Changes

==Legacy==

==Legacy==

Stevens dreamed of a socially just world, where unearned privilege did not exist.<ref>Woodburn pp 606-620</ref>  He believed from his personal experience that being different or having a different perspective can enrich society.<ref>Woodburn pp 606-620</ref> He believed that differences among people should not be feared or oppressed but celebrated.<ref>Woodburn pp 606-620</ref>

Stevens dreamed of a socially just world, where unearned privilege did not exist.<ref>Woodburn pp 606-620</ref>  He believed from his personal experience that being different or having a different perspective can enrich society.<ref>Woodburn pp 606-620</ref> He believed that differences among people should not be feared or oppressed but celebrated.<ref>Woodburn pp 606-620</ref>

In his will he left $50,000 to establish Stevens, a school for the relief and refuge of homeless, indigent orphans. This original bequest has now evolved into [[Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology]].  His will stated:

In his will he left $50,000 to establish Stevens, a school for the relief and refuge of homeless, indigent orphans. This original bequest has now evolved into Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology.  His will stated:

:"They shall be carefully educated in the various branches of English education and all industrial trades and pursuits. No preference shall be shown on account of race or color in their admission or treatment. Neither poor Germans, Irish or Mahometan, nor any others on account their race or religion of their parents, shall be excluded. They shall be fed at the same table."

:"They shall be carefully educated in the various branches of English education and all industrial trades and pursuits. No preference shall be shown on account of race or color in their admission or treatment. Neither poor Germans, Irish or Mahometan, nor any others on account their race or religion of their parents, shall be excluded. They shall be fed at the same table."

Historians' views of Stevens have swung sharply since his death as interpretations of Reconstruction have changed.  The [[Dunning School]], which viewed the period as a disaster and held racist views of blacks, saw Stevens as a villain for his advocacy of harsh measures in the South, and this characterization held sway for most of the 20th Century.  Austin Stoneman, the corrupt congressman in [[D.W. Griffith]]'s ''[[The Birth of a Nation]]'', was modeled on Stevens.  The congressman's reputation has been rehabilitated since the rise of the [[neo-abolitionist]] school in the 1960s, and Stevens has been praised for his far-sighted views on race relations.

Historians' views of Stevens have swung sharply since his death as interpretations of Reconstruction have changed.  The [[Dunning School]], which viewed the period as a disaster and held racist views of blacks, saw Stevens as a villain for his advocacy of harsh measures in the South, and this characterization held sway for most of the 20th Century.  Austin Stoneman, the corrupt congressman in [[D.W. Griffith]]'s ''The Birth of a Nation'', was modeled on Stevens.  The congressman's reputation has been rehabilitated since the rise of the [[neo-abolitionist]] school in the 1960s, and Stevens has been praised for his far-sighted views on race relations.

==Bibliography==

==Bibliography==