Roundup

A Supreme Court Case Poses a Threat to L.G.B.T.Q. Foster Kids

by Stephen Vider and David S. Byers

State and local social service agencies for decades have been actively working to protect the safety and dignity of queer youth in the foster care system. A Supreme Court case threatens that progress in the name of "religious freedom." 

How To Be An Anti-Anti-Racist

by John Torpey

Right-wing objections to "wokeness" or racial sensitivity training are to be expected. But it's been politically damaging to people who want to reduce racial inequality to root antiracist politics in symbols, representation and language, a sociologist and historian argues. 

It’s Time for an Overhaul of Academic Freedom

by Emily J. Levine

The idea of academic freedom doesn't account for the present precarity of most university teachers, and doesn't rest on a positive concept of what professors should do with students and the public. 

Give Kids the "Summer Slowdown" They Need

by David M. Perry

Many parents, teachers and academics included, may wonder what they can do to fix the damage of COVID on kids' emotional health. The author suggests considering doing little. 

The Fog of History Wars

by David W. Blight

Nations have histories, and someone must write and teach them, but the 1990s battle over the National Standards for History remains a warning to all those who try – setting a history curriculum is politics by other means, and the right has always been willing to fight over it.

Conspiracies in the Classroom

by Elizabeth Stice

"Colleges and universities and faculty have a responsibility to ground their disciplines in truth claims that go deeper than the rabbit holes of the internet and to graduate students who are capable of distinguishing between conspiracy and reality."

9/11 and 1/6: How an American Nightmare Becomes Real

by Timothy Snyder

A historian and analyst of democratic collapse describes a slow-moving nightmare unfolding to ensure minoritarian rule. Will Americans, and their elected representatives, wake up in time? 

Social Fissures have Made Building a Broad Liberal Coalition Hard for 50 Years

by Steven M. Gillon

Hostility toward the welfare state, frequently driven by the idea that government programs unfairly benefit minorities at the expense of whites, has prevented the Democratic party from consolidating a political majority for decades. Worshipping fallen heroes like Robert Kennedy obscures the political work needed to build and keep a coalition.

Solomon's Peace Accord

by David Marks

Can Israelis and Palestinians imagine and implement a Solomonic peace? 

The Roundup Top Ten for June 4, 2021

by HNN Staff

The best opinion writing by historians and about history from around the web this week. 

The Reconstruction Origins of "Black Wall Street"

by Alexandra E. Stern

Understanding Tulsa's Black Wall Street as a product of the rise and fall of Reconstruction helps to think more productively about how the Tulsa massacre speaks to the policy problems of racial justice. 

How Cruelty Became the Point of Our Labor and Welfare Policies

by Gail Savage

The persistence of Malthusian thinking in social welfare debates is leading to policies that create needless suffering and a corrosion of the common bonds of humanity that sustain a society.

What We Believe About History

by Kristin Kobes Du Mez

"Understanding that beliefs have a history does not preclude a commitment to truths outside of history. But it does prompt believers to consider how historical forces and cultural allegiances may have shaped their own deeply held convictions."

Beyond the Nation-State

by Claire Vergerio

Much of what has been told about the rise of the nation-state from the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 is wrong. Reevaluating the history of the nation-state is essential for conceptualizing solutions to local and global problems that defy the logic of the nation-state.

Race, Free Speech, and the Purge of Campus Blasphemers

by Jonathan Zimmerman

An adjunct literature instructor at St. John's University has fallen victim to an adminstration's desire to make complex teaching challenges – like how to evaluate Twain's use of racial slurs in the context of satire – into simple rules. 

The Unbearable Easiness of Killing

by Arie M. Dubnov

"As a colleague justly commented, it is only helpful to call a situation ‘complicated’ if one is committed to unfolding the package, willing to examine its contents and prepared to be surprised by what one finds hidden inside."

Shot 55 Years Ago while Marching Against Racism, James Meredith Reminds Us that Powerful Movements can Include those with Very Different Ideas

by Aram Goudsouzian

Meredith’s historical meaning is slippery, but that very inability to pin him down can teach important lessons – not only for how to remember the 1960s, but for how to think about social change.

Japanese American Soldiers in World War II Fought the Axis Abroad and Racial Prejudice at Home

by Susan H. Kamei

The USPS has just released a stamp commemorating the service of the Japanese-American 100th/442nd combat unit in Europe during World War II. It's equally important to remember the way that veterans of that unit fought remaining racial prejudice after the war. 

Biden Will Allow Undocumented Students To Access Pandemic Relief

by Sarah R. Coleman

The reversal of the Trump administration's exclusion of the undocumented from aid programs helping students meet basic needs is one step toward reconsidering the connection between immigration policy and the American social safety net, where students have often been on the front lines. 

My Son Was Killed In Iraq 14 Years Ago — Who’s Responsible?

by Andrew Bacevich

"Even today, the electorate shows little inclination to rethink the core assumptions informing basic US national security policy. Supporting the troops means suppressing second thoughts, asking few questions, and shoveling more money to the Pentagon."