Roundup

The Roundup Top Ten for June 4, 2021

by HNN Staff

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

Conspiracies in the Classroom

by Elizabeth Stice

"Colleges and universities and faculty have a responsibility to ground their disciplines in truth claims that go deeper than the rabbit holes of the internet and to graduate students who are capable of distinguishing between conspiracy and reality."

Solomon's Peace Accord

by David Marks

Can Israelis and Palestinians imagine and implement a Solomonic peace? 

The Unbearable Easiness of Killing

by Arie M. Dubnov

"As a colleague justly commented, it is only helpful to call a situation ‘complicated’ if one is committed to unfolding the package, willing to examine its contents and prepared to be surprised by what one finds hidden inside."

We Don't Need a Commission to Study January 6

by Claire Potter

The Republicans' success in blocking a January 6 Commission is a disturbing sign of political extremism in one party, but there's no reason to believe that such a commission would have solved the problems underlying the insurrection.

The Solution to the Craft Beer Industry’s Sexism and Diversity Problems

by Allyson P. Brantley

Absent robust enforcement of sex discrimination prohibitions by the EEOC (which frequently dismissed women brewery workers' complaints), consumer boycotts alongside union actions forced major brewers to change their practices. Will similar strategies help fight sexism in today's craft brewing world?

Shot 55 Years Ago while Marching Against Racism, James Meredith Reminds Us that Powerful Movements can Include those with Very Different Ideas

by Aram Goudsouzian

Meredith’s historical meaning is slippery, but that very inability to pin him down can teach important lessons – not only for how to remember the 1960s, but for how to think about social change.

The Racist Roots of Campus Policing

by Eddie R. Cole

Campus police forces often trace their origins to moments when Black demands for expanded housing opportunity clashed with universities' ambitions for expansion or desire to maintain white residential areas near their campuses. 

The Reconstruction Origins of "Black Wall Street"

by Alexandra E. Stern

Understanding Tulsa's Black Wall Street as a product of the rise and fall of Reconstruction helps to think more productively about how the Tulsa massacre speaks to the policy problems of racial justice. 

Race, Free Speech, and the Purge of Campus Blasphemers

by Jonathan Zimmerman

An adjunct literature instructor at St. John's University has fallen victim to an adminstration's desire to make complex teaching challenges – like how to evaluate Twain's use of racial slurs in the context of satire – into simple rules. 

Biden Will Allow Undocumented Students To Access Pandemic Relief

by Sarah R. Coleman

The reversal of the Trump administration's exclusion of the undocumented from aid programs helping students meet basic needs is one step toward reconsidering the connection between immigration policy and the American social safety net, where students have often been on the front lines. 

Anti-Vaxxers are Claiming Centuries of Jewish Suffering to Look like Martyrs

by Sarah E. Bond

"Anti-vaxxers and anti-maskers would have us believe that the evil of being encouraged to get a vaccine is the same as the project of ethnic labeling and cleansing undertaken by the Third Reich. It appears at first a farcical analogy, but it’s not without its dangers."

Vietnam Veterans Transformed Memorial Day Weekend into a Holiday about Peace

by Elise Lemire

"By the time the law went into effect on Jan. 1, 1971, many returning service members decided to reject not only the commercialization of Memorial Day, but also the holiday’s traditional premise that it was noble to die fighting a war."

Twenty Years after 9/11, its Memorialization Remains Contested

by John Bodnar

"How people respond to traumatic events and the pain of others, of course, is always unpredictable. But such responses have consequences."

Because of Palestine

by N.A. Mansour

"It is because I am Palestinian that I can tell you that objectivity—in history-writing, in the archives, in museums—does not exist."

It’s Time to Break Up the Ivy League Cartel

by Sam Haselby and Matt Stoller

Ivy League institutions have an unfair hold on the distribution of opportunity and on the diversity of ideas in America and the world. 

The Roundup Top Ten for May 28, 2021

by HNN Staff

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

What We Believe About History

by Kristin Kobes Du Mez

"Understanding that beliefs have a history does not preclude a commitment to truths outside of history. But it does prompt believers to consider how historical forces and cultural allegiances may have shaped their own deeply held convictions."

Beyond the Nation-State

by Claire Vergerio

Much of what has been told about the rise of the nation-state from the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 is wrong. Reevaluating the history of the nation-state is essential for conceptualizing solutions to local and global problems that defy the logic of the nation-state.

Japanese American Soldiers in World War II Fought the Axis Abroad and Racial Prejudice at Home

by Susan H. Kamei

The USPS has just released a stamp commemorating the service of the Japanese-American 100th/442nd combat unit in Europe during World War II. It's equally important to remember the way that veterans of that unit fought remaining racial prejudice after the war.