Historians in the News

This page features brief excerpts of stories published by the mainstream media and, less frequently, blogs, alternative media, and even obviously biased sources. The excerpts are taken directly from the websites cited in each source note. Quotation marks are not used.

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• SOURCE: History.com
  8/5/2020
  

  Black Americans Who Served in WWII Faced Segregation and Second-Class Roles

  “The experience was very dispiriting for a lot of Black soldiers,” says Matthew Delmont, a history professor at Dartmouth College and author of "Black Quotidian: Everyday History in African American Newspapers."

• 
• SOURCE: New York Times
  8/5/2020
  

  Lincoln Library Cancels Exhibition Over Racial Sensitivity Concerns

  The library, in Springfield, Ill., said Black community leaders who previewed it feared parts of the traveling exhibition, created 15 years ago, were outdated and lacked context.

• 
• SOURCE: New York Times
  8/6/2020
  

  Nixon Did Call the Military on Protesters. He Just Covered It Up.

  by Lawrence Roberts

  The antiwar movement had already helped turn public opinion against Mr. Nixon’s conduct of the war. He was determined to deny activists a victory that could cause further political damage.

• 
• SOURCE: Irish Times
  8/4/2020
  

  Historians Pay Tribute: ‘Today We Live In John Hume’s Ireland, And Thank God For That’

  ‘His extraordinary impact reflects the exceptional political leader and person he was.’

• 
• SOURCE: Jacobin
  8/4/2020
  

  Let Us Drink in Public

  Many modern open container laws derive from previous “public drunkenness” and “vagrancy” ordinances that criminalized not just alcoholism, but also poverty and homelessness.

• 
• SOURCE: Politico
  8/6/2020
  

  Trump Doesn’t Understand Today’s Suburbs—And Neither Do You

  Suburbs are getting more diverse, but that doesn't mean they’re woke. Historian Thomas Sugrue says if you want to understand where American politics is going, look how suburban whites are sorting themselves out.

• 
• SOURCE: The New Republic
  8/6/2020
  

  The Secret History of America’s Worthless Confederate Monuments

  They’re cheap, mass produced, and celebrate the Jim Crow South. So why do conservatives persist in calling them art?

• 
• SOURCE: Forbes
  8/5/2020
  

  It’s Time The ‘Truth Be Told’ About Black Women’s Leadership In The Fight For The Vote

  New digital collection tells the untold stories of Black women’s vital role in the suffrage movement.

• 
• SOURCE: Stars and Stripes
  8/4/2020
  

  ‘Irresistible Weapon’: Historians Say American History Oversimplifies Atomic Bombings On Japan

  Alex Wellerstein, a historian of science at the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, N.J., author and blogger on atomic bomb history, said time has smoothed the wrinkles and simplified the facts that are often taught about the first and, so far, only wartime use of atomic weapons.

• 
• SOURCE: National Security Archive
  8/4/2020
  

  The Atomic Bomb and the End of World War II

  Extensive Compilation of Primary Source Documents Explores Manhattan Project, Eisenhower’s Early Misgivings about First Nuclear Use, Curtis LeMay and the Firebombing of Tokyo, Debates over Japanese Surrender Terms, Atomic Targeting Decisions, and Lagging Awareness of Radiation Effects

• 
• SOURCE: Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
  8/3/2020
  

  What Europeans Believe about Hiroshima and Nagasaki—and Why it Matters

  A European's belief that the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was a military necessity that ultimately saved lives correlates with less acceptance of nuclear disarmament. History is important for citizens' ability to judge issues related to the dangers of nuclear weapons. 

• 
• SOURCE: WBUR
  8/4/2020
  

  The History of the October Surprise (Audio)

  Julian Zelizer discusses the prospects of a major surprise announcement from the administration before Election Day.  

• 
• SOURCE: New York Times
  8/5/2020
  

  He Predicted Trump’s Win in 2016. Now He’s Ready to Call 2020 (Video)

  Allan Lichtman describes polls as "snapshots" which are fairly useless for predicting the outcome compared to stable "keys" reflecting how the President's party is perceived to be governing. Watch the video (if you dare) to see his 2020 prediction.

• 
• SOURCE: CNBC
  8/5/2020
  

  Biden Will Beat Trump, Says Historian Who Predicted Every Presidential Race Since 1984

  Polls are “snapshots in time,” Allan Lichtman said. “None of this in the end has any impact whatsoever on the outcome of a presidential election.”

• 
• SOURCE: Washington Post
  8/5/2020
  

  In The 75 Years Since Hiroshima, Nuclear Testing Killed Untold Thousands

  The Marshall Islands were exposed to the daily equivalent of 1.6 Hiroshima-sized explosions between 1946 and 1958, if the impact were spread evenly.

• 
• SOURCE: New York Times
  7/31/2020
  

  Isabel Wilkerson’s ‘Caste’ Is an ‘Instant American Classic’ About Our Abiding Sin

  “Caste” lands so firmly because the historian, the sociologist and the reporter are not at war with the essayist and the critic inside her.

• 
• SOURCE: The Metropole
  8/5/2020
  

  Urban Disaster And Recovery: An Overview And Bibliography Of The Resilient City

  "Different sorts of urban disasters—terrorist attacks, floods, earthquakes, diseases—have elicited different responses, policy prescriptions, and behaviors." A bibliographical essay explains what cities have done and how historians have interpreted it. 

• 
• SOURCE: New York Times
  8/4/2020
  

  Why Are Child Care Programs Open When Schools Are Not?

  Drs. Robert Pianta and Myra Jones-Taylor expressed hope that parents’ pandemic experiences of working while juggling care and education will lead to a newfound appreciation for both elements, and the modern economy’s reliance on them.

• 
• SOURCE: Vox
  8/4/2020
  

  How Portland’s Wall of Moms Collapsed — and Was Reborn Under Black Leadership

  Keisha N. Blain provides historical context for the high visibility of white moms in Portland, and the problems this posed for the city's protest movements. 

• 
• SOURCE: Bill Moyers
  7/30/2020
  

  Bill Talks with Heather Cox Richardson About ‘How the South Won the Civil War’

  It's all about America’s ongoing battle between oligarchy and democracy.