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Reposted by Zaakir Tameez

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 19/05/2026

reading some charles sumner and happened upon this banger from an 1869 address (cont.)

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Travis @travtufts.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

The biography by @ztameez.bsky.social was my favorite book of last year. Sumner doesn’t get enough love here in Boston.

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Oxford Academic @academic.oup.com · 10/05/2026

What led Preston Brooks to launch his infamous attack on Charles Sumner? Southern historian Paul Quigley brings Brooks to life, revealing how personal struggles shaped that fateful decision. Learn more in "The Man Behind the Cane:" oxford.ly/4f2nXE0

3D Cover of "The Man Behind the Cane" on paper texture background

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Gady Epstein @gadyepstein.bsky.social · 05/04/2026

Finally caught up to this really good @jamellebouie.net Q&A with @ztameez.bsky.social, author of a superb biography of Charles Sumner

nytimes.com

Opinion | The Civil War That Never Ended

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Dr. Todd Arrington @btarrington.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

Did you know Charles Sumner’s first day in the Senate was also Henry Clay’s last day in the Senate? That fascinates me for some reason. Currently reading and loving this excellent Sumner biography. Well done, @ztameez.bsky.social. Image: Macmillan Publishers.

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Erin Golsen @erininkentucky.bsky.social · 07/02/2026

Thank you @ztameez.bsky.social for writing this incredible book! It is such a compelling and compassionate account of a life devoted to the eloquent, relentless pursuit of freedom, human rights, and equality before the law. I loved it. #BookSky

The cover of Charles Sumner: Conscience of a Nation by Zaakir Tameez, definitely one of the best books I'll read this year.

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Kevin M. Levin @civilwarmemory.bsky.social · 30/12/2025

Well worth reading.

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Matthew Stiegler @matthewstiegler.bsky.social · 29/12/2025

Charles Sumner was a leading voice in Congress for abolishing slavery and Reconstruction. Honestly, I wasn’t sure what to expect from an ambitious historical biography written by a law student. It ended up being my favorite book I read in 2025. www.powells.com/book/charles...

powells.com

Charles Sumner Conscience of a Nation | Powell's Books

A landmark biography of Charles Sumner, the unsung hero of the American Civil War and Reconstruction Charles Sumner is mainly known as the statesman who barely survived a brutal caning on the Senate f...

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Civics & Coffee: A History Podcast @civicspod.bsky.social · 26/12/2025

Charles Sumner by @ztameez.bsky.social is a biography of the Civil War & Reconstruction era Senator - who most only know as the victim of a violent assault on the Senate floor ahead of the war. Tameez illustrates how complex & revolutionary Sumner was… 1/2

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Zaakir Tameez @ztameez.bsky.social · 03/12/2025

Charles Sumner is less than $3.00 on Amazon Kindle right now! Flash sale?

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Zaakir Tameez @ztameez.bsky.social · 09/09/2025

My review of Eric Foner’s new book, “Our Fragile Freedoms,” for the New York Times— www.nytimes.com/2025/09/02/b...

nytimes.com

A Foremost Scholar of Slavery Wonders if America Can Ever Atone

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Nelson Black - Tampa, FL @nwblack3.bsky.social · 09/09/2025

By interesting coincidence, I just read about this event in @ztameez.bsky.social‘s excellent new biography of Charles Sumner. Sumner was the attorney who argued the case before the MA Supreme Court. A century later, his arguments helped form the basis for the arguments in Brown v Board.

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Zaakir Tameez @ztameez.bsky.social · 06/09/2025

Here’s a thread from a reader with some excerpts from the book! 📚

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Brian Lyman @brianlyman.bsky.social · 04/09/2025

Sumner’s brief in the Roberts case is not well-known, but it should be. It is stunningly perceptive about the psychological impact of segregation, and reads like the first filing in Brown v. Board of Education, decided over 100 years later.

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Travis @travtufts.bsky.social · 04/09/2025

Happy first day of school, Boston! And a happy new school opening day to The Sarah Roberts. Sarah and her father Benjamin filed the first school desegregation suit in US history in 1849. She was represented by Robert Morris, the first Black attorney in MA, and future US Senator Charles Sumner.

nps.gov

The Sarah Roberts Case (U.S. National Park Service)

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Art Herstory @artherstory.bsky.social · 02/09/2025

Charles Sumner, 1875, by #AnneWhitney (American, 1821-1915), who was born #otd, Sept 2. Located in General MacArthur Square, Cambridge, MA. #womenartists #artherstory

A photo of a bronze statue of a man in formal 19th-century attire - including a shirt with a collar, a bow tie, a waistcoat, a long jacket, and trousers - seated in a chair and gazing outward. Fingers of his right hand are inserted in at least two places into the book on his right knee.

