Roundup

The Commonality between Biden’s Education Secretary and Betsy Devos is a Warning

by Adam Laats

Public education has long been envisioned as a black box that can fix the social problems created by inequality in the United States. When it has failed to perform this miracle, the education system has been subjected to successive waves of wrenching reform. It's time to fix the society outside the school walls. 

Manipulating Frederick Douglass and His Historical Record

by Kevin M. Levin

Frederick Douglass intended his portraits as visual representations of freedom, autonomy and dignity. The author wonders if it's appropriate to take the liberty of indulging in the trendy photo animation technology with the portraits of historical figures. 

We Need a Second Season of ‘Mrs. America.’ Here’s Why

by Magdalene Zier

After the defeat of the ERA, Phyllis Schlafly's activist career entered a second act, pushing the federal judiciary in conservative directions.

Trump’s 1776 Commission and the San Francisco Board of Education Have a Lot in Common

by Max Boot

"It is no surprise that the 1776 Commission did not include a single expert on U.S. history and that the San Francisco school board also refused to consult historians."

First-Person Shooter Ideology​: The Cultural Contradictions of Call of Duty

by Daniel Bessner

"Right now, this one game is teaching millions of young Americans about the epic struggle between their government and the Soviet Union, a century-defining cataclysm that resulted in tens of millions of deaths, reshaped world history, and engendered the ideological struggles that presently bedevil the public sphere." But the lesson is one of cynical resignation to today's state of endless war. 

Museums as Monuments to White Supremacy

by Ana Lucia Araujo

Recent protest and scholarship have highlighted the knowledge of major cultural institutions that artifacts in their collections were looted from Africa and other colonized places, and support calls to repatriate the artifacts. 

Law Enforcement’s Double Standards for Black Radical Activists

by Denise Lynn

Those puzzled at the FBI's inability to monitor white supremacist and right-wing extremist groups like those involved in the Capitol rioting should consider how the bureau has historically worked to surveil and harass radical Black organizations like the Sojourners for Truth and Justice. 

Cass Sunstein and Adrian Vermeule’s Technocratic Despotism

by Jason Blakely

"Far from being morally and rationally superior, technocracy may be a significant contributor to our inability to properly deliberate upon our political problems."

Amanda Gorman's Success Stirred A Bleak Undercurrent

by Manisha Sinha

Some critical response to young poet Amanda Gorman's Inaugural reading echoes the racist dismissal and condescenscion contemporaries leveled at the founding-era work of Phillis Wheatley.

The Real Rosa Parks Story Is Better Than the Fairy Tale

by Jeanne Theoharis

“I don’t believe in gradualism,” she made clear, “or that whatever is to be done for the better should take forever to do.”

The Key to Combating Conspiracy Theories about Coronavirus Vaccines

by Cameron Givens

Historical knowledge of the roots of misinformation about viruses and vaccination will be essential to overcoming it. 

The 1776 Follies

by Michael Kazin

"At its core, the 1776 report reveals a profound ignorance about what professional historians of the United States actually think and do."

Why Black Marxism, Why Now?

by Robin D.G. Kelley

Robin D.G. Kelley places the work of Cedric Robinson in the context of Black radical traditions that have challenged the use of Marxism as a critique of power and politics. 

Now Conservatives are the "Discomfort Police"

by Jeffrey Aaron Snyder

The left should not be surprised to see the right weaponizing the concept of discomfort to justify a spate of legislation restricting the teaching of difficult historical subjects around race and historical conflict. 

Been There, Done That (Not!)

by Tom Engelhardt

"At 76 — almost as old, that is, as our new president — I fear that Donald Trump was just our (particularly bizarre) introduction to imperial disaster. We now live on a distinctly misused planet in a country that looks like it could be going to the dogs."

Americans Don’t Know What Urban Collapse Really Looks Like

by Annalee Newitz

"Having spent the past several years researching a book about ancient abandoned cities, I’ve come to realize that urban collapse is a modern-day version of an apocalypse prophecy: It’s always lurking just around the corner, seductive and terrifying, but it never quite happens."

Change the Court, for Good: For Starters, the Oldest Justice Should Retire While There’s a Democratic President and Senate

by Samuel Moyn

"For four years liberals have argued that inherited norms are precious, in the face of a president who delighted in flouting them.... But the Supreme Court is in a situation where some of its norms are noxious, like justices overstaying their welcome."

Amazon’s Cynical, Anti-Union Attack on Mail Voting

by Craig Becker and Amy Dru Stanley

Even before the pandemic, forcing unionization elections to be held at the workplace was the equivalent of holding a political election at one party's headquarters. Workplace democracy requires allowing workers to vote by mail to decide whether to be represented by a union. 

The Secret to Success for Biden’s First 100 Days

by Amber Roessner

Since Franklin Roosevelt, new presidents have been measured by the standard of the "First 100 Days." As a result, they've learned to aggressively manage the media and in turn received blowback from the press corps. The presidential "honeymoon" period is a thing of the past. 

Do We Ask Too Much of Black Heroes?

by Imani Perry

The impulse to make heroes out of main figures in African American history is at odds with the need to learn how people and social movements have made change in American society.