public history

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  2/15/2021
  

  The Sinking of a Bust Surfaces a Debate Over Denmark’s Past

  "An anonymous group of artists had unscrewed it from its plinth, popped a black garbage bag over its head and ferried it to the edge of the canal, before tipping it in."

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• SOURCE: Perspectives on History
  2/9/2021
  

  A Paradox: History Without Historians

  by Jim Grossman

  "We cannot heal this nation without accurately understanding its pathologies, which are by their very nature historical."

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• SOURCE: The New Yorker
  2/4/2021
  

  The San Francisco School-Renaming Debate Is Not About History

  "In fact, the way that the San Francisco school names are being talked about, fretted about, and competed over seems to have little to do with history at all. It has more to do with another realm of public life: celebrity."

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• SOURCE: WTOP
  2/5/2021
  

  Virginia House votes to turn ‘Jefferson Davis Highway’ into ‘Emancipation Highway’

  The bill, which has bipartisan support, would rename any stretches of  US Route 1 still named for the Confederate president as "Emancipation Highway" but would not reflect segments of the road already renamed by local authorities. 

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• SOURCE: AL.com
  2/7/2021
  

  UA Trustees vote to remove George Wallace’s name from UAB building

  “This is simply the right thing to do,” Trustee Judge John England Jr. 

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• SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
  2/9/2021
  

  Behind these Names, You’ll Find Stories of L.A.'S Black History

  The city of Los Angeles's early Anglo history was marked by the national conflict over slavery, and local decisions granting freedom to Black Angelenos shaped the city. Longtime LA Times columnist Patt Morrison discusses the public markers to African American history in the city. 

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• SOURCE: Washington Post
  2/2/2021
  

  Trump’s 1776 Commission and the San Francisco Board of Education Have a Lot in Common

  by Max Boot

  "It is no surprise that the 1776 Commission did not include a single expert on U.S. history and that the San Francisco school board also refused to consult historians."

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• SOURCE: The Atlantic
  2/2/2021
  

  San Francisco’s Ridiculous Renaming Spree

  If those on the right were looking for an example to condemn the trend of renaming public facilities because of the misdeeds of prominent historical figures, they couldn't have asked for more than the slapdash actions of the San Francisco school board, writes journalist Gary Kamiya. 

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• SOURCE: Mission Local
  1/28/2021
  

  The San Francisco School District’s Renaming Debacle Has Been A Historic Travesty

  "Our Board of Education chose to ratify each and every finding from the renaming committee — even when historical errors and methodological recklessness was known."

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• SOURCE: Christian Science Monitor
  1/25/2021
  

  ‘Robert E. Lee and Me’ Dismantles Confederate Mythology

  Retired Brigadier General and West Point historian Ty Seidule was drawn to the military by growing up with the myth of the gentleman soldier embodied by Robert E. Lee. His new book deconstructs the myth through autobiography. 

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• SOURCE: CNN
  1/27/2021
  

  San Francisco School Board Votes to Rename 44 Schools, Including Abraham Lincoln and George Washington High Schools

  The San Francisco School Board approved the renaming of 44 schools commemorating figures ranging from George Washington to Dianne Feinstein.

• 
• SOURCE: New York Times
  1/25/2021
  

  A Monument Honoring Brooklyn Abolitionists Stalls Under Scrutiny

  “Whatever we build in Downtown Brooklyn should rival the Statue of Liberty,” said Raul Rothblatt, who has fought to preserve the area’s history for nearly 20 years. He added: “But instead, the city is planning to build a dog park above where tunnels once connected abolitionist homes.”

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• SOURCE: Washington Post
  12/28/2020
  

  The Complicated Racial History of the High School D.C. is Renaming

  Renaming Woodrow Wilson High after Edna Burke Jackson, who taught history as one of two Black faculty members in the years after desegregation, is an obvious choice. 

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• SOURCE: Lowell Sun
  12/31/2020
  

  Partnership Led By UMass Lowell Preserves “Little Canada”

  An undergraduate honors course in history led by Robert Forrant is developing public history markers to commemorate the Le Petit Canada neighborhood of Lowell, Massachusetts. 

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• SOURCE: Charleston Post and Courier
  12/20/2020
  

  Review: New Book Seeks To Differentiate Between Confederate History And Historical Memory

  "Adam Domby’s book provides a helpful guide through White Southern memory, a place where the Civil War never really ended."

• 
• SOURCE: Washington Post
  12/20/2020
  

  A Statue of Barbara Johns Should Replace Robert E. Lee in the U.S. Capitol

  The Washington Post's editorial board recommends the young educational justice activist to replace Robert E. Lee's statue in the US Capitol. 

• 
• SOURCE: Smithsonian
  12/18/2020
  

  Why Just ‘Adding Context’ to Controversial Monuments May Not Change Minds

  by Erin Thompson

  Research shows that "adding context" to monuments with problematic subject matter does little to expand the understanding of history visitors take away from the scene.

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• SOURCE: National Council on Public History
  12/15/2020
  

  Making Public History More Accessible During Times of Uncertainty

  by Nick Sacco

  The curtailment of in-person programming at national parks due to COVID is a great occasion for the parks system to undertake deep consideration of the issue of accessibility in its programs and facilities. 

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• SOURCE: Asheville Citizen-Times
  12/11/2020
  

  What Was the Dixie Highway, Anyway?

  Historian Tammy Ingram discusses the Dixie Highway, about which she wrote the book, as a rare project of early 20th-century highway building and tourism development that was completed. 

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• SOURCE: Hyperallergic
  12/9/2020
  

  Illuminating the Legacy of Slavery at a New York Museum

  Artist Reggie Black is projecting a message about the history of slavery in New York City on the façade of the ​Dyckman Farmhouse Museum in Manhattan, where six people were enslaved.