Dominion a saga of white resistance to Federal power. Professor welcome back to the program. thanks for having me. good to be here. I think we last spoke to you about the New Deal and the limits of American politics. and I wish we were doing the show or at least I was Adept enough doing the show back. I don't know 10-11 years from 12 years ago for staying alive. but maybe we'll circle back on that. This is a real sort of sadly relevant history. and it as a piece of History it really sort of reminds me of other things that you know White rage. it reminds me that we have this that history is not necessarily a closed chapter always. that this is sort of like an ongoing story. and you look at the use of the term freedom and its implications to the American story through the story of a specific County in Alabama. This is gosh barber County Alabama. let's just start with how both of you decided that this was the locality to sort of establish the story. and then also why how you came to understand the use of Freedom, the concept of freedom, and the multiple ways in which what constitutes Freedom, how you came to find that sort of concept? yeah well, thanks to reversing the order of your questions I'll start with freedom and then go to why this place. and it ties into your previous segment which was you know Jim Jordan saying there's no need for federal oversight on policing. This is all about the role of federal power in overseeing local politics and means of violence really.