Roundup

Rewarding Failure

by William Astore

One place a little cancel culture could come in handy is in the halls of the Pentagon, where costly and pointless weapons programs prove impossible to kill off. 

The John Birch Society Never Left

by Rick Perlstein and Edward H. Miller

Journalists are calling for the Republicans to follow the lead of William F. Buckley and stand up to far-right extremists in their ranks. The problem is that neither Buckley nor the GOP of the 1960s did any such thing, instead perfecting the technique of speaking to two audiences. 

The Manifest Destiny Marauders Who Gave the “Filibuster” Its Name

by John Pat Leary

The original "filibusters" were mercenaries who invaded multiple Latin American nations in the interest of subverting their governments and establishing slaveholding colonies. Today the name is tied to procedural efforts to subvert democracy and impose minority rule. 

What the Election of Asian American GOP Women Means for the Party

by Jane Hong

The success of Asian-American Republican women candidates in Orange County suggests that the parties' efforts to appeal to a multiracial electorate must focus on the distinct histories and concerns of ethnic communities. 

The Problem With CNN’s Lincoln Documentary

by Kevin M. Levin

In a brief review, history educator and civil war scholar Kevin M. Levin says CNN's latest Lincoln documentary doesn't use the knowledge of a great roster of historians to full advantage. 

Socialite Mollie Moon Used Fashion Shows to Fund the Civil Rights Movement

by Tanisha C. Ford

Ebony Magazine's Fashion Fair offered a platform to Black designers while raising money for civil rights organizations – more than $60 million over a half-century. 

The Roundup Top Ten for March 5, 2021

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

Colleges Confront their Links to Slavery and Wrestle with How to Atone for Past Sins

by Calvin Schermerhorn

If colleges which exploited the labor of enslaved people in the past are interested in rectifying injustice, they should advocate for significant reforms that make higher education truly affordable for more African Americans. 

James Weldon Johnson’s Ode to the “Deep River” of American History

by David W. Blight

A biographer of the poet, novelist and activist James Weldon Johnson considers his “St. Peter Relates an Incident of the Resurrection Day” as a reflection on the necessity of persistence and hope even amid dire times. 

Making Revisionism Great Again: The Trouble With Trump’s Rewriting Of American History

by James W. Loewen

The 1776 commission quotes Frederick Douglass for its own peculiar purposes, so I shall end by quoting him for mine. “He is a lover of his country who rebukes and does not excuse its sins.”

Reflecting on Capitalism Through "I Care a Lot"

by Walter G. Moss

The new Netflix film "I Care a Lot" features a protagonist who preys on the elderly as an appointed conservator, and reflects the dangers of a social safety net entrusted to the profit motive. 

‘Moral Evil, Economic Good’: Whitewashing the Sins of Colonialism

by Sabelo J Ndlovu-Gatsheni

Recent efforts to reframe Europe's history of colonialism as a net contribution to human welfare are misguided, argues a scholar of African history. 

Attacking Sunday Voting is Part of a Long Tradition of Controlling Black Americans

by Rebecca Brenner Graham

Efforts to limit "souls to the polls" campaigns to bring Black voters to early voting stations after Sunday church services is part of a broader campaign of voting rights but also reflects longstanding conflicts revolving around Black Americans' traditional use of Sunday as a day of leisure and communal freedom. 

The Far Right’s Big Money Strategy Has Poisoned Our Politics

by Marc C. Johnson

The 1976 Supreme Court decision in Buckley v. Valeo ruled that spending money to influence a campaign is free speech, launching the era of big money in politics long before the much-maligned decision in Citizens United v. FEC. 

From Washington to Trump: What Is Dereliction of Duty?

by Lindsay Chervinsky

Public ideas of the presidential duty to defend the nation against foreign and domestic enemies have evolved over two centuries; if Donald Trump had been president in 1793, his response to a pandemic wouldn't have cost him reelection.   

Fifty Years Later, ‘Tapestry’s’ Hope And Optimism Still Resonates

by Tanya Pearson

"Sincere, earnest and personal, 'Tapestry' embodied the emerging political argument ‘the personal is political.’ This phrase became a defining characteristic of second wave feminism at a time when women and others challenged the institutions of marriage, the nuclear family and its values and state control of women’s reproductive rights."

Manipulating Frederick Douglass and His Historical Record

by Kevin M. Levin

Frederick Douglass intended his portraits as visual representations of freedom, autonomy and dignity. The author wonders if it's appropriate to take the liberty of indulging in the trendy photo animation technology with the portraits of historical figures. 

Toys are Ditching Genders for the Same Reason they First Took them On

by Paul Ringel

While social conservatives may bemoan the rise of gender-neutral toys as an attack on traditional values, the history of marketing to children suggests that the impetus for the change isn't coming from the "woke" but from the market. 

The Peace Corps and White Saviorism

by Jonathan Zimmerman

"By all means, let’s use the Peace Corps’ 60th anniversary to critique white saviors. Too many Americans still march blindly around the globe, imagining that they can make a difference by their mere presence. But some of the people attacking white saviorism have a savior complex of their own."

A Rapidly Globalizing World Needs Strengthened Global Governance

by Lawrence Wittner

"The world is currently engulfed in crises—most prominently, a disease pandemic, a climate catastrophe, and the prevalence of war—while individual nations are encountering enormous difficulties in coping with them."