public history

• 
• SOURCE: Bloomberg
  6/10/2022
  

  When Cities Put Up Monuments to Traffic Deaths

  by Peter Norton

  Rising pedestrian and cyclist deaths in American communities are a call to question the primacy of the automobile and stop accepting roadway carnage. 

• 
• SOURCE: The Nation
  6/7/2022
  

  The Second Destruction of Tulsa's Black Community

  by Karlos K. Hill

  Photographer Donald Thompson has set out to capture a visual history of Tulsa's Greenwood district, an African American community decimated first by the 1921 race massacre and then by urban renewal in the 1970s. Historian Karlos Hill interviews him about his work. 

• 
• SOURCE: Virginia Mercury
  6/2/2022
  

  Why the Voices of the Enslaved's Descendants Matter at Montpelier and Other Historic Sites

  by Stephen P. Hanna, Amy Potter and Derek H. Alderman

  Descendant communities have put themselves front and center in discussions of how to discuss slavery at public monuments to the nation's founders, which is vital to ensuring that the significance of slavery is not minimized. 

• 
• SOURCE: Made By History at the Washington Post
  5/26/2022
  

  The Monument Controversy We Aren't Discussing

  by Cynthia C. Prescott

  Outside of the former Confederacy, efforts to replace "Pioneer Mother" statues with depictions of Native American women have sparked a backlash including outright theft.

• 
• 5/29/2022
  

  We Need a National Emancipation Monument at Point Comfort – Where American Slavery Began, and Began to End

  by Steven T. Corneliussen

  While parts of the site are honored as the Fort Monroe National Monument, Point Comfort should be made a national monument to emancipation. 

• 
• SOURCE: NextCity
  5/23/2022
  

  Virginia's Governor Took Away the Most Important Piece of Protest Art in the Country. What Should He Have Done?

  Outgoing governor Ralph Northam removed the graffiti-covered pedestal of the former Robert E. Lee monument, which has become a site of community gathering and a public forum to express alternative visions of history. Cities should try to encourage such openness (if not spray-painting). 

• 
• SOURCE: CNN
  5/24/2022
  

  Congressional Commission Unveils Proposal to Rename Bases Honoring Confederates

  West Point historian Ty Seidule was vice-chair of the renaming commission, and sought community input for the proposal. 

• 
• SOURCE: Washington Post
  5/23/2022
  

  Facing the Truth in the Land of Lee

  by Laura Brodie

  The controversy over removing Robert E. Lee's portrait from diplomas at Washington and Lee University points to an uncomfortable truth: Lee's historical depiction as handsome has been a visual symbol of the Lost Cause that has contributed to acceptance of the pro-Confederate mythology. 

• 

• How We Told the Ongoing Story of Title IX

  by Laura Mogulescu

  A curator and her team chose to center the work of activists who pushed to determine the scope and meaning of Title IX's prohibition on sex discrimination in education throughout the law's 50-year history. Their exhibit is now open at the New-York Historical Society.

• 
• SOURCE: Washington Post
  5/16/2022
  

  Inside the Reversal of the Montpelier Board

  The board approved the appointment of 11 members nominated by the Montpelier Descendants Committee, and the resignation of the board chair who led the resistance to the appointments is pending. 

• 
• SOURCE: Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star
  3/16/2022
  

  Montpelier Board Appoints 11 Members from Descendants Committee

  The move may finally deliver on the board's promise to grant parity in the governance of the James Madison estate to the descendants of persons enslaved at Montpelier. 

• 
• SOURCE: Washington Post
  5/16/2022
  

  Nursing Clio Project Connects Health, Gender and History

  “The personal is historical,” the blog’s authors declare — and its lineup of historians and authors proves that point again and again.

• 
• SOURCE: Washington Post
  5/15/2022
  

  A Neighborly Civil War in Virginia over Street Names

  Leaders of a group of suburban Virginia homeowners who want to change the Confederate-related street names in their community have been accused of being puppets of George Soros and threatened. 

• 
• SOURCE: The City Life
  5/3/2022
  

  Traveling Smithsonian Exhibition to Highlight 1968 Poor People's Campaign

  Reflecting Dr. King's increased attention to matters of inequality and economic justice, the Poor People's Campaign was launched in his honor a month after his assassination. The exhibition will begin at the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis. 

• 
• SOURCE: Mississippi Free Press
  4/29/2022
  

  Natchez's Deacons For Defense HQ on National Register of Historic Places

  A Natchez barbershop will be recognized as the meeting place of the group organized for Black community self-defense against racist terrorism. 

• 
• SOURCE: James Madison's Montpelier
  4/27/2022
  

  Montpelier Board Pushes Back Against Accusation they Excluded Descendants' Committee Leadership

  The Montpelier Foundation board argues that the organization representing the descendants of those enslaved at James Madison's estate has rejected good faith cooperation in order to score political points in the latest escalation of the battle over how the Founder's relationship to slavery should be portrayed. 

• 
• SOURCE: Richmond Times-Dispatch
  4/19/2022
  

  Reversal on Power-Sharing Shows Montpelier Really Wants to Stop Talking About Slavery

  by Michael Paul Williams

  “They wanted to yank the narrative of Montpelier away from slavery, despite all of their protestations to the contrary,” said board member James French, chair of the Montpelier Descendants Committee.

• 
• SOURCE: Vanity Fair
  4/21/2022
  

  Previewing Tulsa's New Bob Dylan Center

  by Douglas Brinkley

  "The center—a high-tech vessel holding the man’s oeuvre and an overview of the man—will be the spiritual home of Dylan, a relentless performer who is forever on the road."

• 
• SOURCE: NPR
  4/20/2022
  

  Montpelier Descendants Call Foul on Board over Firings

  The firing of three senior staff members who support the involvement of the Montpelier Descendants Committee in the public presentation of James Madison's estate, and the slavery practiced there, has raised questions about whether Montpelier is committed to historical honesty. 

• 
• SOURCE: Washington Post
  4/18/2022
  

  Montpelier Staffers: We Were Fired for Backing Descendants' Group

  The firings suggest that there is a backlash by members of the Montpelier board against recent changes in the presentation of James Madison's participation in slavery.