Sign in

Jacob K. Friefeld

@friefeld.bsky.social
524 followers 166 following 25 posts

Director of the University of Illinois Springfield Center for Lincoln Studies, Historian on HBO Max’s Back to the Frontier, Coauthor of The First Migrants and Homesteading the Plains. Friefeld.com

PostsRepliesMedia
Jacob K. Friefeld @friefeld.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
The 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 · 13/06/2026
I'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...
Jacob K. FriefeldJacob K. Friefeld
020
Jacob K. Friefeld @friefeld.bsky.social · 09/05/2026
I 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...
Cover of US History in 15 Photographs
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
Cover of A MOTHER’S WORK.
000
Jacob K. Friefeld @friefeld.bsky.social · 04/04/2026
Andy 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...
Cover of Lingering Inland
011
Reposted by Jacob K. Friefeld
Andy Oler @andyoler.bsky.social · 25/03/2026
Check out this little teaser for Lingering Inland posted at Middle West US (thanks for the opportunity, @friefeld.bsky.social!) middlewest.us/lingering-ov...
middlewest.us
Lingering over Midwestern Stories, in Midwestern Places, by Midwestern People - Middle West US
March 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-share
nytimes.com
Opinion | I Predicted the 2008 Financial Crisis. What Is Coming May Be Worse.
032
Jacob K. Friefeld @friefeld.bsky.social · 28/02/2026
I 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.org
Lincoln and the Living Declaration
By 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 · 14/02/2026
A 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 · 20/12/2025
Mitt Romney: Tax the Rich, Like Me www.nytimes.com/2025/12/19/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | Mitt Romney: Tax the Rich, Like Me
020
Jacob K. Friefeld @friefeld.bsky.social · 07/10/2025
Public 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)
Lincoln’s last decree
010
Reposted by Jacob K. Friefeld
University of Nebraska Press @univnebpress.bsky.social · 02/10/2025
Winner 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 · 04/09/2025
Brooke 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.com
The Midwest in Artifacts: The Clovis Point
000
Jacob K. Friefeld @friefeld.bsky.social · 27/08/2025
Sarah 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.us
middlewest.us
Middle West US Home - Middle West US
Middle 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. Friefeld
Faculti @faculti.bsky.social · 25/08/2025
The 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 · 07/08/2025
Always nice to receive a good review!
010
Jacob K. Friefeld @friefeld.bsky.social · 18/07/2025
Hey! Episode 2 of #BackToTheFrontier dropped today—how do ya think our families are doing?
Family sitting around the table with Jake FriefeldFamily sitting around the table with Jake FriefeldJake Friefeld
030
Jacob K. Friefeld @friefeld.bsky.social · 11/07/2025
The 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!
Jacob Friefeld in the frontier
050
Jacob K. Friefeld @friefeld.bsky.social · 10/06/2025
Strauss by night
Monument of Johann Strauss
010
Jacob K. Friefeld @friefeld.bsky.social · 22/05/2025
It 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 · 13/05/2025
I 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.
Friefeld posing between two Wild West characters
110
Jacob K. Friefeld @friefeld.bsky.social · 23/11/2024
Last 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.
Historian and a musician on a stage in a bar.Historian and a musician on a stage in a bar.
140
Reposted by Jacob K. Friefeld
Anne 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 · 19/11/2024
Every 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.
A group of scholars gathered around a Lincoln statueA group of people at a banquet
050
Jacob K. Friefeld @friefeld.bsky.social · 13/11/2024
Campus in autumn
010
Jacob K. Friefeld @friefeld.bsky.social · 08/11/2024
Last 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 · 28/06/2024
Great to be recognized for this exhibit. Was a joy working with Christian and the exhibits team.
010
Jacob K. Friefeld @friefeld.bsky.social · 17/01/2024
Join me tomorrow for a virtual book talk with the National Willa Cather Center!
urldefense.com
Virtual Author Series: Jacob Friefeld & Angela Bates | National Willa Cather Center - Red Cloud, NE
Immerse 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 · 20/11/2023
Last 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