Roundup

Cities and States need Aid – But Also Oversight

by Daniel Wortel-London and Brent Cebul

The history of New Deal-era federal aid to local governments suggests that cities need both funds and strict oversight; programs that worked through local business elites often created unsupportable demands on local finances. 

Female Husbands

by Jen Manion

Far from being a recent or 21st-century phenomenon, people have chosen, courageously, to trans gender throughout history.

Ask Who Paid for America’s Universities

by Tristan Ahtone and Robert Lee

The Morrill Act created endowment funds from land that the U.S. Government took from Native Americans with little or no compensation. Addressing the problems of public universities must not exclude addressing the problems of Native communities.

The New Federalism

by Gary Gerstle

States have once again become the innovators in American political life and the institutions that are taking their democratic remit seriously.

As the World Churns

by Peter Manseau

The story behind 'Mia,' the Native American woman who was the face on Land O'Lakes butter packaging for almost a century.

How Martin Luther King Jr.'s Groundless Traffic Ticket Changed History's Course

by Michael Warren

The incident, that took place on this day 60 years ago, proved to be the catalyst for electoral change.

Coronavirus Is Making The Case For Black Reparations Clearer Than Ever

by William A. Darity Jr. and A. Kirsten Mullen

America has failed to seize previous chances to eliminate racial inequality and grant black Americans access to the same opportunities as whites.

Loosening Public-Health Restrictions Too Early Can Cost Lives.

by Nancy Bristow

On Jan. 25, 1919, nearly 2,000 San Franciscans showed up at Dreamland Rink for a public meeting of the Anti-Mask League.

The Coronavirus Could Rewrite the Rules for Silicon Valley

by Margaret O'Mara

The blue-collar workers who power the digital economy — including fulfillment center workers and app-based couriers — are pushing for higher pay and better protection, just as Detroit autoworkers did 90 years ago.

Preserving Postal Service and Mail Voting is Essential

by Andrew W. Kahrl

If you are shocked that Republicans would use this crisis to end the postal service as we know it, then you haven’t been paying attention.

How to Run for President in the Middle of a Pandemic

by Jon Grinspan

In the 19th century, ordinary citizens did incredible amounts of work for their parties, while nominees sat idle.

Remembering the Jackson State Tragedy

by Nancy K. Bristow

The violence wasn’t caused by anti-war student protest; it was another chapter in the long history of state violence against African Americans.

Four Students Were Killed in Ohio. America Was Never the Same.

by Richard M. Perloff

Fifty years after May 4, public expression of unpopular views remains endemic to democracy. 

How the Coronavirus Will — or Should — Transform Graduate Education

by Dennis M. Hogan and Rithika Ramamurthy

The polite fiction of graduate school as an apprenticeship for a future academic career, which has been under strain for many years, now faces obliteration.

Harsh Rhetoric Tears Us Apart — And Can Make Violence Seem Acceptable

by Charles Holden, Zach Messitte and Jerald Podair

The pugilistic speeches that caused Agnew’s political star to rise also eroded Americans’ bonds of empathy at a time when the nation desperately needed statesmanship.

COVID-19 and the Color Line

by Colin Gordon, Walter Johnson, Jason Q. Purnell, and Jamala Rogers

The disproportionate toll COVID-19 has taken on black Americans is a product of conscious choices by actors at every level of government and private industries like banking, insurance and real estate. 

V-E Day Plus 75

by Andrew Bacevich

What the present pandemic drives home is that protecting Americans while also creating an environment in which all citizens can flourish is going to require a radical revision of American national security policies based in Baby Boomers' interpretation of the meaning of World War II.

Lessons from Labor History can Inform our Labor Movement During COVID-19 Crisis

by Peter Rachleff

The story of the 1934 Twin Cities' Teamsters strike story shows how the union won better lives for its members by linking workers and their families to the union, other unions, and the community.

Three Books Remind Us What Presidential Leadership Looks Like

by Louis P. Masur

An American historian reflects on the books he's read that offer inspiration for the current crisis. 

The Country has been Through a Draining, News-Packed April Before

by Christopher B. Daly

By the end of April 1945, the institutions of American journalism generally met the challenges of an overwhelming torrent of news and helped other American institutions manage military, political and economic transition.