Historians in the News

‘The Most Ignorant and Unfit’: What Made America’s Worst Ever Leader?

by David Rothkopf

The best—maybe only—saving grace for Trump in the history books is that no one could accuse him of causing the Civil War.

David Starkey Criticised over Slavery Comments

A popular British historian faces criticism for saying that the slave trade was not genocidal because "so many damn blacks" survived.

Our First Authoritarian Crackdown (Review)

by Brenda Wineapple

Wendell Bird argues that the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 were used more broadly than historians have recognized, and reflect a shakier foundation of free speech in the early Republic. 

White Supremacist Ideas Have Historical Roots In U.S. Christianity

At an earlier point in American history, some Christian theologians went so far as to argue that the enslavement of human beings was justifiable from a biblical point of view.

The Day the White Working Class Turned Republican (Review)

Clyde Haberman reviews David Paul Kuhn's "The Hardhat Riot" which proves heated social divisions--stoked and exploited by politicians--are nothing new. 

‘A Conflicted Cultural Force’: What It’s Like to Be Black in Publishing

When historian Kerri K. Greenidge was trying to publish her book on William Trotter, publishers responded with "who was going to read a book about a Black man that nobody had ever heard about?"

Did Rutgers Find The Perfect President For 2020? Meet Jonathan Holloway, Black Historian.

On Wednesday, the student of the past makes history himself by becoming the first Black president of Rutgers University, founded in 1766.

Boston To Remove Statue Depicting Abraham Lincoln With Freed Black Man At His Feet

The statue should be moved into a museum, historian Ibrahim Sundiata says.

Mount Rushmore Historian: Monument 'Is Like A Rorschach, It Says Different Things To Different People'

In light of Trump's plans to hold a July 4th celebration at Mount Rushmore on Friday, historian John Taliaferro discusses the monument's complex legacy.

Mississippi Changing Its Flag Isn't the End of Confederate Symbols in State Flags

"For the first third of our nation's history, from about 1777 to 1861, it was almost unheard of for individual Americans to fly the flag," says historian Marc Leepson.

Living in History: Richard Haass, Margaret MacMillan, and Annette Gordon-Reed

Richard Haass: History is not a cookbook. It doesn't give you exact recipes to understand the present or predictive future. But what it does is give you context, it gives you comparisons, it gives you perspective.

How Mount Rushmore Became Mount Rushmore

Historian Gene A. Smith and Oglala Lakota activist Nick Tilsen offer contest for the creation of the monument, its relationship to tribal lands, and the legacies of Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt from an indigenous point of view. 

Princeton University Removes Woodrow Wilson From School Name (Audio)

Julian Zelizer discusses Princeton's decision to rename its school of Public Policy. 

Tongva to Zumba: 'East of East' Celebrates Radical History of El Monte

“East of East” draws on scholarship in disciplines such as history, cultural studies and urban geography. However, its strength lies in its ability to amplify the voices and expressions of those generally excluded from official archival histories to provide a “new archive” of the region’s historical and contemporary significance. 

The Surprisingly Deep—and Often Troubling—History of ‘Social Distancing’

Doctoral student Lily Scherlis traced the evolution of the term in a “social history of social distancing,” from the earliest reference she could find in English—in the 1831 translation of Louis Antoine Fauvelet de Bourrienne’s memoirs of his friendship with Napoleon—to the Social Distance Scale that sociologist Emory Bogardus created in the aftermath of the Red Summer of 1919.

Southern Neighborhoods Have Been Named ‘Plantations’ For Decades. That Could Be Changing.

In recent years, even as activists have decried Confederate monuments and flags, developers have continued using “plantation” in neighborhood names to evoke elegance. But now plantation place names and the word itself are under new scrutiny.

Is DC Statehood Possible and If So, How?

On July 16, historian Derek Musgrove and ex-Post columnist Bob Levey will discuss how statehood became the top strategy to gain full citizenship for DC.

In Search of King David’s Lost Empire

The evidence of David’s life is sparse. Was he an emperor? A local king? Or, as Biblical archaeologist Israel Finkelstein claims, a Bedouin sheikh?

To Nichole Nelson Ph.D. ’20, Policy is ‘History in Action’

The American Council of Learned Societies has named Nichole Nelson one of 22 new Mellon/ACLS Public Fellows for 2020.

Slavery Persisted in New England Until the 19th Century

Historians Margaret Ellen Newell and Christy Clark-Pujara show that slavery was both practiced in many northern colonies and states and was integral to their economic development.