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Tracy O’Connell Novick @tracynovick.bsky.social · 01/09/2025

DID YOU KNOW that the PEN with which President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation is at the Massachusetts Historical Society, because Senator Charles Sumner asked for it?? TIL from @ztameez.bsky.social’s Sumner bio! www.masshist.org/database/4

masshist.org

MHS Collections Online: Pen used by Abraham Lincoln to sign the Emancipation Proclamation

Massachusetts Historical Society, Collections Online: Pen used by Abraham Lincoln to sign the Emancipation Proclamation

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Tracy O’Connell Novick @tracynovick.bsky.social · 30/08/2025

@ztameez.bsky.social’s bio of Charles Sumner: such a good read and I am learning so much!

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Zaakir Tameez @ztameez.bsky.social · 24/08/2025

I am speaking on Sunday at 2pm for a live discussion on Charles Sumner… anyone is welcome, register here: marketing.gilderlehrman.org/l/941553/202...

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Zaakir Tameez @ztameez.bsky.social · 20/08/2025

Here is what Charles Sumner said whenever he learned that yet another baby was named after him.

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Paul Blumenthal @paulblumenthal.bsky.social · 19/08/2025

And you'd think there's a very good jumping off point that everyone knows about to talk about this: Preston Brooks nearly beating Charles Sumner to death.

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Zaakir Tameez @ztameez.bsky.social · 20/08/2025

How bad was slavery? Worse than anything you were taught in school, worse than anything you’ve seen in movies, worse, worse, worse. “I think slavery,” Harriet Tubman said, “is the next thing to hell.”

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Zaakir Tameez @ztameez.bsky.social · 19/08/2025

If you’re still on the fence about buying the book, here’s a thoughtful review by @genemeyer.bsky.social

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caidid @caidid.bsky.social · 19/08/2025

I am so happy someone reposted this into my timeline today. I went to the same high school as Sumner (a few years behind him lol) and he has long been a favorite historical figure. Very excited to buy and read this! A couple of my own photos below of some favorite local depictions of Sumner. :-)

Bust of a young Charles Sumner in white marble, from the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston

Statue of Charles Sumner, in bronze, from the Boston Public Garden. Full statue in bronze of Sumner standing, holding a scroll to his chest atop a granite plinth that says simply "SUMNER." The statue is in snow with bare tree branches and more snow visible in the background.

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Civics & Coffee: A History Podcast @civicspod.bsky.social · 19/08/2025

And for my California Bay Area listeners - be sure to check out Tameez TONIGHT! He will be speaking at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco. You won’t want to miss it! 2/2 www.civicsandcoffee.com/exploring-co...

civicsandcoffee.com

Exploring Conscience of a Nation: Zaakir Tameez on Charles Sumner’s Fight for Justice

Charles Sumner was one of the fiercest voices for abolition and racial equality in 19th-century America, but how much do we really know about the man behind the Sen…

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Zaakir Tameez @ztameez.bsky.social · 18/08/2025

I am speaking tomorrow in San Francisco at 5:30pm at the Commonwealth Club. If you’re in the city, I would love to meet you at the book talk! Sign up for a ticket here: www.commonwealthclub.org/events/2025-... @cwclub.bsky.social

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Matthew Stiegler @matthewstiegler.bsky.social · 17/08/2025

Jake is a speedier reader than I am, I’m only halfway through @ztameez.bsky.social’s Sumner biography. But I agree 100%: it’s an important book and a startlingly good one.

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Zaakir Tameez @ztameez.bsky.social · 15/08/2025

It’s been an ugly day on Twitter.

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Tracy O’Connell Novick @tracynovick.bsky.social · 11/08/2025

Very much enjoying @ztameez.bsky.social’s bio of Sumner, which is a really engaging read! Also, learned for the first time that the first office for which he ran was Boston School Committee. He lost.

Image of a book held in one hand in front of a brick building entrance; over the door of the building are the words “Tidepool Books” with the outline of a flamingo
The book cover has painting of a while man with wavy blond hair wearing a dark suit, bow tie, white shirt. The book title is “Charles Sumner: Conscience of a Nation” and the author is Zaakir Tameez.

