Roundup

Meatpacking Work has Become Less Safe. Now it Threatens Our Meat Supply

by Chris Deutsch

The modern food system rests on a thin reed of worker abuse and poor sanitation that covid-19 has finally broken.

The Policy Mistakes from the 1990s that have Made Covid-19 Worse

by Heather Ann Thompson

Politicians should have learned that the walls they imagine separating those serving time from those outside are, in fact, completely porous.

As with Vietnam in the 1960s, COVID-19 is Exposing Racial Fault Lines in the U.S.

by Emily L. Quint Freeman

The author risked prison to try to break the connection between the U.S. war in Vietnam and domestic racism. 

The Beginning of the End for Oil?

by Michael T. Klare

If there is a silver lining to the COVID-19 pandemic, it is that it creates the conditions necessary to do what we have known was necessessary for decades: drastically curtail fossil fuel consumption.

Time to Reflect on 75th Anniversary of the Liberation of WWII Concentration Camps

by Rick Halperin

A human rights scholar uges us to honor the anniversaries of allied liberation of Nazi concentration camps by seeing our current individual travails through the perspective of our common humanity.

During Epidemics, Media (and now Social Media) have Always Helped People to Connect

by David Paul Nord

For several hundred years, people have used media — reading, writing and print — to maintain human contact and community in times of epidemic disease.

Roundup Top Ten for May 1, 2020

The top ten op-eds by historians or about history from around the web this week.  

My Native American Father Drew the Land O’Lakes Maiden. She was Never a Stereotype.

by Robert DesJarlait

The son of the Red Lake Ojibwe artist who redesigned "Mia" contends that taking her image off the butter package destroys a symbolic connection between indigenous people and place. 

Queen of Heaven, Empress of Hell

by Vanessa R. Corcoran

Contemporary depictions of Mary tend to be gentle in their holiness, but Christians centuries ago envisioned her as a powerful agent who fought for their salvation.

A History of Inconvenient Allies and Convenient Enemies

by Alexander Aviña

The history of American alliances abroad doesn't make sense as a drug control strategy, but is consistent with a strategy of invoking the war on drugs to punish governments that resist U.S. domination.

If the Great Depression Is Any Indication, Things Won’t Just Go Back to ‘Normal’ After the Coronavirus Pandemic Ends

by James C. Cobb

New Deal programs had difficulty returning the United States to "normal" life because FDR had difficulty persuading many Americans that the federal government was supporting their economic security. This failure makes a comprehensive response to COVID-19 less politically feasible.

States Are in Crisis. Why Won’t Trump Help?

by Lizabeth Cohen

The abandonment of a federalist system where states are accountable to Washington and residents everywhere can expect equitable treatment is recasting the United States of America to favor States over United. 

Trump's Outrageous Suggestion Comes with a Dark History

by Jennifer Le Zotte and Jacob Steere-Williams

This is not the first time that disinfectants appeared at the center of a health crisis or as part of a politicized resistance to sound medical advice.

The (Yelling) Mothers of Us All

by Rachel Shteir

A review of Leandra Zarnow's biography of Bella Abzug, "Battling Bella: The Protest Politics of Bella Abzug."

How Past Crises Changed America’s Public Schools — ‘And so too Will COVID-19’

by Ann Marie Ryan and Charles Tocci

While this certainly feels unprecedented, the history of American public schooling shows us it's not.

The Founders Never Intended the U.S. Postal Service to be Managed like a Business

by Richard R. John

The mail delivery agency is supposed to serve the public good — not worry about profit.

Why History is Hard — and Dangerous — to Teach and how to Get Kids to Stop Thinking it is ‘Boring and Useless’

by Edward Ayers

Young people love history, just not history as it is forced upon them.

As Coronavirus Magnifies America’s Housing Crisis, FDR's New Deal Could Offer a Roadmap Forward

by Jill Watts

The coronavirus crisis has exposed one of America's greatest needs: adequate and safe housing.

Public Health Isn't the Enemy of Economic Well-Being

by Melanie A. Kiechle

Public health is a prerequisite for a functional—or booming—economy. And failing to adequately invest in public health over time has made the pandemic worse.

Martin Luther King Jr. Predicted This Moment

by Gene Sperling

Today, we are forced to confront the dissonance between our nation’s labeling of workers as “essential” and “heroes” and their limited wages, benefits and ability to organize.