Jacob K. Friefeld @friefeld.bsky.social · 01/08/2026The company that messed up the reflecting pool is called “Atlantic Industrial Coatings” that’s too close to Kruger Industrial Smoothing for us not to be living in a computer simulation. 121
Jacob K. Friefeld @friefeld.bsky.social · 13/06/2026I'm very excited for my conversation with Pulitzer Prize-Winner Nikole Hannah-Jones on Monday at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum! www.uis.edu/event/center... 020
Jacob K. Friefeld @friefeld.bsky.social · 09/05/2026I wrote a chapter for the new book US HISTORY in 15 PHOTOGRAPHS: 1865 TO THE 21st CENTURY. I explore how free land policy impacted the lives of newly freed Black Americans. Get your copy! www.bloomsbury.com/us/us-histor... 021
Jacob K. Friefeld @friefeld.bsky.social · 08/05/2026@illinoisstateu.bsky.social prof Megan VanGorder discusses her book on Middle West US. She argues that Civil War nurse Mary Bickerdyke left “behind a legacy that challenges the boundaries between domesticity and public life, sentiment and skill, service and authority.” tinyurl.com/Bickerdyke 000
Jacob K. Friefeld @friefeld.bsky.social · 04/04/2026Andy Oler joins Middle West US, writing about _Lingering Inland_ essays about the Midwest. Oler writes: “_Lingering Inland_ sets out to provide the space and time for Midwesterners to explore their stories as well as their places.” middlewest.us/lingering-ov... 011
Reposted by Jacob K. FriefeldAndy Oler @andyoler.bsky.social · 25/03/2026Check out this little teaser for Lingering Inland posted at Middle West US (thanks for the opportunity, @friefeld.bsky.social!) middlewest.us/lingering-ov...middlewest.usLingering over Midwestern Stories, in Midwestern Places, by Midwestern People - Middle West USMarch 25, 2026 By Andy Oler My introduction to the field of Midwestern literature centered on the fiction and poetry published in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The authors typical... 032
Jacob K. Friefeld @friefeld.bsky.social · 19/03/2026“I Predicted the 2008 Financial Crisis. What Is Coming May Be Worse.”https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/16/opinion/financial-crisis-private-credit-ai-iran-taiwan.html?smid=nytcore-ios-sharenytimes.comOpinion | I Predicted the 2008 Financial Crisis. What Is Coming May Be Worse. 032
Jacob K. Friefeld @friefeld.bsky.social · 28/02/2026I recently wrote a short post on Abraham Lincoln, the nation's founders, and the Declaration of Independence for Lincoln250.org www.lincoln250.org/post/lincoln...lincoln250.orgLincoln and the Living DeclarationBy Jacob K. FriefeldBetween August and October 1858, Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas engaged in seven debates during their U.S. Senate campaign. These debates were a prelude to a showdown in the 1... 000
Jacob K. Friefeld @friefeld.bsky.social · 14/02/2026A bit late sharing my review of Jon White and William Griffing’s _Great and Good Man:First-Hand Accounts of Abraham Lincoln._ 000
Jacob K. Friefeld @friefeld.bsky.social · 20/12/2025Mitt Romney: Tax the Rich, Like Me www.nytimes.com/2025/12/19/o...nytimes.comOpinion | Mitt Romney: Tax the Rich, Like Me 020
Jacob K. Friefeld @friefeld.bsky.social · 07/10/2025Public historian and museum educator Ashlee Anderson joins Middle West US to talk about what might be Abraham Lincoln's last decree, currently in the collection at History Nebraska. Hear the story at middlewest.us/podcasts/ (photo courtesy of History Nebraska) 010
Reposted by Jacob K. FriefeldUniversity of Nebraska Press @univnebpress.bsky.social · 02/10/2025Winner of the 2024 Nebraska Book Award, THE FIRST MIGRANTS, by Richard Edwards and @friefeld.bsky.social weaves together the narrative histories of the six most important Black homesteader communities. Save 40% during our Bison Books Sale: bit.ly/BisonBooksSa... 074
Jacob K. Friefeld @friefeld.bsky.social · 04/09/2025Brooke Morgan, Curator of Anthropology at the Illinois State Museum, joins me to discuss a Clovis point from Illinois, a Midwestern artifact that is approximately 13,000 years old. open.spotify.com/episode/6aMe...open.spotify.comThe Midwest in Artifacts: The Clovis Point 000
