Roundup

Before Nikole Hannah-Jones, Howard U. Professor Sterling Brown was a Lightning Rod for Right-Wing Outrage

by Carole Emberton

Sterling Brown also engendered political opposition and debate about what constitutes U.S. history when he tried to center the narrative on the diverse experiences of Black Americans.

3 Tropes of White Victimhood

by Lawrence B. Glickman

"In the conservative world, the idea that white people in the United States are under siege has become doctrine." Lawrence Glickman evaluates the major rhetorical tropes of this doctrine and finds that they have a 150-year history dating back to Reconstruction. 

Could a New Public Digital Dollar Enhance Democracy?

by Jeffrey Sklansky

The debate over the digital dollar is ultimately about whether the production of money should be a business run for private profit or a resource owned and operated by the public.

Critical Race Theory Bans Could Make Best Teaching Practices Illegal

by Rosalie Metro

By silencing discussion of systemic racism in classrooms, state laws encourage the interpretation of racial inequality as a product of inherent inequality among people, reinforcing racist stereotypes. 

Texas Senate Declares War on History

by Julian Zelizer

"Though much of the debate is being framed as being about "Critical Race Theory" -- a term that is politically useful since most Americans have no idea what it means -- it's really about teaching the history of race relations and civil rights."

Gloria Richardson and Black Women’s Intellectual History

by Robert Greene II

Gloria Richardson became an unusual leader of the civil rights movement as an older woman activist, and her changing views on movement strategy are important to scholars today. 

The U.S. Tax Code Should Not Allow Billionaires to Exist

by Josh Mound

There have been historical precursors to the recent ProPublica report on the extremely low taxes paid by the ultrawealthy. Will this revelation lead to more lasting changes in the tax code that thwart the hoarding of wealth? 

The Roundup Top Ten for July 16, 2021

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

A Major Supreme Court First Amendment Decision Could Be At Risk

by Samantha Barbas

The "actual malice" standard of proof in libel suits established by New York Times v. Sullivan is an imperfect fit for the social media age, but right-wing calls to overturn the ruling would allow the rich and powerful to bully the press with expensive lawsuits. 

On the Brink in 2026 U.S.-China Near-War Status Report

by Michael Klare

The Pentagon's call for more funding to strengthen deterrence against China portends an escalation of tensions that could, in five years, plausibly put the two superpowers on the verge of war.

There Is No Debate Over Critical Race Theory

by Ibram X. Kendi

"Republican operatives... are effectively debating themselves. They have conjured an imagined monster to scare the American people and project themselves as the nation’s defenders from that fictional monster."

From the Labor Struggles of the 1930s to Today, the Highlander School has Sought to Make America More Equitable

by Jelani M. Favors

From the Great Depression through the Civil Rights era and beyond, Myles Horton's Highlander Folk School was a rare interracial space for political organizing. 

Culture War in the Classroom: Time for Educators to Go on the Offensive

by Leo Casey

Educators need to fight back aggressively against the CRT panic, which is a right-wing effort to limit teaching and learning about racism in K-12 schools. A civics educator and teacher advocate explains how. 

The Moral Collapse of J. D. Vance

by Tom Nichols

The "Hillbilly Elegy" author's standing as an honest voice on the right vanished as he decided embracing Trumpism was necessary for his Senate campaign. 

The Many Myths of the Term ‘Anglo-Saxon’

by Mary Rambaran-Olm and Erik Wade

References to America's "Anglo-Saxon heritage" are often racist dogwhistles, and usually fully detached from the history of the Anglo-Saxon people. 

America’s 40-Year Experiment With Big Business Is Over

by Nelson Lichtenstein

Biden's executive order returns to a longstanding American view of concentrated economic power as a threat to democracy. 

The Attack on “Critical Race Theory” Deploys a Dangerous Fiction of Neutrality

by Elias Rodriques and Clinton Williamson

"Does this ban the teaching of Thomas Jefferson’s 'Notes on the State of Virginia' because it glorifies white supremacy, or does it ban analyzing the ways in which the text depends on and disseminates racist ideas? The answer, of course, is the latter."

Autobiography with Scholarly Trimmings

by Zachary M. Schrag

"The autobiographical tradition has served historians well, as both scholars and teachers. Our personal experiences—and those of our ancestors, biological or fictive—inspire our research, help us make sense of the past, and guide our students to questions that drive their curiosity and passion."

The Legacy of 9/11

by Stephen Wertheim

"9/11 might well have 'changed everything' as momentously as was assumed—just not in the direction intended."

Conservatives are Once Again Trying to Erase Black History

by Tyler D. Parry

There are, in fact, millions of southerners from the antebellum,Civil War and Reconstruction eras that deserve to be memorialized. Their stories have been suppressed not out of political correctness but because they were Black southerners fighting for freedom and interracial democracy.