Historians in the News

The Militias Against Masks

After its emergence in the 1990s, the Michigan militia movement was dormant until the Obama years. The state's COVID lockdowns have brought a mix of libertarians, racists and anti-government radicals into a prominent public role again. 

Read Thousands of Abraham Lincoln’s Newly Transcribed Letters Online

The missives, preserved by the Library of Congress, include notes to and from the beloved president.

The Conceit of American Indispensability [review]

In his new book, Samuel Zipp Zipp explores the resonance of Willkie’s international ideas through the story of his most quixotic venture.

The ‘Rage Moms’ Democrats Are Counting On

“Women are mobilized on a bigger scale than we’ve seen in a generation at least,” said historian Annelise Orleck.

A History of Presidential Lies (video)

Author Eric Alterman discusses the history of presidential lying and connects the increased power of the executive to the tendency to propount "alternative facts." 

‘No Slavery in Australia’? These Pacific Islanders Tell a Different Story

The Black Lives Matter movement has offered a rare moment for the descendants of plantation laborers brought aboard ships in the 19th century to make their family histories known.

The Texas Rangers' Lore Spurred Cultural Fawning and Sports Namesakes that have Long Masked a History of Violence and Racism

John Morán González (University of Texas) and Benjamin Johnson (Loyola University, Chicago) founded Refusing to Forget, an organization that hopes to educate people about state-sanctioned violence against Tejanos in the early 20th century, including by the Texas Rangers.

Shirley Chisholm’s Historic Presidential Run Helped Lead To This Moment

“She bridged so many different constituencies and she was an excellent model of the power of grassroots campaigns,” Miami University historian Tammy Brown told Vox.

When Trump Calls a Black Woman ‘Angry,’ He Feeds This Racist Trope

Michael Eric Dyson, Brittney Cooper and other scholars discuss how Trump's insult of Senator Kamala Harris fits a historial stereotype of Black women who assert themselves as angry. 

Rick Perlstein: 'If you're not writing about the berserk, you're not writing about America' (Interview)

The historian has completed his epic on the rise of the US right – just in time for Donald Trump’s attempt to hold on to his throne.

Amid a Racial Reckoning, Teachers are Reconsidering how History is Taught

NBC News spoke with teachers around the country who said they were working to reshape lesson plans to better reflect the fullness of America's multicultural history.

A Saint's Sins

Columnist Elizabeth Breunig consults historians including James Sandos, Robert Senkiewicz and Steven Hackel to evaluate how the canonization of Father Junipero Serra among Catholics and his memorialization by Californians squares with recognition of atrocities committed against Native Americans by Spanish colonizers. 

'It's a Struggle They Will Wage Alone.' How Black Women Earned the Right to Vote

by Olivia Waxman

Historian Martha S. Jones discusses her new book "Vanguard" and the way that the 19th Amendment marked a beginning, rather than an end, of the struggle to secure the vote for all women. 

The Harvard Professor Who Told the World That Jesus Had a Wife (Review)

A new book details Karen King's 2012 discovery of a papyrus scrap suggesting that Jesus had a wife whose existence was concealed from posterity. As it turns out, the discovery was a fraud. 

For Black Suffragists, the Lens Was a Mighty Sword

Photographs of generations of Black suffragists offer invaluable documents about their thwarted and central roles in the history of women’s rights.

In Women’s Suffrage, a Spotlight for Unsung Pioneers

The New York Times will run a special section highlighting the contributions of lesser-known champions of suffrage and the political rights of women. 

A Powerful New Memorial To UVA’s Enslaved Workers Reclaims Lost Lives And Forgotten Narratives

The memorial's design uses "memory marks" to stand in for the names of enslaved people whose labors built the university.

Unearthing New Histories of Black Appalachia (Review)

by Jillean McCommons

Tension between Black and white memory of the founding of Liberia, South Carolina drives John M. Coggeshall’s study, which adds significant insight to the history of Black Appalachia.

Network of Concerned Historians Releases 2020 Annual Report on Global Incidents of Repression of Historians

The Network of Concerned Historians releases a comprehensive report of global incidents of censorship, government suppression, archival restriction, or private harassment campaigns against historians for the past year. 

Shirley Chisholm Blazed the Way for Kamala Harris to be Biden’s VP Pick

“I am not the candidate for Black America, although I am Black and proud. I am not the candidate of the women’s movement of this country, although I am a woman and I’m equally proud of that. I am not the candidate of any political bosses or fat cats or special interests.”