Roundup

How Covid-19 Exposed the Deep Divide between White Rural Georgia and Atlanta

by James C. Cobb

Rural antagonism toward Atlanta has been a defining element in Georgia politics for almost 150 years and today underlies Governor Brian Kemp's potentially disastrous response to Covid-19. 

Let’s Be Inspired by True Past Leadership

by Walter G. Moss

Rather than inspiring us Americans to continue our fight against that main evil of our time, the coronavirus, President Trump encourages citizens to “liberate” their states from governors who have had enough sense to follow public-health guidelines that will save lives.

Out with the Old: Coronavirus Highlights Why We Need New Names for Aging

by Caroline Cicero and Paul Nash

Although largely unnoticed by mainstream media, something significant has happened with the rise of COVID-19: the marginalization of older Americans.

The New Federalism

by Gary Gerstle

States have once again become the innovators in American political life and the institutions that are taking their democratic remit seriously.

As the World Churns

by Peter Manseau

The story behind 'Mia,' the Native American woman who was the face on Land O'Lakes butter packaging for almost a century.

COVID-19, the Halifax Explosion, and Crises of Care

by Jacob Remes

Because disasters are part of history, not outside of it, they can bring into relief structures of society that were always there.

Coronavirus Is Making The Case For Black Reparations Clearer Than Ever

by William A. Darity Jr. and A. Kirsten Mullen

America has failed to seize previous chances to eliminate racial inequality and grant black Americans access to the same opportunities as whites.

V-E Day Plus 75

by Andrew Bacevich

What the present pandemic drives home is that protecting Americans while also creating an environment in which all citizens can flourish is going to require a radical revision of American national security policies based in Baby Boomers' interpretation of the meaning of World War II.

Three Books Remind Us What Presidential Leadership Looks Like

by Louis P. Masur

An American historian reflects on the books he's read that offer inspiration for the current crisis. 

Kent State: 50 Years After the Shootings

by Thomas M. Grace

Myth has obscured the conflict that led to the killings at Kent State: a long-building clash between a broad set of youth-led protest movements and established authority. That clash continued after May 4, 1970.

We’re Still Living and Dying in the Slaveholders’ Republic

by Ibram X. Kendi

The kind of freedom southern secessionists demanded in 1860--freedom to enslave and exploit--are echoed by the individualist idea of freedom proclaimed by anti-shutdown protesters today. Both ignore equally important communal definitions of freedom.

Cities and States need Aid – But Also Oversight

by Daniel Wortel-London and Brent Cebul

The history of New Deal-era federal aid to local governments suggests that cities need both funds and strict oversight; programs that worked through local business elites often created unsupportable demands on local finances. 

How Martin Luther King Jr.'s Groundless Traffic Ticket Changed History's Course

by Michael Warren

The incident, that took place on this day 60 years ago, proved to be the catalyst for electoral change.

Remembering the Jackson State Tragedy

by Nancy K. Bristow

The violence wasn’t caused by anti-war student protest; it was another chapter in the long history of state violence against African Americans.

Four Students Were Killed in Ohio. America Was Never the Same.

by Richard M. Perloff

Fifty years after May 4, public expression of unpopular views remains endemic to democracy. 

How the Coronavirus Will — or Should — Transform Graduate Education

by Dennis M. Hogan and Rithika Ramamurthy

The polite fiction of graduate school as an apprenticeship for a future academic career, which has been under strain for many years, now faces obliteration.

Harsh Rhetoric Tears Us Apart — And Can Make Violence Seem Acceptable

by Charles Holden, Zach Messitte and Jerald Podair

The pugilistic speeches that caused Agnew’s political star to rise also eroded Americans’ bonds of empathy at a time when the nation desperately needed statesmanship.

Lessons from Labor History can Inform our Labor Movement During COVID-19 Crisis

by Peter Rachleff

The story of the 1934 Twin Cities' Teamsters strike story shows how the union won better lives for its members by linking workers and their families to the union, other unions, and the community.

The Policy Mistakes from the 1990s that have Made Covid-19 Worse

by Heather Ann Thompson

Politicians should have learned that the walls they imagine separating those serving time from those outside are, in fact, completely porous.

As with Vietnam in the 1960s, COVID-19 is Exposing Racial Fault Lines in the U.S.

by Emily L. Quint Freeman

The author risked prison to try to break the connection between the U.S. war in Vietnam and domestic racism.