Eddie Valentin
@evalentin25.bsky.social
Public historian, personal research interests: Reconstruction, borderlands history, and the military experiences of Black Americans. Views expressed here are my own.
I’ve sort of fallen behind with posting about books I’ve been reading, but I decided to get back to it. This is a great book about how politics and perceptions of the regular army shaped historical developments in both the South and West during the Civil War era. Highly recommend it!
October 29, 2025 at 10:48 PM
I’ve sort of fallen behind with posting about books I’ve been reading, but I decided to get back to it. This is a great book about how politics and perceptions of the regular army shaped historical developments in both the South and West during the Civil War era. Highly recommend it!
Just in case it's not clear from the post or the headline, I'd like to point out they plan to accomplish this by diluting the voting power of Black people. Will potentially control 11 out of 14 seats in a swing state.
October 21, 2025 at 4:17 PM
Just in case it's not clear from the post or the headline, I'd like to point out they plan to accomplish this by diluting the voting power of Black people. Will potentially control 11 out of 14 seats in a swing state.
I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that the headline for this article should’ve been some version of this.
October 10, 2025 at 10:25 AM
I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that the headline for this article should’ve been some version of this.
Conveniently for Microsoft, one of those required changes involves granting permission to analyze my content. Cloud storage has been super nice and convenient, but I might have to revert to just storing things on my physical machine and external storage devices again.
October 2, 2025 at 11:35 AM
Conveniently for Microsoft, one of those required changes involves granting permission to analyze my content. Cloud storage has been super nice and convenient, but I might have to revert to just storing things on my physical machine and external storage devices again.
This is a mountain of materials they’ve demanded from these institutions. And the only reason they’re requiring these files is to analyze them with AI to cherry-pick phrases and words they don’t like. No one is going through this and reading it themselves.
August 12, 2025 at 11:24 PM
This is a mountain of materials they’ve demanded from these institutions. And the only reason they’re requiring these files is to analyze them with AI to cherry-pick phrases and words they don’t like. No one is going through this and reading it themselves.
Been thinking about this book over the last couple of days. It offers great insight into REDMAP and redistricting processes in 2010, which was a major turning point in how we ended up with a lot of these ridiculous state and federal legislative districts that we have today.
July 31, 2025 at 11:00 PM
Been thinking about this book over the last couple of days. It offers great insight into REDMAP and redistricting processes in 2010, which was a major turning point in how we ended up with a lot of these ridiculous state and federal legislative districts that we have today.
Book 9 of 2025. Been on my list for a long time, but I finally got around to it. A heavy read, but it was really great.
July 24, 2025 at 9:42 PM
Book 9 of 2025. Been on my list for a long time, but I finally got around to it. A heavy read, but it was really great.
Book 8 of 2025. This subject certainly isn’t my area of expertise, but I really enjoyed this book! Understanding these events as an ongoing settler colonial project rather than simply viewing them as a “conflict” was spot on and made complete sense to me.
July 10, 2025 at 11:04 PM
Book 8 of 2025. This subject certainly isn’t my area of expertise, but I really enjoyed this book! Understanding these events as an ongoing settler colonial project rather than simply viewing them as a “conflict” was spot on and made complete sense to me.
Book 7 of 2025! Finished it a couple of weeks ago, but seemed kind of fitting to post it today. I think there’s definitely a broader lesson here about taking a nuanced view on how technology transforms warfare.
July 3, 2025 at 12:33 PM
Book 7 of 2025! Finished it a couple of weeks ago, but seemed kind of fitting to post it today. I think there’s definitely a broader lesson here about taking a nuanced view on how technology transforms warfare.
You can get a sense of how far some of these people are traveling in this letter from a Freedmen's Bureau agent in Houston. He lists 10 different counties from which Black Texans are traveling to communicate with him. /12
June 19, 2025 at 1:21 PM
You can get a sense of how far some of these people are traveling in this letter from a Freedmen's Bureau agent in Houston. He lists 10 different counties from which Black Texans are traveling to communicate with him. /12
For example, a white unionist relayed information to the Texas Freedmen's Bureau HQ from a freedman named Ben that freedpeople in Madison County "absolutely required a bureau agent for their protection." /9
June 19, 2025 at 1:21 PM
For example, a white unionist relayed information to the Texas Freedmen's Bureau HQ from a freedman named Ben that freedpeople in Madison County "absolutely required a bureau agent for their protection." /9
When one officer returned from touring counties north of Houston in November 1865, he reported that "in some parts. . .the negroes are not yet free." In this letter, he mentions that enslavers continued to whip Black people, hunt them with bloodhounds, and other atrocities. /7
June 19, 2025 at 1:21 PM
When one officer returned from touring counties north of Houston in November 1865, he reported that "in some parts. . .the negroes are not yet free." In this letter, he mentions that enslavers continued to whip Black people, hunt them with bloodhounds, and other atrocities. /7
The last line in Gordon Granger's order on June 19, 1865, reads: "[Black people] are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts and that they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere.” /4
June 19, 2025 at 1:21 PM
The last line in Gordon Granger's order on June 19, 1865, reads: "[Black people] are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts and that they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere.” /4
Book 6 of 2025: I’ve heard nothing but great things about this book before I read it, and it truly lived up to all the hype!
