Roundup

I Wrote About This Environmental Injustice Decades Ago. It Hasn’t Changed

by Robert Bullard

A vacancy on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission will test Biden's stated commitment to advancing environmental justice. 

The Age of Neoliberalism is Ending in America. What will Replace It?

by Gary Gerstle

It will be difficult for the Biden administration to revive a (Green) New Deal Order, but making progress may be key to stopping the nation's slide toward authoritarian and racist forms of populism. 

The Emancipation Proclamation did not End Slavery. Here’s what Did

by Clarence Lusane

Chattel slavery was ended by the enactment of the 13th Amendment. Whatever the merits of recognizing the Juneteenth holiday, it commemorates the specific emancipation of enslaved Texans, and not national abolition. 

My Relatives Went to a Catholic School for Native Children. It was a Place of Horrors

by Nick Estes

The discovery of mass graves at the site of a Canadian residential school for indigenous children should prompt the United States to investigate abuse at similar schools. 

Racism has Long Undermined Military Cohesion, Just as Gen. Milley Testified

by Natalie Shibley

Right-wing attacks on Gen. Mark Milley's support for military education about racism ignore the long history of similar training in the military and the persistence of the racial inequalities it has tried to address. 

This Late Civil Rights Icon's Imprint Is Everywhere Today

by Peniel E. Joseph

"Stokely Carmichael's legacy spans the movement for Black power, the push for voting rights in the 21st century and the recent political campaigns that have given voice to those seeking more radical change."

Illusions of empire: Amartya Sen on what British rule really did for India

by Amartya Sen

The prize-winning international economist examines a tricky historical counterfactual: what would contemporary India be like had British colonialism never happened?

The Surfside Disaster is Our Generation's Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Moment

by Hannah Lebovits

The deadly collapse of the Surfside condo building near Miami should be a call for Jewish Americans to protest for reform in the way that Jewish immigrant workers did after the Triangle Shirtwaist fire. 

The Truth About Black Freedom

by Daina Ramey Berry

Observing Juneteenth shouldn't be limited to commemorating a grant of freedom by the government; the deeper history of emancipation is of Black Americans demanding and pursuing freedom for themselves. 

What the Push to Celebrate Juneteenth Conceals

by Kellie Carter Jackson

"It is impossible to celebrate Juneteenth and simultaneously deny the teaching of America’s foundational legacy."

The Roundup Top Ten for June 18, 2021

by HNN Staff

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

Social Security Versus National Security

by Rebecca Gordon

The military budget has quietly displaced Social Security as the "third rail" of American politics, and it's increasingly clear that the welfare of the defense industry will take priority over the welfare of Americans. 

In Vietnam, the Pentagon Papers Are History Written by the Defeated

by Lien-Hang Nguyen

A Vietnamese historian explains how the Pentagon Papers have become a foundation of domestic histories of war (both before and during US involvement) even as the Vietnamese government has declined to release its own official histories of the conflict. 

As Immigration Politics Changed, So Did "In the Heights"

by A. K. Sandoval-Strausz

The film release of Lin-Manuel Miranda's "In the Heights" reflects the way the show has evolved in response to the shifting politics of immigration and nativism in the United States. 

Our Insurance Dystopia

by Caley Horan

America's health insurance morass is a result of the replacement of the ideal of mutual, universal risk sharing with the privatization of risk in pursuit of profit. 

Inhumane System of Incarceration in U.S. Poses Special Danger to Women

by Jessica L. Adler

When politicians close single prisons after complaints of abuse, they leave untouched a cruel and dehumanizing system that poses particular risk to women. 

The Story of January 6 Will be Told

by Julian Zelizer

Republican obstructionism makes it likely that the full story of the January 6 attack on the Capitol and the election certification will be told in popular culture. 

America’s ‘Great Chief Justice’ Was an Unrepentant Slaveholder

by Paul Finkelman

John Marshall's previous biographers have glossed over the extent of his slaveholding and his enthusiasm for the institution. Reappraisal of his legacy is entirely appropriate in light of new discoveries. 

There’s No LGBTQ Pride Without Immigrants

by Julio Capó, Jr.

Today's LGBTQ movement must recall its roots in the defense of marginalized groups against state power. Today, LGBTQ immigrants including the undocumented are among the most vulnerable. 

Is There a Way to Dial Down the Political Hatred?

by Molly Worthen

Are fanatical political opinions a refiguring of the need for spiritual meaning in a secular society? What are the prospects for dialogue and coexistence?