Jacob K. Friefeld @friefeld.bsky.social · 27/08/2025Sarah E. Lirley shares the story of Estelle Johnson's suicide from her new book _Sudden Deaths in St. Louis: Coroner Bias in the Gilded Age_. Check it out at MiddleWest.usmiddlewest.usMiddle West US Home - Middle West USMiddle West US explores the history and culture of the Midwest by sharing the region's latest writing and engaging podcasts. 000
Reposted by Jacob K. FriefeldFaculti @faculti.bsky.social · 25/08/2025The untold story of the first Black families who claimed a piece of the American West against all odds. @friefeld.bsky.social , University of Illinois Springfield , UIS Center for Lincoln Studies , discusses: faculti.net/the-first-mi... #history 001
Jacob K. Friefeld @friefeld.bsky.social · 18/07/2025Hey! Episode 2 of #BackToTheFrontier dropped today—how do ya think our families are doing? 030
Jacob K. Friefeld @friefeld.bsky.social · 11/07/2025The first episode of Back to the Frontier dropped—a show available on HBO Max and the Magnolia Network that challenges 3 families to live like 1880s homesteaders. It was an absolute joy to be part of this production! 050
Jacob K. Friefeld @friefeld.bsky.social · 22/05/2025It was a pleasure presenting at the Midwest History Conference on Black Freedom in Illinois with Brian Mitchell and John Lupton. We lamented not getting a photo of our panel, so I had fun with ai. May I present the bizarro-world Brian, Jake, and John presenting to a large but oddly small audience. 000
Jacob K. Friefeld @friefeld.bsky.social · 13/05/2025I had a great time presenting on Black Homesteaders in photographs at the South Dakota State Historical Society Conference in Deadwood last week! I’m terrible at getting photos while I present, so here is a picture of me with Wild Bill Hickok and Jack McCall. 110
Jacob K. Friefeld @friefeld.bsky.social · 23/11/2024Last week historian Christian McWhirter and musician Randy Erwin put on a great show, playing Civil War Era music and providing historical context for the songs. The Springfield community is so lucky to have a knowledgeable Lincoln scholar like McWhirter to guide us through the Civil War Era. 140
Reposted by Jacob K. FriefeldAnne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.wsocial.eu · 20/11/2024"US companies legally collecting digital advertising data are also providing the world a cheap and reliable way to track the movements of American military and intelligence personnel overseas, from their homes and their children’s schools to hardened aircraft shelters" 14559198
Jacob K. Friefeld @friefeld.bsky.social · 19/11/2024Every year I look forward to the Lincoln Forum. The engaging presentations by first-class scholars are a big part of that, but getting to spend time talking about Lincoln, his era, and his legacy with friends and colleagues makes it truly special. 050
Jacob K. Friefeld @friefeld.bsky.social · 08/11/2024Last month I had the pleasure of attending the Nebraska Celebration of Books and accepting the Nebraska Book Award for Nonfiction History. I had a great time answering audience questions and talking with talented authors! Always a joy to be back on UNL’s campus. 010
Jacob K. Friefeld @friefeld.bsky.social · 28/06/2024Great to be recognized for this exhibit. Was a joy working with Christian and the exhibits team. 010
Jacob K. Friefeld @friefeld.bsky.social · 17/01/2024Join me tomorrow for a virtual book talk with the National Willa Cather Center!urldefense.comVirtual Author Series: Jacob Friefeld & Angela Bates | National Willa Cather Center - Red Cloud, NEImmerse yourself in Great Plains and homesteading history during our first author series of 2024! Join us as we talk with Jacob Friefeld, author of The First Migrants: How Black Homesteaders' Quest fo... 020
Jacob K. Friefeld @friefeld.bsky.social · 20/11/2023Last week I had a wonderful time with good friends and colleagues at the Lincoln Forum in Gettysburg. Thoroughly enjoyed my panel on Black life after emancipation. Here I’m pictured with dear friends at the spot Lincoln delivered his Gettysburg Address 160 years ago. 040