There’s a version of the history of the American Civil War that most of us are probably pretty familiar with. It goes something like this: After lots of fighting, the Northerners, led by the valiant Daniel Day-Lewis — oops, we mean Abe Lincoln, of course — eventually won and forced a lot of grumpy Southerners to give up slavery. Done deal, right?
Well, it turns out there’s a little something that’s been overlooked for the past 148 years. Apparently, up until about three weeks ago, the state of Mississippi still hadn’t ratified the 13th Amendment banning slavery. Yup, you read that correctly. Although Mississippi voted to pass this document in 1995, due to “an error in filing” (presumably some bored, underpaid clerk went to get coffee and donuts at the wrong moment), the resolution was never sent to the Office of the Federal Register.
Luckily, however, hardworking, dedicated history majors at UC Berkeley — on top of their game as always — detected the gaffe and alerted the Mississippi Secretary of State. Problem solved. Oh, wait, that’s not what happened. Actually, it was discovered by a professor of neurobiology at the University of Mississippi Medical Center who was inspired look into the issue after seeing “Lincoln” in theaters.
To the state of Mississippi, the Clog would just like to say congrats on officially joining post-slavery America. Welcome to the club.
To the department of history at Cal — c’mon guys, isn’t this, like, your field?
Image Source: Leo Reynolds under Creative Commons