Historians in the News

U-M Medical Historian Says It Appears History Is Repeating Itself In Our Current Pandemic

Medical Historian Alex Navarro warns that resistance to vaccines and public health measures are likely to prolong the COVID pandemic the way they did the 1919 influenza. 

The Health Care Crucible (Review)

Gabriel Winant's "The Next Shift" examines the shift from industrial manufacturing toward care work as the economic base of the Rust Belt, where profit comes from treating the old, sick, and poor of one generation of the working class through the labor of the next generation.

Register for Profs and Pints with Denver Brunsman: The 1814 Burning of Washington

Historian Denver Brunsman will join the Profs and Pints series of (virtual) discussions to talk about the British attack on Washington in 1814 and its impact on American nationalism and the local urban boosters of the capital city. 

The First ‘Vaccine Passports’ Were Scars from Smallpox Vaccinations

Faced with unreliable and falsifiable documentation, public health authorities at the turn of the 20th century demanded physical proof of vaccination: the scarring left by the early technique, says smallpox historian Michael Willrich.

Unsung and Unknown — Graphic Biography Details Life of First Black Lieutenant Governor, Oscar Dunn

Professor Brian Mitchell's path into history began with a teacher's disbelief that one of his relatives had been the Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana. He now tells the story of Oscar Dunn in a graphic form to make it as widely accessible as possible. 

Baylor Professor Argues 'Biblical Womanhood' More Cultural Than Biblical

Beth Allison Barr argues that contemporary Christianity's doctrines on gender roles in the family are influenced more by the historical claim to power by men than by clear scriptural dictate, and that there are numerous historical examples of differently-ordered gender roles in Christianity. 

Is Congress Falling for Scheme to Ruin Civics and History Classes?

Education scholar Mark Bauerlein has criticized the new Civics Secures Democracy Act as a subsidy for politically correct indoctrination in schools, though others disagree with his recent Manhattan Institute findings. 

Miami Professor Writes Book for Young Readers about Roosevelt’s Fight with Polio

Journalism professor and FDR biographer James Tobin describes the work of making the story of Roosevelt's battle with polio and its effect on his political life accessible to young readers.

Don’t Cancel John Muir (But Don't Excuse Him Either)

Reckoning with John Muir's legacy of racial prejudice isn't just about imposing moral purity, it's about rethinking the conservation movement to include the broad coalition of humanity needed to protect natural resources. 

Black Soldiers and the Civil War

by Aston Gonzalez

Deborah Willis's book "The Black Civil War Soldier" utilizes visual imagery other historians have often passed over to describe how Black soldiers understood military service in relation to their hopes for future economic, political, and familial security. 

Washington History Seminar – Until Justice Be Done: America’s First Civil Rights Movement, from the Revolution to Reconstruction

Professor Kate Masur joins the Washington History Seminar on Monday, April 19 to discuss "Until Justice Be Done: America’s First Civil Rights Movement, from the Revolution to Reconstruction."

Washington History Seminar – Stalin: Passage to Revolution, Monday, April 12

Ronald Grigor Suny of the University of Michigan joins the Washington History Seminar on Monday, April 12 to discuss "Stalin: Passage to Revolution" at 

2021 Winners of the Guggenheim Fellowship are Announced

Historians are prominently represented among the just-announced winners of the Guggenheim Foundation Fellowships for 2021.

Devoted to the Deaf, Did Alexander Graham Bell Do More Harm Than Good?

Alexander Graham Bell's invention of the telephone was, a new biographer argues, an adjunct to his passion for "oralism," a movement to encourage deaf people to speak and to reject sign language, a commitment that appears oppressive and intolerant from the perspective of the modern disability movement. 

Retro Report Presents: How an Abstinence Pledge in the ’90s Shamed a Generation of Evangelicals

Retro Report's latest collaboration with the New York Times examines the roots and social impact of Evangelical purity culture, both for individuals and American society's approach to sexuality. 

Can Joe Biden Replicate FDR’s Success in Rebuilding the Democrats’ Coalition?

Eric Rauchway's latest book on the FDR era shows that the New Deal was a complex undertaking, administered often through local channels, which meant it sometimes enabled democracy and sometimes suppressed it. The Biden administration can win allegiance from voters by expanding the safety net and strategic spending, but it won't be simple. 

‘This is Environmental Racism’: How a Protest in a North Carolina Farming Town Sparked a National Movement

After decades of struggle with little access to resources or power, activists in the environmental justice movement have placed racial equity at the center of the President's environmental agenda.   

AHA Issues Letter Regarding Proposed Termination of Tenured Faculty Members at Salem State University (April 2021)

The AHA urges Salem State (MA) University to reconsider an announced plan to terminate four tenured faculty positions in its history department in a public letter addressed to President John Keenan and Provost David Silva.

'This is still being suppressed': OU professor's book of recovered photos preserves history of Tulsa Race Massacre

by Ari Fife

Oklahoma University historian Karlos Hill has published a photographic history of the 1921 Tulsa race massacre, working to bridge images often created by hostile whites to the experiences of Black survivors. 

How a Chicago Teacher Sparked a 'Memory War,' Forcing Lithuania to Confront its Nazi Past

Siliva Foti's family history project became a book that challeged Lithuania's official narrative about its role in the Holocaust, and exposed her grandfather's active role in the extermination of thousands of Lithuanian Jews.