Historians in the News

Digging into the History of the Former Dixie Shirt Textile Business in Spartanburg

Founded by an immigrant Jewish family who moved to Spartanburg from New York City, the Dixie Shirt Company connected the histories of American Jews, labor, industry, and war mobilization in the South. Furman historian Diane Vecchio uncovered the story as part of a plan to redevelop the site. 

Understanding a Political Cartoon: Nast & Reconstruction

Dr. Kimberly Kutz Elliott and Dr. Beth Harris take a close read of Thomas Nast's 1874 political cartoon, "The Union As It Was—Worse Than Slavery." (H/T to the Twitter feed of Kevin M. Levin!)

An Honest History of Texas Begins and Ends With White Supremacy

by Casey Michel

Amanda Vickery of the University of North Texas says that recent proposals in the Texas legislature for a curriculum of Texas patriotism won't acknowledge the way that slavery and white supremacy were central to the Republic of Texas. 

She Was Buried With a Silver Crown. Was She the One Who Held Power?

The double burial at La Almoloya and other Argaric graves are making archaeologists reconsider life in ancient Iberia. Was she the one wielding the power?

The Baddest Man in Town

by Eric McHenry

Writer Eric McHenry recounts picking up the documentary trail (started in the 1970s by John Russell David) of the notorious "Stagger Lee" Shelton, whose reign of terror in early 20th century St. Louis became immortalized in song and legend.

Oregon once Legally Banned Black People. Has the State Reconciled its Racist Past?

Activists in Oregon are working to recover knowledge of the state's forgotten African American history, which is as old as white settlement in the region. 

Tenure’s Broken Promise

The tenure system was established during historically flush times in higher ed, says historian John R. Thelin. Budgetary, ideological, and political changes affecting higher ed are calling into question whether academic work needs a different system. 

An Empire of Sanctions: A Syllabus from the Historians for Peace and Democracy

Members of the organization Historians for Peace and Democracy present a course dedicated to understanding the origins, ethics, and implications of using economic sanctions as an instrument of foreign policy. 

How Black Women Musicians Defined What We Call Culture

Daphne Brooks's new book "Liner Notes for the Revolution" examines the ways that Black women as creators, critics and consumers of popular music have advanced a political vision of transforming society. 

How Failed Quarantines Led to 20th-Century Measles Outbreaks

Misperception of the severity of measles contributed to loosely enforced and poorly observed quarantining around periodic outbreaks of the disease. 

Eat Like England’s First Non-Royal Ruler With This Propaganda-Filled Cookbook

Anti-Cromwell sentiments during the Restoration era ran high, and royalists used every possible venue to attack the Lord Protector's legacy. 

‘Imperially Nostalgic Racists’ Target Empireland Author With Hate Mail

The history of empire has become part of a growing British culture war, particularly since Black and brown British authors and historians have begun to weigh in with critical studies of imperialism. 

A Mansion Sale Built on the Myth of a Notorious Cow

The Chicago Fire of 1871 has been the wellspring of plenty of myths. A real estate listing for a southside mansion is just the latest. Historians Carl Smith and Ann Durkin Keating comment. 

Ken Burns Still Has Faith in a Shared American Story

"The most important thing about me talking about race now is to say that I am in a position where I have to be quiet. You have to be quiet. There are other voices that need to speak. The dismantling of white supremacy is not just white people continually talking about the dismantling of white supremacy. You have to shut up and listen."

Daryl Michael Scott: ‘Bad History and Worse Social Science Have Replaced Truth’

"If I thought that lies would set you free, maybe I would go along with lies. But I believe that you’re not going to lie your way out of it; you’re going to think your way out of it."

Walter LaFeber, Historian Who Dissected Diplomacy, Dies at 87

Walter LaFeber was an influential scholar of diplomacy whose work balanced analysis of institutions and individual influence, challenged views of American exceptionalism, and even capably wrote about how Michael Jordan explained globalization. 

Women’s Experiences Matter? Natalie Kimball’s An Open Secret: The History of Unwanted Pregnancy and Abortion in Modern Bolivia

"Women’s experiences matter – this simple truth is at the core of Natalie Kimball’s brilliant new exploration into the tragic history of unwanted pregnancy and abortion in highland Bolivia over the past sixty years."

The Underground Activists Who Fought for Freedom Across Asia

by Jeffrey Wasserstrom

A new book on the movements against colonial rule in Asia looks to grassroots movements and multiple ideological and political groups and challenges "great man" ideas of national liberation. 

Dr. Philip Nel on the Legacy of Dr. Seuss

"A lot of people have a hard time wrapping their heads around the idea that an artist and a writer can be both a genius and a racist, can do brilliant work and be profoundly damaging. Those are not mutually exclusive categories."

The Roots of Racial and Spatial Inequality

by Kimberley S. Johnson

As part of the AAIHS's roundtable on Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor's "Race For Profit," urban studies scholar Kimberley Johnson looks at the ways that generations of housing policy enabled banks to write predatory loans to Black buyers, profiting first by high interest, then by foreclosure, while blaming outcomes on the individual irresponsibility of Black borrowers.