Roundup

I Am A Veteran History Teacher. Let Me Teach History

by Valencia Ann Abbott

Culture wars and legislative battles over things like the 1619 Project and "critical race theory" have made classrooms "a minefield of political dos and don'ts," where facts and truths are treated as dangerous, says a veteran secondary school history instructor. 

The Lies Cops Tell and the Lies We Tell About Cops

by Stuart Schrader

"The core of policing is not safety. It is social control. All the other lies obfuscate this function."

How Napoleon’s Legacy Explains the Middle East’s Conflicts

by Yoav Tenembaum

An international relations scholar argues that the Middle East can be explained through the division of "revolutionary" and "status quo" interests that dates to Napoleon's challenges to the European imperial order. How other nations respond to the conflict will follow whether they favor the status quo. 

Billie Jean King, Foremother

by Robert Lipsyte

Billie Jean King's legacy runs far beyond tennis, and has become even more relevant with the passage of time as challenges to the doctrine of amateurism and the NCAA make clear. 

Republicans are Far More Radical than Democrats on Israel

by Max Boot

Post columnist Max Boot surveys the bipartisan field of US policy toward Israel and concludes that the absolute support for the Israeli right from the Republicans, driven by the importance of evangelical voters, is wholly unprecedented. 

We Stand in Solidarity With Nikole Hannah-Jones

by Ta-Nehisi Coates, Glenda Elizabeth Gilmore and Martha S. Jones

"The University’s Board of Trustees has failed to uphold the first order values of academic freedom and the free exchange of ideas. And too many lawmakers have wrongly deemed it their role to reach into classrooms and tell educators what to teach and how to teach it."

100 Years after the Tulsa Race Massacre, Lessons from my Grandfather

by Gregory B. Fairchild

The centennial of the Tulsa Race Massacre is a call to consider how disadvantaged communities can gain access to capital and build the kind of prosperity that characterized the Greenwood district before 1921 and eluded it afterward, says a professor of business whose grandfather survived the riot.

Academic Tenure Is Broken. Nikole Hannah-Jones’s Case Makes That Clear

by William Egginton

Many academics have objected to political interference in the University of North Carolina's decision to ignore the faculty recommendation to tenure Nikole Hannah-Jones as a Knight Foundation Chair of Journalism. This incident should not obscure the ways that the tenure system entrenches inequality when it works properly. 

Some Representations of Native Americans Erase their History

by Hayley Negrin

"Visibly racist and inaccurate representations of Indigenous people in public spaces send a message to Indigenous people everywhere that they are not in control of their own destiny, that they are not permitted to define themselves. The process of conquest continues."

Breaking Evangelical Resistance to Coronavirus Vaccines will be Hard

by Matthew Avery Sutton

COVID vaccination documents are the latest phenomenon that Evangelicals have integrated into an apocalyptic reading of scripture. This means up to a quarter of the US population may need extensive convincing to take the vaccine. 

What Scaremongering About Inflation Gets Wrong

by Rebecca L. Spang

Inflation has become a subject of political dread as Americans have shifted from seeing themselves as producers to seeing themselves as consumers. But historical perspective shows that policy picks winners and losers and is dependent on choices about what to measure and how.   

Andrea Mazzarino, A Pandemic of Sexual Assault in the Military?

Is it time to remove juridsiction for sexual assaults on military bases from the military? Military Health advocate Andrea Mazzarino argues that this is an overdue check on the militarization of American society. 

We Have Criticized Nikole Hannah-Jones. Her Tenure Denial Is a Travesty

by Keith E. Whittington and Sean Wilentz

Two scholarly critics of Nikole Hannah-Jones's 1619 Project say that the actions of the University of North Carolina Board of Trustees set a dangerous precedent for academic freedom. 

Why We Should Abolish the Campus Police

by Davarian L. Baldwin

University police forces are a major factor in strained relationships between colleges and their communities. Abolish them, says the author. 

Israel’s Problems Are Not Like America’s

by Matti Friedman

American supporters and critics have tended to view Israel through a lens shaped by American political concerns. 

How 24 Hours of Racist Violence Caused Decades of Harm

by Jeremy Cook and Jason Long

Census analysis shows how the Tulsa race massacre inaugurated a U-turn in the economic fortunes of the city's black community and gives a sense of the value of property lost. 

What is at Stake with Nikole Hannah-Jones Being Denied Tenure

by Siva Vaidhyanathan

"For more than a decade a powerful conservative cabal has been undermining academic research, freedom and excellence at what was until recently the pride of that rising and growing state."

The Roundup Top Ten for May 21, 2021

by HNN Staff

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

In Israel, the Violent Legacy of 1948

by Benny Morris

"The chaos in the towns of Lydda, Ramle, Haifa, Umm al-Fahm and Acre is a dim echo of the civil war between Palestine’s Jewish and Arab communities that engulfed the country during the first months of the 1948 war."

To Navigate the Dangers of the Web, You Need Critical Thinking – But Also Critical Ignoring

by Sam Wineburg

"Learning to ignore information is not something taught in school. School teaches to read a text thoroughly and closely before rendering judgment. But on the web, where a witches’ brew of advertisers, lobbyists, conspiracy theorists and foreign governments conspire to hijack attention, critical ignoring is just as important as critical thinking."