May 31, 2025 at 4:39 PM
Book 6 of 2025: I’ve heard nothing but great things about this book before I read it, and it truly lived up to all the hype!
It helps to have a research plan, but sometimes you just happen to find cool and helpful stuff in the archives. My favorite find of the day was this WWII overlay.
May 29, 2025 at 11:51 PM
It helps to have a research plan, but sometimes you just happen to find cool and helpful stuff in the archives. My favorite find of the day was this WWII overlay.
To request the specific boxes you want, you're going to spend a lot of time filling out slips that look like these! You need to fill out one slip per box unless the box numbers are consecutive numbers from the same set of records.
May 25, 2025 at 11:25 PM
To request the specific boxes you want, you're going to spend a lot of time filling out slips that look like these! You need to fill out one slip per box unless the box numbers are consecutive numbers from the same set of records.
Some of the most important pics I take during my research visits are definitely pics of the finding aids. I was able to take my time, think about what records I wanted to see, and make a plan. It certainly helped with citations later as well.
May 25, 2025 at 11:25 PM
Some of the most important pics I take during my research visits are definitely pics of the finding aids. I was able to take my time, think about what records I wanted to see, and make a plan. It certainly helped with citations later as well.
Unfortunately, the finding aids that you need (the ones with information about the number of boxes, ledgers, etc. that are in a particular entry for a record group and their catalog numbers) are mostly only available in binders and archive boxes onsite at the National Archives!
May 25, 2025 at 11:25 PM
Unfortunately, the finding aids that you need (the ones with information about the number of boxes, ledgers, etc. that are in a particular entry for a record group and their catalog numbers) are mostly only available in binders and archive boxes onsite at the National Archives!
Book 5 of 2025! Great book on the intersection of immigration, slavery, law, and federal vs. state power in the U.S. throughout the 19th century
May 13, 2025 at 11:38 PM
Book 5 of 2025! Great book on the intersection of immigration, slavery, law, and federal vs. state power in the U.S. throughout the 19th century
April 20, 2025 at 11:12 AM
Book 4 of 2025! It’s been on my list for quite some time, but I finally got around to it. Racial integration in the U.S. military was a contested and complex process rather than a moment, and this book is a good intro to that subject.
April 10, 2025 at 1:56 AM
Book 4 of 2025! It’s been on my list for quite some time, but I finally got around to it. Racial integration in the U.S. military was a contested and complex process rather than a moment, and this book is a good intro to that subject.
Book 3 of 2025! Absolutely loved the expanded definition of resistance and the various forms resistance has assumed for Black people throughout history.
April 1, 2025 at 11:25 PM
Book 3 of 2025! Absolutely loved the expanded definition of resistance and the various forms resistance has assumed for Black people throughout history.
Great article, but this is the part that really stuck out to me. These kinds of errors are going to continue and probably get worse. People who don’t have the resources or time to contest the error will likely just lose the benefits and be in awful shape. But that’s probably the point.
March 16, 2025 at 5:09 AM
Great article, but this is the part that really stuck out to me. These kinds of errors are going to continue and probably get worse. People who don’t have the resources or time to contest the error will likely just lose the benefits and be in awful shape. But that’s probably the point.
To be honest, I should’ve canceled it a long time ago.
February 26, 2025 at 11:43 PM
To be honest, I should’ve canceled it a long time ago.
I kinda fell behind on reading, but here’s Book 2 of 2025! Rather than focusing solely on violence, it’s a great window into how patterns of cooperation and coexistence often structured life in the U.S.-Mexico borderlands.
February 12, 2025 at 2:37 AM
I kinda fell behind on reading, but here’s Book 2 of 2025! Rather than focusing solely on violence, it’s a great window into how patterns of cooperation and coexistence often structured life in the U.S.-Mexico borderlands.