Roundup

The Selective Politics of the "Learning Loss" Debate

by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor

Discussions of the disruption to learning caused by COVID-related school closures often ignore the endemic inequalities in American education and exposure to harm from COVID, and sideline the voices of teachers who have been sounding the alarm about the dangerous state of their facilities for years. 

Charles Sherrod: An Unheralded Giant of the Civil Rights Struggle

by Ansley L. Quiros

"Charles Sherrod is the most important civil rights figure you've never heard of"--fighting for six decades in southwest Georgia, persevering through incremental gains after the publicity of the Albany Movement faded. 

Can Jurors Hold Alex Jones Accountable?

by Heather Cox Richardson

Alex Jones's defenders on the far right claim the judgment is a political persecution. They must remember that the agents of that verdict weren't government officials, but jurors – American citizens exercising a duty to weigh facts and evidence. Maybe the excesses of MAGA need to meet a jury as well. 

Reports Like Stanford's are Only the First Step for Universities to Rebuild Public Trust

by Ari Y. Kelman, Emily J. Levine and Mitchell L. Stevens

The realities of universities' involvement in unsavory aspects of history – like Stanford's revealed institutional antisemitism – contradict the heroic stories that fill campus promotional materials. But universities can't give a suspicious public any further reason to doubt their honesty.

How Pauli Murray Masterminded Brown v. Board of Education

by Tejai Beulah Howard

Overcoming marginalization by male classmates, Pauli Murray made a bet with a professor that segregation could be challenged by arguing that separate was inherently unequal. Murray collected on the bet only after the 1954 ruling validated the argument, but was long denied credit. 

Understanding Colombia's Truth Commission Report after 60 Years of Civil Conflict

by Rachel Nolan

Colombia's armed conflict between government forces, leftist rebels, and paramilitary death squads is the world's longest continuous conflict. The nation's massive Truth Commission report undermines decades of official government narrative about the apportionment of blame for atrocities. 

How America Short-Changed Black WWII Vets, and Why it Still Matters

by Matthew Delmont

Black servicemembers immediately understood the insulting dismissal of their contributions to the war against fascism. But their exclusion, by legislative design and administrative discrimination, from the postwar benefits white veterans enjoyed was the longer-lasting harm. 

Does Justice Jackson Offer a Path to Defend Rights Through Originalism?

by Evan Turiano

Abolitionists and the drafters of the Reconstruction Amendments understood that the legitimacy of broader claims to rights and citizenship depended on making a claim on the purposes set forth for the Constitution. Ketanji Brown Jackson's recent voting rights dissent suggests she hopes to revive that tradition. 

Look to Russia's Civil War to Explain Current Carnage in Ukraine

by Adam Hochshild

The brutality of the Russian war against Ukraine shows few of the linguistic, ethnic, or religious markers that have often accompanied human rights abuses by armies. Thinking of the conflict as a war to maintain empire explains the scope and nature of violence.

Journalist Dorothy Thompson's Warnings About Fascism – Abroad and at Home

by Ben Railton

After being expelled as a journalist from Germany for criticizing Hitler, Dorothy Thompson worked to make clear to Americans what fascist movements stood for and how they could take root in the soil of racism and nativism here. 

The Nazi use of Legalism to Consolidate Power and Eliminate Democracy

by Christopher R. Browning

Hitler's lesson after a token prison sentence for organizing a coup attempt was to work to seize power through legal means with the support of ideologically sympathetic courts. Non-MAGA conservatives appear to be missing important lessons. 

Don't Forget about the Nuclear Danger over Taiwan

by Michael Klare

Ukraine isn't the only potential nuclear flashpoint. The United States and China need to begin negotiations to limit the risk around the conflict over Taiwan's status. 

We Need to Rethink the "Weed-Out" Course

by Jonathan Zimmerman

The presumption that a large percentage of students should flunk an introductory-level science course as a necessary safeguard of "rigor" is outdated gatekeeping. 

The Troubling History of Arlington Cemetery's Confederate Monument

by Samantha Baskind

The monument misrepresents the history of the Confederacy, and is itself a document of the way that white supremacy enabled a national "reconciliation" after the Civil War. 

The Moral Panic over Activist Teachers Wildly Overstates' Teachers' Power

by Diana D'Amico Pawlewicz

Public school teachers have never enjoyed robust academic freedom protections, and have been subject to scrutiny and punishment for "subversive" views, leading to teacher burnout and diminished educational quality. 

Fannie Lou Hamer and the Meaning of Freedom in Contemporary America

by Keisha N. Blain

Keisha Blain responds to a round table forum on her new biography of the Mississippi freedom activist, whose thinking and leadership in the movement can inform struggles for justice today. 

The Attack on Public Higher Ed is Part of Right's War on Independent Expertise

by Brendan Cantwell and Barrett J. Taylor

While culture war flareups get media attention, two education professors argue that the right is going further, attacking the idea that public universities should operate outside of partisan political control. 

The Roundup Top Ten for October 7, 2022

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

The First Global Deflation is On—How Bad Will it Get?

by Adam Tooze

Worldwide, central banks are following the lead of the Federal Reserve and tightening their monetary policy. `It's unclear if policymakers have thought through the effects on employment, debt, and political stability. 

Southwest Florida's Overdevelopment Made Ian Worse

by Zeke Baker

Massive hydrological projects undertaken to make Southwest Florida's wetlands into developable agricultural land and then high-priced real estate removed the key buffers for coastal floods. Storms like Ian are a rebuke to the idea that humanity and commerce can bend nature to their will.