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Zaakir Tameez @ztameez.bsky.social · 10/08/2025

H.W. Brands reviewed the Charles Sumner bio, and this is the ad accompanying the review… eeks.

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Matthew Stiegler @matthewstiegler.bsky.social · 09/08/2025

I got my copy today.

Photo of book: Charles Sumner by Zaakir Tameez, with show-off local bookshop receipt

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Foxessa @foxessa.bsky.social · 08/08/2025

Reading Zaakir Tameez's Charles Sumner: Conscience of A Nation (2025). Here's a surprise. I've read several books about Julia Ward Howe, author of the Civil War Union anthem, Battle Hymn of the Republic.

Charles Sumner, shown on the cover of Zaakir Tameez's biography of this passionate abolitionist and advocate for equality of African Americans in the United States.

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Zaakir Tameez @ztameez.bsky.social · 09/08/2025

“Ourselves the children of the Pilgrims of a former generation, let us not turn from the Pilgrims of the present,”Sumner declared. “The history of the country… testifies to the merits of foreigners.” He referenced “Lafayette of France” and “Alexander Hamilton, who was born in the West Indies.”

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Merry Eliza 💜⁷ ⟭⟬ ⟬⟭ @googieheim.bsky.social · 09/08/2025

I'm a third of the way through the audiobook and you definitely want it! #booksky

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Zaakir Tameez @ztameez.bsky.social · 09/08/2025

They gave me a few free copies of the audiobook. Please DM me if you want one of the discount codes!

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History Shorts w/ Peter Zablocki @historyshortspod.bsky.social · 08/08/2025

@ztameez.bsky.social brings Charles Sumner to life with cinematic flair and intellectual rigor! Buy the book & listen to the conversation (Sunday, August 10, 2025!). LEARN MORE: www.historyshortspodcast.com BUY Zaakir's Book: www.amazon.com/Charles-Sumn... FOLLOW @historyshortspod.bsky.social

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Kevin M. Levin @civilwarmemory.bsky.social · 08/08/2025

@ztameez.bsky.social's new biography of Charles Sumner has been a pleasure to read. I highly recommend it. 🗃️ us.macmillan.com/books/978125...

us.macmillan.com

Charles Sumner

"A thorough recounting of the great legislator’s life and deed... unlikely to be bettered anytime soon... Tameez is expert at explaining Sumner’s legal t...

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Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 07/08/2025

for those unfamiliar: there already was a faction of politicians known by the moniker "radical Republicans" and they were known mostly for their uncompromising opposition to slavery, support for pro labor legislation, and passage of 1860s Civil Rights legislation that empowered freedmen

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Larry Glickman @larryglickman.bsky.social · 06/08/2025

Just finished @ztameez.bsky.social's CHARLES SUMNER: CONSCIENCE OF A NATION. It is a terrific achievement and the concluding section on Sumner's death brought me to tears. It is both an excellent work of history and a story extremely relevant to our current political moment.

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Dr. McDingo, electricity knower @bigskwigg.bsky.social · 05/08/2025

Thaddeus Stevens and Charles Sumner should be spoken about in the same light as some of the Founders.

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Zaakir Tameez @ztameez.bsky.social · 05/08/2025

Excellent thread on Ben Roberts, who was the plaintiff in the very first case in American history that attempted to integrate public schools. He is a major character in Part 1 of CHARLES SUMNER: CONSCIENCE OF A NATION.

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Jake Charles @jacobdcharles.bsky.social · 04/08/2025

Okay, friends this book is really *incredible*! I spent the last week devouring all 500 pages. I couldn’t put it down. I hardly knew anything of Sumner but the caning & am now convinced he deserves a prized place in our histories. Ahead of his time, principled & unafraid to speak unpopular truths.

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The Appellate Project @theappellateproj.bsky.social · 29/07/2025

When Zaakir spotted Charles Sumner repeatedly cited in Justice Marshall's Brown v. Board of Education brief, most students would have moved on to the next case. But Zaakir's curiosity led him down a research path that would fundamentally reshape how he understood legal advocacy and lasting change.

Book cover of Charles Sumner: Conscience of a Nation by Zaakir Tameez alongside text that reads:
"What he found in Sumner was something many law students struggle to locate: a constitutional figure worth respecting.
'I think we live in a moment where we as Americans are looking for heroes in our past that we can respect and value,' Zaakir explains."

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