Historians in the News

Kevin Gannon’s “Radical Hope”: A Roundtable Introduction

by Marc Reyes

Contingent Magazine assembles a discussion of Kevin Gannon's teaching manifesto "Radical Hope" and urges us to think about how the work of teaching can make a better future. 

Where Did the Term “Hispanic” Come From?

The designation "Hispanic" came about through the desire of Mexican American civil rights organizations to gather authoritative data about the status of the group in society. The political work engaged Puerto Rican, Cuban American, and other allies, bringing distinct ethnic groups under a common identifier. 

JFK: Coming of Age in the American Century, 1917-1956 (Video)

Author Fredrik Logevall discusses his new political biography of JFK in a virtual seminar with the National History Center.

Hollywood’s Colorblind Illusion (audio)

American Studies professor Justin Gomer, author of "White Balance: How Hollywood Shaped Colorblind Ideology and Undermined Civil Rights" discusses the political impact of Hollywood's treatment of race. 

Black Scholars Confront White Supremacy in Classical Music

The world of classical music is overdue for a reckoning with racist gatekeeping by institutions that have excluded Black composers and musicians. 

How the Promise of Normalcy Won the 1920 Election

The Warren Harding presidency promised a return to normalcy after war, pandemic, political unrest and racial violence. The promise proved illusory.

Black Lives Matter But Slavery Isn’t Our Only Narrative

by Aretha Phiri and Michelle M. Wright

"Black folks are astonishingly diverse in their cultures, histories, languages, religions, so no single definition of Blackness is going to fit everyone. When we fail to consider this, we effectively leave many Black people out of the conversation."

When 194,000 Deaths Doesn’t Sound Like So Many

by Rebecca Onion

Historian Jacqueline Wernimont explains that the rise of quantification helps to obscure the human beings behind the numbers and makes the COVID-19 toll seem more acceptable. 

The Secret History of America’s Only WWII Refugee Camp

The response to the settlement of fewer than 1,000 refugees in New York State roused fierce opposition and often ethnic prejudice as the United States was fighting fascism in Europe. 

View the Library of Congress's 9/11 Web Archive

The Library of Congress's September 11, 2001 Web Archive is a vital resource for understanding the immediate aftermath of the terror attacks. 

‘On the Books’: Machine Learning Jim Crow

by William Sturkey

Lawyer and activist Pauli Murray undertook the arduous task of identifying racially discriminatory laws across the United States, and published a volume cataloguing them in 1950 as a took for attorneys working to dismantle Jim Crow. A University of North Carolina project uses technology to complete that task and demonstrate the historical pervasiveness of racism in the law.

A Neoliberal Love Story, From Public Housing To Golf: A Review Of East Lake Meadows: A Public Housing Story

by Courtney Rawlings

Courtney Rawlings argues that a recent documentary on public housing has a blind spot for the politics that make decent housing precarious or even unavailable to millions.

This Tenured Professor Said His College’s Reopening Plans Risked Deaths. That’s Now in His Personnel File.

A Pennsylvania history professor's criticism of his college's reopening plans drew a reprimand and potential censure by the administration. What are the limits of professors' freedom to criticize administrative decisions? 

A New Theory of Western Civilization (Review)

"The WEIRDest People in the World" is the latest addition to the Big History category. The outstanding feature of the genre is that it wrangles all of human existence into a volume or two, starting with the first hominids to rise up on their hind legs and concluding with us, cyborg-ish occupants of a networked globe.

The Wages of Whiteness (Review Essay)

Hari Kunzru's review essay examines the current vogue for white antiracism (and antiracist training) through the history of whiteness as a political and academic concept, concluding that many  of the most popular books and multicultural pieties strip the idea of its structural elements and reduce it to a question of personal purification. 

TODAY: Henry Kissinger and American Power: A Political Biography

The National History Center and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars host a virtual discussion today featuring Thomas Schwartz, author of "Henry Kissinger: A Political Biography." 

Black Women in Nineteenth-Century France: An Interview with Historian Robin Mitchell

Robin Mitchell's book "Vénus Noire: Black Women and Colonial Fantasies in Nineteenth-Century France" examines how sexualized descriptions of Black women contributed to French racism.

Black Scuba Divers Document Slave Shipwrecks Forgotten For Generations

Columbia University professor Christopher Brown says the number of slave shipwrecks that researchers have been able to confirm are the absolute minimum, and that the true number of shipwrecked slave ships are likely much higher. The work of a Florida diving group hopes to change that. 

Scholars on Strike

Scholars in multiple fields have taken part in a virtual teach-in, sharing expertise on racism and justice as part of the #ScholarStrike.

Historical Black Lives Matter: What A Single Story Can Reveal About People & Landscapes

by Natascha Otoya

A primary document from the developing Brazilian oil industry demonstrates that the country's transition from slavery to "free labor" was anything but clear-cut.