@friefeld.bsky.social
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
Lincoln’s last decree
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)
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...
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...
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
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
Always nice to receive a good review!
07.08.2025 19:30 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Family sitting around the table with Jake Friefeld
Family sitting around the table with Jake Friefeld
Jake Friefeld
Hey! Episode 2 of #BackToTheFrontier dropped today—how do ya think our families are doing?
18.07.2025 03:43 — 👍 3 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Jacob Friefeld in the frontier
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!
11.07.2025 18:41 — 👍 5 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Monument of Johann Strauss
Strauss by night
10.06.2025 08:58 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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.
Friefeld posing between two Wild West characters
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.
Historian and a musician on a stage in a bar.
Historian and a musician on a stage in a bar.
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.
23.11.2024 20:12 — 👍 4 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0"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"
20.11.2024 07:38 — 👍 564 🔁 200 💬 15 📌 7
A group of scholars gathered around a Lincoln statue
A group of people at a banquet
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.
19.11.2024 23:24 — 👍 5 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Campus in autumn
13.11.2024 18:46 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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.
08.11.2024 17:14 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0Great to be recognized for this exhibit. Was a joy working with Christian and the exhibits team.
28.06.2024 17:06 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Join me tomorrow for a virtual book talk with the National Willa Cather Center!
17.01.2024 16:24 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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.
20.11.2023 16:52 — 👍 4 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
