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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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...

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

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.

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.”

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

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. :-)

Really enjoyed this podcast!

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...

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

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.

It’s been an ugly day on Twitter.

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.

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

I got my copy today.

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.

“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.”

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

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

@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

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

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

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.

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

Somebody better get on this!

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.

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.

This would be amazing

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.

That said, Charles Sumner became a beacon of abolition politics by having a committed ideological project, *and* implying that southern planters were rapists on the senate floor. I think history education tends to elide over the extent to which driving political figures lack fear of being unsavory.

San Francisco on August 19!

For Zaakir Tameez, one constitutional law homework assignment changed the course of his career.

Congratulations to @ztameez.bsky.social on his fabulous biography of Charles Sumner. All progressives should read it- a powerful, timely lesson in never ever giving up, never stopping, never rolling over in the fight for justice. What an opportunity there is for leaders who do so now.

“The Constitution is not mean, stingy, and pettifogging, but open-handed, liberal, and just, inclining always in favor of Freedom.”—Charles Sumner. h/t Zaakir Tameez’s Sumner-inspired thread: bsky.app/profile/ztam...

Thread of Sumner quotes on constitutional law 🧵 ⬇️

Shout out to Strict Scrutiny for shouting out Charles Sumner!! A book that I hope points to new modes of constitutional thinking. “Anything for human rights,” Sumner said, “is constitutional.”

Speaking of enslavement, next on my TBR pile is Charles Sumner: Conscience of a Nation. The author was interviewed recently on the Karen Hunter Show. Can't wait to dig in. I want to know more about Sumner beyond the famous picture of his caning. us.macmillan.com/books/978125...

We need a Charles Sumner in Congress today—someone who will fight for the people in spite of fear and intimidation. youtube.com/shorts/fz8qj...

@southerndemocrats.bsky.social @daveutb.bsky.social @sweetdelirium.bsky.social @weilily.bsky.social @irisnotsiri.bsky.social @andywoohoo.bsky.social One man fought the MAGA of his day in the mid 19th Century, Charles Sumner: Conscience of a Nation Please watch my conversation with the author.

Big thank you to Henry Holt for gifting this copy of "Charles Sumner: Conscience of a Nation" by Zaakir Tameez! (You'll have to wait a little while longer to find it in the LFL, as I called first dibs!) @henryholtbooks.bsky.social @ztameez.bsky.social @littlefreelibrary.bsky.social #booksky

Folks, we have a contender for the lead role in the Sumner biopic! Now we just need a production company. 😂