Last month marked the 200th birthday of Ulysses S. Grant, a man second only to Abraham Lincoln in his contributions to ending slavery and saving the Union during the Civil War, but whose legacy today is often under assault for his other imperfections, as we view him through a 21st century lens. As a former history teacher, overcoming this tendency to read history backwards was one of my greatest challenges, and it continues to be an educational struggle in the classroom today. Historical empathy calls for a deep understanding of people’s actions in the past, multiple forms of evidence and...