Roundup

We Don't Need to Pretend Clarence Thomas Can Read the Founders' Minds

by Heidi Li Feldman and Dahlia Lithwick

The approach to "original intent" laid out in recent gun control rulings imagines the founders as capable only of the most cramped and limited understanding of the function of law in a society, argue a legal scholar and veteran court reporter. 

Ukrainian Civilians' Experience of Violence

by Anne Applebaum and Nataliya Gumenyuk

Russian soldiers exposed to propaganda that Ukrainians were unwilling subjects of their local governments expected civilian support to capture political leaders; when this expectation was confounded, they unleashed violence. 

Militarized Super Bowl Abuses Truth of Pat Tillman's Life and Death

by William Astore

Tillman’s statue captures the essence of a man full of life. His death by friendly fire in a misbegotten war, made worse by the lies told to the Tillman family by the U.S. military, reminds us that the essence of war is death. The NFL, as a sponsored partner of the Pentagon, would like us to forget.

Even In Death, Black Americans Denied Dignified Rest

by Greg Melville

Lacking legal protection, historic African American cemeteries face serious threats from neglect and redevelopment. 

HBCUs and the 1950s Red Scare

by Candace Cunningham

South Carolina officials were able to use the purse strings to coerce public HBCU administrators to expel student activists. When private HBCUs became centers of sit-in organizing, state legislators turned to accusations of Communism. 

Why Did it Take Until 2023 for Two Black QB's to Start the Super Bowl?

by Kate Aguilar

While Patrick Mahomes bested Jalen Hurts in Sunday's Super Bowl, historically the game signified the slow eclipse of prejudices keeping Black players from the all-important quarterback position.

Originalism Will Kill Women

by Madiba K. Dennie

"Originalist ideology glorifies an era of blatant oppression along racial, gender, and class lines, transforming that era’s lowest shortcomings into our highest standards."

In "Argentina, 1985" Progressive Values Win

by Walter G. Moss

The true story depicted in the Oscar-nominated film shows the necessity of persistence and the power of hope. 

Trauma of Tyre Nichols's Killing Echoes in Many Places

by Michael Honey

A police killing in Tacoma prompts a historian to reflect on the radical traditions of nonviolent resistance led by Martin Luther King, and the need for hopefulness in struggle. 

The Roundup Top Ten for February 10, 2023

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

Yes, DEI Can Conflict with Academic Freedom—and Academic Freedom Should Win

by Amna Khalid and Jeffrey Aaron Snyder

Many scholars have crafted careful rationales for why free inquiry and formal policies on inclusion can coexist peacefully. The Hamline University incident shows that, in a moment of crisis, administrators won't deliberate, but will follow a policy script in ways that disempower faculty, infantilize students, and become blunt instruments for reactionaries.

The Blindness of Colorblindness: Revisiting "When Affirmative Action was White"

by Ira Katznelson

The author of a key work on the way racial discrimination was built into the New Deal and postwar American social policy addresses objections to his book two decades later, and concludes that white supremacy and the influence of southern conservatives over legislation are still powerful explanations. 

Femicides are Increasing in America; History Says we Shouldn't be Surprised

by Kimberly A. Hamlin

The term "femicide" is rarely used to describe the killing of women by men (often intimate partners), but it's an apt description for the way that gendered and sexual violence have been part of the fabric of the nation's history and constitute a systemic, not a personal, danger to women.

Did DeSantis Claim More Credit than he Deserves for the College Board's Retreat?

by Adam Laats

The College Board faced immense public criticism for its revised standards for the AP US History exam in 2014, and caved to the demands of conservative Southerners. If Florida's governor deserves credit (or blame) it's for predicting they'd cave again. 

Deconstructing "The Child"

by Jules Gill-Peterson

Since the Victorian era, Anglo-American conceptions of childhood have worked ideologically to place children at risk of harm through the justifying idea of love, and hide the reality that only a tiny percentage of young people experience youth as protected, secure, and nurtured. 

Pride in the South is a Story of Resistance and Resilience

by La Shonda Mims

In the urban south, LGBTQ residents are drawing on a half century of claiming public space through pride celebrations in the face of efforts to label them a threat to society. 

The End of Tenure and the Transformation of Higher Ed

by Marc Stein

The decline in "tenure density"—the proportion of faculty in tenured or tenure-track jobs—is a dire threat to American higher education. 

What's Behind the Spy Balloon Hysteria?

by Heather Cox Richardson

The February 2023 Chinese Spy Balloon Incident will be remembered by historians—not for its international significance but for the over-the-top response of a Republican opposition detached from reality. 

If Affirmative Action is Banned, Colleges Need to Do Wealth-Based Admissions Right

by Peter Dreier, Richard D. Kahlenberg and Melvin L. Oliver

Omitting family wealth from admissions decisions harms educational equity twice over, because wealth is so influential over opportunity and because it correlates so strongly with race. 

The Classified Info Uproar Shows Americans' Distrust of Secrecy

by Katlyn Marie Carter

"This suspicion of secrecy is why the way in which we handle classified material matters — especially if American leaders want to maintain trust in our democracy."