Roundup

Puerto Rican History Deserves More than a Mural

by Jacqueline Lazú

Instead of rehashing "West Side Story," Hollywood should tell the story of Chicago's Young Lords Organization. 

bell hooks Leaves Legacy of Feminist Thought Embracing and Embraced by Black Women

by Anthea Butler

"I’m among the generation of teachers who were influenced by her thinking and by her admonition that 'popular culture is where the pedagogy is, where the learning is'."

When American Prep Schools Ran Student Exchanges with Elite Nazi Academies

by Helen Roche

"The Napola program appeared to have achieved some success in persuading their American partners to give the Nazi regime the benefit of the doubt, at least in the short term."

Baseball's Lockout Shows the Growing Power of Labor

by Gwendolyn Lockman

"In many ways, the twists and turns of baseball’s labor battle over salaries, pensions and more have reflected the ebbs and flows of labor power in the United States."

Government Regulation is Necessary, but it has to be Smart

by Paul Sabin

Two legislative initiatives championed by the Carter administration show the challenge of balancing strong environmental regulation with administrative efficiency and accountability. The balance has, of course, been difficult to strike. 

Americans Have been Forgetting Afghanistan for 20 Years. I Didn't Have That Luxury

by Ali A. Olomi

"Every Afghan American I know has lost a family member or friend. The war became part of who we were and even shaped our career trajectories. Afghan friends became immigration attorneys and activists. I became a historian."

What Justice Kavanaugh Gets Wrong About "Neutrality" on Abortion

by David Cohen and Maya Manian

Justice Kavanaugh has joined a long line of jurists who have pretended that the Fourteenth Amendement allows the courts to be neutral when fundamental rights are at issue. 

The Government Pen

by Nick Delehanty

"The Skilcraft pen is indeed more than a pen. It’s the physical embodiment of New Deal social policies; it’s the product of disabled people’s labor, labor which has long been a site of contestation."

Court Reform is Dead! Long Live Court Reform!

by Ryan D. Doerfler and Samuel Moyn

From today's perspective, Biden's commission to investigate reforms to the Supreme Court seems timid and its recommendations minimal. But its report, issued at a moment when the Court seems prepared to go on a spree of consequential rulings, may in the future be regarded as the first domino to fall on the way to major changes.

Going Nuclear on Military Spending

by William Astore

"Why, despite decades of disastrous wars, do Pentagon budgets continue to grow, year after year, like ever-expanding nuclear mushroom clouds?"

Worst Isn't Over for Political Violence in Rhetoric or Action

by Joanne Freeman

"Here’s the problem, and it’s foreboding: If a line is crossed, and the occasion passes unacknowledged, was there really a line?"

(Re)locating Sites of Memory in Appalachia Through Black Spaces and Stories

by Kristan McCullum

"I grew up in Jenkins not knowing its full history. I never knew the church I was raised in was once the movie theater that required Black patrons to sit in the balcony."

The Roundup Top Ten for December 10, 2021

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

Frederick Douglass and American Empire in Haiti

by Peter James Hudson

"Douglass was aware of the moral limitations of U.S. exceptionalism and cautioned against its abuse—especially against countries such as Haiti that had neither the economic nor the military resources to easily withstand U.S. pressure."

White Allies of Racial Justice Movements Have Long Been Targets

by David A. Love

"White supremacists have long singled out White allies of civil rights and racial justice movements — and the state has failed to defend them when they’ve sided with Black activists."

Are We Forever Captives of the Forever Wars?

by Karen J. Greenberg

The Authorization for the Use of Military Force passed by Congress after 9/11 has been expanded from fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan to justify action in at least 19 countries. Repealing it is the first step to freeing Americans from the Pentagon's Forever Wars. 

Why does Biden's Term Register as a Disappointment? We've Misread the Political Regime Cycle

by Corey Robin

The author was among those who thought Joe Biden might seize a "reconstructive moment" to push aside the social austerity politics of the Reagan Revolution. The problem hasn't been Biden's will, but the disproportionate obstructive power conservatives still hold. 

Historians are Soft Targets in the Culture War. They Need to Fight Back

by David Olusoga

"Historians should repeatedly point out that the 'rewriting of history' is not some act of professional misconduct but literally the job of professional historians."

Racism in the Curriculum Isn't Limited to History – It Affects Math, Too

by Theodore Kim

Math is not a neutral space, beyond the reach of history and entrenched racism. At a time of anti-Asian prejudice, American mathematicians obscured the importance of Chinese scholars in developing core concepts that are still significant today, preserving the fiction of math as a western intellectual tradition.

Texas is Making Critical Race Theory a Monster Under the Bed

by Jennifer Hobson Gormer

It's clear that the motive for Texas's law restricting how the subject of American racism is taught is to cast doubt on the legitimacy of present-day protests against inequality.