This page features brief excerpts of stories published by the mainstream
media and, less frequently, blogs, alternative media, and even obviously
biased sources. The excerpts are taken directly from the websites cited in
each source note. Quotation marks are not used.
Source: Mother Jones
4/2/2021
The popular historian and biographer Jon Meacham has been a major influence on Joe Biden's political outlook, and potentially on his policy agenda. Does a view of history informed by conflicts of virtue and values offer a path to fixing corrupted or hollowed-out institutions? Are academic historians jealous?
Source: The Nation
4/6/2021
by David A. Bell
Is Trumpism a fascist movement or a response to a power vacuum created by decades of neoliberal policies? Historian David A. Bell reviews Ruth Ben-Ghiat's "Strongmen" and argues that the book misses the specific context of Trumpism by making him an archetype of the authoritarian ruler.
Source: New York Times
5/6/2021
by Jamelle Bouie
NYT Columnist Jamelle Bouie relies on the historical writing of J. Morgan Kousser, who showed that disenfranchisement after 1877 affected African American and poor white southerners, was implemented through color-blind means, and had partisan, rather than simply racial, goals. But it was still Jim Crow, and the comparison to Georgia's new law is fair and valid.
Source: The Metropole
3/30/2021
by Katherine Rye Jewell
A review by historian Katherine Rye Jewell of Felicia Angeja Viator's new book on the rise of "gangsta" rap music in the context of racism, poverty and policing in South Los Angeles in the 1980s.
Source: Washington Post
3/31/2021
A new documentary examines the attack on Isaac Woodward in 1946, which catalyzed demands for full citizenship and civil rights.
Source: WNYC
3/31/2021
Historian Keri Leigh Merritt discusses the Amazon unionization vote in the context of southern labor history.
Source: Public Books
4/5/2021
by Jessica M. Parr
Books by Ana Lucia Araujo and Joan Wallach Scott examine the politics of memory and history and explain the stakes of fights over teaching and memorializing oppression.
Source: The Nation
4/6/2021
by Nelson Lichtenstein
Labor historian Nelson Lichtenstein says Gabriel Winant's book on the rise of the care industry is the story of community change in the last 50 years, with union retiree health care dollars reabsorbed by capital through the treatment of diseases of despair provoked by deindustrialization (with care provided by a workforce of women and people of color).
Source: TIME
3/30/2021
by Olivia B. Waxman
"There are more than 22 million Asian Americans (about 6% of the U.S. population), representing nearly 50 ethnic groups and speaking more than 100 languages, and they make up the fastest growing racial or ethnic group among eligible U.S. voters. Yet little of their story is taught in K-12 U.S. schools."
Source: The Atlantic
4/5/2021
by Caitlin Dickerson
Historian David Romo says that racist nativism is "ingrained in the culture and in the laws that are produced by that culture," but concealed by myths of a nation welcoming to immigrants. Also cited: Rose Cuison-Villazor, Daniel Tichenor, Mae Ngai, Donna Gabaccia and Adam Goodman.
Source: NPR
3/30/2021
Kevin Kruse explains that, while the Senate filibuster isn't inherently racist, it's been a popular tool for racist ends, and, rather than promoting compromise, has allowed a minority to kill legislation completely without the prospect of legislative give-and-take.
Source: D Magazine
3/30/2021
History Professor Michael Phillips of Collin College charges that the administration and local politicians are conducting a "purge" of progressive ideas from the campus.
Source: Washington Post
3/29/2021
Republicans claim three serious objections to DC statehood beyond partisan politics: that it violates the intent of the founders; that the district beyond Capitol Hill should be ceded back to Maryland; and that statehood would create a ridiculous scenario involving the Electoral College votes of the remaining federal district.
Source: Minneapolis Star-Tribune
3/28/2021
University of Minnesota Professor Keith Mayes discusses the trial as part of a long and broad history of Black Americans' experiences with policing.
Source: New York Times
3/26/2021
Aaron Bekemeyer's PhD dissertation research examines how police unions, like those in Suffolk County, NY, became powerful in the 20th Century. Jennifer Mittelstadt also comments on the exceptional status of police unions.
Source: Financial Times
3/29/2021
The effort to organize Amazon Workers in Bessemer, Alabama may succeed if it connects the cause of labor to broader civil rights issues that resonate with the local Black community and echo the involvement of Martin Luther King in struggles for workers and economic justice, say historians Keri Leigh Merritt and Michael Innis-Jiménez.
Source: New York Times
3/26/2021
Morris Dickstein was a fierce advocate for the necessity of cultural criticism as part of public discourse, to elevate public understanding of art above the vagaries of hype and trend.
Source: Smithsonian
3/23/2021
Paul Guardullo of the National Museum of African American History and Culture discusses the power dynamics in the 1931 south that made nine Black men vulnerable to a false rape accusation, and the way that the supporters of the Scottsboro Nine challenged unequal justice.
Source: The Atlantic
3/25/2021
Historical examples abound of public health crises exacerbating racial tensions and exclusions. Medical historian Alexandre White discusses his work on a plague pandemic in early 20th century South Africa
Source: Black Perspectives
3/26/2021
by Joshua Clark Davis
Teacher, writer and activist Daphne Muse has kept up correspondence with an incredible who's who list of Black artists, writers and organizers. Historian Joshua Clark Davis discusses this archive with her.
