Roundup

Nuclear Fears Clouding Thinking on Ukraine

by Timothy Snyder

"Once we turn our attention to a hypothetical exchange of missiles, we get to imagine that we are the victims.  Suddenly the actual war no longer seems to matter, since our lives (we imagine) are at risk.  And the Ukrainians seem to be at fault."

Rosa Parks: Radical

by Jeanne Theoharis

At the 110th anniversary of her birth, it's important to remember the civil rights icon as a militant organizer and career activist, writes the author of a new biography. 

Florida is Working to Roll Back a Century of Academic Freedom Protections

by Glenn C. Altschuler and David Wippman

Although Florida's "STOP Woke" and "Don't Say Gay" legislation has drawn attention, a far more radical claim is hiding in the state's court cases in defense of the laws: that there is no intellectual freedom for state university professors, whose speech is identical to the policies of the state. 

What Happens if We Read Jay Gatsby as "Passing"?

by Alonzo Vereen

A high school literature teacher found his students were better able to engage with the classic if they stopped assuming that it's title character was a white man. 

The Roundup Top Ten for February 3, 2023

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

Florida's AP Fight Latest Battle in a Very Old Education War

by Bethany Bell

The state's rejection of the proposed curriculum as "indoctrination" stands on the foundation laid by the United Daughters of the Confederacy to establish the Lost Cause myth as the center of history education in the South for generations. 

Tyre Nichols's Death and America's Systemic Failure

by Peniel E. Joseph

Nichols's killing, like other police killings, emphasizes the need for what W.E.B. DuBois called "abolition democracy," meaning the "eradication of the institutions, vestiges, and badges of racial slavery and new investments in Black citizenship and dignity." This is more than "reform." 

We've Reached the Execution Stage of the Profession's Demise

by Jacques Berlinerblau

"The decisions which ravaged the future for coming generations of Ph.D.s were made not just by consultants and suits, but by those with Ph.D.s and likely a few peer-reviewed publications. This was scholar-on-scholar violence."

Do French Pension Protests Reveal a Lazy Nation?

by Robert Zaretsky

French workers are among the most productive in Europe, but today's protests over a potential increase in the retirement age show a long tradition of defending the value of leisure as the chance to pursue one's own ends outside of paid labor. 

Native Wikipedians Fight Back against Erasure of Indigenous History

by Kyle Keeler

While the internet is often seen as a hotbed of revisionism and "political correctness," Wikipedia editors who seek the inclusion of indigenous perspectives on American history often are stymied by resistant editors and the platform's rules, which discount the reliability of new, critical scholarship. 

America's Lost Faith in the News

by Louis Menand

Politicians' success in demonizing and discrediting unfriendly news media threatens to undermine "the facts" as a shared social reality. Is anyone prepared to live in that world? 

On Florida's Erasure of Black History

by Lynn Pasquerella and Mary Dana Hinton

The Florida AP decision raises a host of troubling questions about what the state hopes to accomplish, with ominous implications for political enfranchisement, democratic deliberation, and civic connection. 

George Washington in Barbados?

by Erica Johnson Edwards

The local monuments to George Washington's 1751 visit to Barbados demonstrate the interconnectedness of American and Caribbean histories as well as the influence of Caribbean practices of enslavement on the institution in the United States. 

Beneath the Surface of Virginia's History Standards

by Edward L. Ayers

Virginia's Department of Education has ignored the guidance of historians and educators in revising the state's K-12 history standards. The example of how political appointees treated the role of African Americans in driving the movement for abolition is a telling example of the inadequate history they want to teach.

Refuse a Return to "Normalcy" after Police Killings

by Austin McCoy

Refusing to accept avoidable death as part of American life—from COVID or police violence—is the foundation of change. Americans need to organize a national day of mourning in the form of a work stoppage. 

If the Courts Won't Stop DeSantis Attacks on Higher Ed, What Will?

by John Warner

Academics have turned to the rhetoric of academic freedom to condemn the governor's moves to increase control over higher ed. The problem is that the public doesn't care about academic freedom—but they might be made to care about politicizing state colleges. 

Why "Woke" is Such a Convenient Dog Whistle for the Right

by Samuel L. Perry and Eric L. McDaniel

The term hints at evoking demonized populations—Black and LGBTQ Floridians, for instance—while maintaining enough ambiguity to foster deniability about the consequences of legislation. It also has the auxiliary function of trolling white liberals. 

Why We Need Pirates

by Paul Buhle, Marcus Rediker and David Lester

Though vilified in popular culture, the history of piracy shows that many crews were egalitarian bands of maritime workers escaping their exploitation at the hands of merchant companies and navies. A new graphic adaptation of a recent history of piracy tells the story. 

Mass Shootings Reflect the Narcissism of Young Men

by Tom Nichols

The injured grandiosity of "failed to launch" young men is pushing them to seek outsize revenge, often using the readily available guns. 

Kids Could Teach Republican Pols a Lesson About Handling the Harsh Truth

by Margaret McMullan

"Decades after she first walked into Little Rock Central High, Elizabeth Eckford said, 'True reconciliation can occur only when we honestly acknowledge our painful, but shared past'."