Historians in the News

The Real Black Panthers

Historian Donna Murch joins NPR's The Throughline to discuss the Black Panther Party's agenda and its targeting by J. Edgar Hoover's FBI. 

What Do We Want in a First Lady?

Books by historian Julia Sweig and journalist Karen Tumulty examine the stated and unstated expecations of the role of First Lady through the stories of Lady Bird Johnson and Nancy Reagan. 

What Does President Biden Need To Understand About Mexico?

Historian Patrick Iber discusses the current politics of Mexico and the historical nature of the country's relationship with its northern neighbor. 

Anglo-Saxon’ Is What You Say When ‘Whites Only’ Is Too Inclusive

by Adam Serwer

Anglo-Saxonism is the belief in a mythical ethnic origin story of the American nation that has always been used to justify exclusion. 

How the LAPD Guarded California’s Borders in the 1930s

Los Angeles's conservative establishment used tropes of cultural inferiority to justify efforts to stop poor white Dust Bowl refugees from entering the state in the 1930s, 

The Woman Who Made van Gogh

Jo Van Gogh-Bonger, the painter's sister-in-law, has come in for reconsideration for her role in promoting his work to the world. 

Two Madison Profs Make 'Collegeland' Podcast About University Life

Historians Nan Enstad and Lisa Levenstein have produced a podcast that tells the stories of college campuses as places of learning, work, and socialization, seeking to counter both right-wing demonization of campus liberalism and the rose-colored view of university PR. 

Did A Black Undercover NYPD Detective Unwittingly Aid Malcolm X’s Assassination?

A posthumous letter attributed to former NYPD Detective Ray Wood details a sting operation that resulted in the arrest of two of Malcolm X's bodyguards days before his assassination. Debate has raged if the letter is authentic and, if it is, if it reflects NYPD involvement in a conspiracy to kill Malcolm. 

Nancy Reagan’s Real Role in the AIDS Crisis

Washington journalist Karen Tumulty writes that Nancy Reagan worked against the demands of social conservatives to ask her husband's administration to pay attention to the AIDS crisis, but her efforts weren't enough. 

F.D.R. Didn’t Just Fix the Economy

Times columnist Jamelle Bouie draws on the work of historian Eric Rauchway to argue that Franklin Roosevelt envisioned the New Deal as a renewal of core democratic principles that the government should serve the needs of the people and be accountable to them. 

My Grandfather Fled the Nazis. I Moved to His Old Neighborhood

by Laura Moser

The writer reflects on the meaning of her journey as an American Jew to first claim German citizenship and then move to the town her grandfather had fled. 

Whither the Religious Left?

by Matthew Sitman

Has the considerable effort spent for decades to court a "religious left" as a Democratic constituency been a waste of time? Why haven't faith-based social justice movements been more signiicant in the party's base? 

The Book That Stopped an Outbreak of Nuclear War

Serhii Plokhy adds new insight to the Cuban Missile Crisis by examining the domestic political context of the Soviet Union and the political incentives toward nuclear brinksmanship. 

“Containment and Control, Not Care or Cure”: An Interview with Elizabeth Catte on Virginia’s Eugenics Movement

by Sarah Calise

"I decided to have a 'turn to the camera' moment in Pure America and just explicitly say that I think the eugenicists I write about are rotten people, not particularly smart or even interesting, and that I’d present evidence they lied and bluffed and enjoyed hurting people."

How White Fears of ‘Negro Domination’ Kept D.C. Disenfranchised for Decades

George Derek Musgrove and Chris Myers-Asch, authors of "Chocolate City: A History of Race and Democracy in the Nation's Capital" have recently written a report for a nonprofit advocating DC statehood. They argue that Congressional efforts to disempower DC residents after 1871 have reflected White fears of Black political power. 

The Sun Never Set on the British Empire’s Oppression

While nationalist leaders in postcolonial states win political support by invoking heroic struggle to defeat British imperialism, they are very happy to use the repressive laws of colonialism against dissidents today. 

Sounds of Freedom: The Music of Black Liberation

Shana Redmond and Rickey Vincent discuss their research, which deals with the ways that musical expression has been integrated into the politics of Black freedom in different moments (and different musical styles, including the Black Panther Party's own funk band). 

How Americans Lost Their Fervor for Freedom (Review of Louis Menand)

by Evan Kindley

Before lamenting the death of "freedom" as the highest social ideal, it's important to reckon seriously with what the term means outside of the context of the Cold War.

Teaching: More Pandemic-Driven Innovations Professors Like

"The themes running through all of these innovations are flexibility and engagement: The more ways in which people can participate in the classroom, contribute to discussions, and share their ideas, readers found, the more learning improves."

Professor Imani Perry Looks At Police Violence Through Lens Of History

The Princeton professor of African American Studies discusses earlier patterns of state-sanctioned violence against African Americans and the politics of images of police violence.