Historians in the News

Utah Women’s Suffrage Became ‘Hotly Debated Issue’ in Bid for Statehood

It was "really a fight" for women in Utah to regain their voting rights in 1895, says history professor Kathryn MacKay.

Set the Night on Fire by Mike Davis and Jon Wiener (Review)

Jon Weiner and Mike Davis's history of 60s Los Angeles traces the city’s turbulent era of rebellion, police brutality and rise of the counterculture.

What If Colleges Don’t Reopen Until 2021?

"John Thelin, a University of Kentucky professor and the author of the definitive 'History of American Higher Education,' told me that he’s never seen anything like the dual crisis colleges are facing right now."

Historians Among New 2020 Members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

HNN salutes historians newly elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Neglected Gems: Richard Wade And Lisa Tolbert

by Richard Harris

For Americanists, the slave experience and its legacy has always been a major concern, but even here the specific impact of the urban environment, and urban size, has not always been well-appreciated.

An Earth Day Reminder of How the Republicans Have Forsaken the Environment

by Elizabeth Kolbert

Professors James Morton Turner and Andrew Isenberg's recent book identifies the Reagan Revolution as the moment the Republican Party rejected environmental regulation and made further protective legislation politically unthinkable for a generation.

The Holocaust Was an Attempt to Erase Millions of People. Today, the World Must Honor the Evidence That They Existed

"Naming the great European void, recognizing its existence by remembering, is thus not only a moral duty but also the only way for us, as survivors, to maintain our own humanity," writes author Elisabeth Åsbrink.

A Museum Devoted to Survivors Now Faces its Own Fight to Live

Like other small, endangered arts organizations, the Tenement Museum in Manhattan has drastically cut its budget as it tries to weather the pandemic.

A Prize Contest: Applying History to Clarify the COVID-19 Challenge

The Stanton Foundation sponsors a weekly award for published essays that "illuminate current challenges and policy choices by analyzing the historical record, especially precedents and analogues."

Is the City Itself the Problem?

The ideology of “moral environmentalism,” as historian Alexander von Hoffman termed it, formed the foundation of U.S. urban planning and reform for decades by attributing urban problems to the urban environment rather than political and economic factors.

Pellom McDaniels, Former Oregon State Defensive Star and NFL Veteran, Dies at 52

Pellom McDaniels, 52, became a college professor after his football days, earning a PhD in American Studies. He was an assistant professor of African American Studies at Emory University, as well as a curator of African American collections for the school’s library.

A Historic Life

Friends and colleagues of Alabama historian Sarah Wiggins echoed certain refrains time and again, among them: “She did not suffer fools gladly.”

How The Coronavirus Could Shape Fashion Choices

Have you been wearing sweatpants everyday? Listen to fashion historian Kimberly Chrisman-Campbell discuss how the coronavirus may impact people's style choices. 

What History Can Teach Us About Building a Fairer Society After Coronavirus

Local protests and uprisings against landlords had happened before, but after the Black Death they became more common.

Stimulus Could Heighten Racial Economic Inequality, Historians Warn

The federal government in the 1930s established the housing policies that keep cities segregated even today, said author and historian Richard Rothstein.

How The Spanish Flu of 1918-20 was Largely Forgotten

The Economist under-reported the pandemic. Many victims were counted among the dead of the first world war.

A History Professor Gave Students an Unusual Assignment. Here are the Results.

Kevin Mitchell Mercer prompted a revealing Twitter conversation among history teachers in K-12 and higher education about this moment and how to capture it for students in class.

Israeli Historian Donates $1 Million to WHO After US Cuts Funding

Yuval Noah Harari and husband Itzik Yahav say that while Trump has cut aid, ‘luckily, there are more than 7 billion other humans on this earth, and we can do better’.  

Harvard Professor Links St. Louis to History of American Racism

A review of Walter Johnson's new book "The Broken Heart of America: St. Louis and the Violent History of the United States."

‘A Curious History of Sex’ Covers Aphrodisiacs, Bicycles, Graham Crackers and More

Wherever we are heading, whatever your proclivities, historian of sexuality Kate Lister has this comment: “I promise, it’s all been done before.”