Roundup

America’s History Wars, Race, and the Flag

by Simon Schama

"The jarring discrepancy between the “self-evident” truth of human equality asserted in the Declaration of Independence and the brutal reality of America’s founding being built on the backs of the enslaved is not, then, some contemporary piety of the 'woke'."

Black Health Care, Black Art: A Texas Perspective

by Celeste Henery

Oral histories from Black health care practitioners shed important light on how they and the communities they served understood health and treatment, and speak to the ongoing problems Black Americans report in accessing good and compassionate care. 

Redlining, Race, and the Color of Money

by Garrett Dash Nelson

"Redlining maps reveal how the federal government managed risk for capital—a role that has perpetuated inequality long after the end of explicit discrimination in the housing market."

America’s Accountability Problem

by Karen J. Greenberg

The deceptions and abuses of the War on Terror went unpunished in the name of national unity, but impunity only encourages the divisive actions of political extremists. 

To Understand the History Wars, Follow the Paper Trail

by James Grossman and Jeremy C. Young

"This is the legislative equivalent of push-polling — creating division where none exists, raising fears about something that isn’t even happening to score political points."

You Can't Tell the Story of 1776 Without Talking About Race and Slavery

by Robert G. Parkinson

John Adams worked diligently in the years after the Declaration to craft an origin story of common purpose that obscured the importance of issues of race and slavery to the pursuit of independence. 

Partisans Often Try to Claim July 4 as their Own. It Usually Backfires

by Kevin M. Kruse

Intense partisans seeking to use July 4 celebrations as a way to denounce their opponents as unpatriotic have seldom succeeded, though despite some notorious episodes of Independence Day chaos they will probably keep trying. 

The Hidden Stakes of the Infrastructure Wars

by David Alff

Debates over what counts as infrastructure are nothing new and reflect a history of conflict over who should benefit from public works and competing ideas of the scope of government.

You are Only as Good as Your Sources

by Bobby Cervantes

Can researchers reexamine the boundary between journalism and historiography while maintaining the integrity of both? A researcher with a background in both explains how. 

Who has Been Left Out of the History of the Equal Rights Amendment Battle? Men

by Rebecca DeWolf

Putting men back into the story of the ERA – both as opponents and advocates – helps to show that the Amendment was a struggle over whether sex should define opportunity and citizenship, not just a screen for projecting differing ideas of womanhood. 

The Roundup Top Ten for July 2, 2021

by HNN Staff

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

The Strange, Sad Death of America’s Political Imagination

by Daniel Immerwahr

What happened to big-thinking utopianism as a response to national problems? 

Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s #Pride Tweet Conceals a Violent History

by Jessica Ordaz and Alejandra Portillos

"ICE’s message, that immigration enforcement and LGBTQ equality can be compatible, is dangerous because it conceals a violent history of immigration enforcement that has targeted and harmed LGBTQ people in the name of policing borders."

The History Behind the Removal of Argentina’s Version of ‘Aunt Jemima’

by Erika Denise Edwards

Cracks are emerging in Argentina's long history of denying the African (and indigenous) roots of some of its citizens, including in commercial culture branding.

The Statue of Chief Justice Taney Never Belonged in the Capitol

by Corey M. Brooks

“If a man,” famed Massachusetts radical Charles Sumner asserted, “has done evil during his life he must not be complimented in marble.” Instead Sumner demanded “the name of Taney … be hooted down the page of history.”

Country Music's Next Big Question: Where are Latino Artists?

by Amanda Marie Martinez

“My dream is for the cowboys and the vaqueros — who were the first cowboys — to all be in one place, to bring those two worlds together.”

Blackness and the Bomb

by Erica X. Eisen

"Throughout the atomic age, civil defense authorities demanded the active participation of Black citizens whom their measures failed to protect."

Infrastructure Spending Has Always Involved Social Engineering

by Erika M. Bsumek and James Sidbury

Infrastructure projects have always created winners and losers. Historically, communities of color in America have been more likely to suffer harm from them. It's therefore entirely appropriate to make justice concerns a part of a proposed infrastructure bill. 

AIDS Disappeared from Public View Without Ending. Will Covid-19 do the Same?

by Dan Royles

AIDS activism shifted from framing the epidemic as a political crisis to a medical problem, allowing the ongoing vulnerability of the poor to fade from view as pharmaceutical advances have helped control the spread and impact of HIV among the affluent. 

The Bishops Are Wrong About Biden — and Abortion

by Garry Wills

The historian of Catholicism argues that the US Bishops' demand to deny communion to Joe Biden over his abortion policies rests on a shoddy understanding of the Church's own history with the issue.