Breaking News

France to Return Looted Artifacts to Benin

At least 90,000 artifacts from sub-Saharan Africa are held by institutions in France, according to a 2018 report commissioned by the French government.

Generations after Keeping Black Students out of School, Will Virginia Exclude Black History?

Richmond-based opinion columnist Michael Williams connects the battles to preserve segregation to today's controversies over how racism is taught in Virginia schools, and argues politicians have cynically exploited both. 

Detroit Bankruptcy Documentary Wins Library of Congress Prize

Ken Burns, who collaborated with Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden on the selection, called "Gradually, Then Suddenly" a "complex, nuanced, layered" examination of the city's financial crisis and the political divide between Detroit and the state of Michigan. 

Texas House Committee to Schools: Tell Us What Books You Have on Race and Sexuality

Republican Matt Krause, who is running for state Attorney General, intends to ask school districts about whether they carry copies of about 850 books dealing with racism and sexuality. 

Clarifying the Census Bureau's Accounting of "White" Identity Puts Demographic Change in Perspective

by Morris Levy, Richard Alba and Dowell Myers

The 2020 Census seemed to show the white population was in freefall. But few questioned whether differences between the 2010 and 2020 censuses reflected real demographic change or simply statistical noise as the the Census makes incomplete progress toward accounting for multiracial identity.

Oklahoma ACLU Files Suit Against State Ban on Critical Race Theory

"The lawsuit says the law is unconstitutional as it goes against the First and 14th Amendments and asks the court for a permanent preliminary injunction to prevent the law from being enforced in schools and universities."

Can Skeletons Have Racial Identity?

Forensic anthropologists have largely stuck with techniques for assigning geographic ancestry to skeletal remains. Recently, the origins of those techniques in last century's scientific racism have prompted some in the discipline to call for stopping the practice.

St. Malo, Louisiana, Site of Earliest Filipino-American Settlement, Threatened by Climate Change

More than a century ago, long before the Civil War, St. Malo was the first permanent Filipino settlement in the United States. Preserving the settlement's history is now a race against time. 

Executive Privilege was out of Control Before Steve Bannon Claimed It

by Timothy Noah

Perhaps Steve Bannon is doing a favor for the cause of government accountability by showing the outlandishness of the entire doctrine, which has managed to pass from Dwight Eisenhower's strategy for stonewalling Joseph McCarthy to a hallowed totem of the out-of-control presidency.

Diver Discovers 900-Year-Old Sword Dating to the Crusades

The sword is dated at 900 years old, and originated in the Third Crusade. 

Jefferson Statue to be Removed from NY City Council Chambers

"Annette Gordon-Reed, a Harvard Law School professor and a Jefferson expert, objected to the idea of taking down the Jefferson statue, but said that if it were to move to the New-York Historical Society, where she serves as a trustee, it would be a best-case scenario."

A Century-Long "Reign of Error" for SCOTUS Typo

by Adam Liptak

A typo placed in a preliminary slip opinion was formally corrected, but has been cited at least 14 times in cases concerning property rights, highlighting the problem that the Court's corrections often receive less attention than their announcements. 

Claremont's Bogus "Censorship" Charge Against American Political Science Association

"As with almost any instance of so-called cancel culture, the question at hand is ultimately a specific substantive one: What did John Eastman do and was it wrong?"

The Lost Cause Resonance of Pledging Allegiance to Flag from January 6 Capitol Attack

A rally in support of Virginia gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin pledged allegiance to a flag carried at the January 6 seige of the Capitol by Trump supporters. Is the day turning into the Lost Cause of the far right?

Colin Powell Dies at 84; Career of Military and Diplomatic Leadership Featured Controversial Support for Iraq Invasion

“I’m the one who presented it on behalf of the United States to the world,” Mr. Powell said, acknowledging that his presentation “will always be a part of my record.”

Macron Commemorates 1961 Killing of Algerian Protesters by Paris Police

Fabrice Riceputi, a historian of the Algerian War who has written about the killings, described the events of Oct. 17 as “a peak in a period of state terror that is inflicted on the colonized people.”

In the Land of Godfathers, the Church Pushes the Tradition Aside

Church authorities in Sicily have grown concerned that the naming of baptismal godparents has been subordinated to secular concerns of social networking, in extreme cases tied to organized crime. 

Is the Academy's New Museum Neglecting the Jewish Pioneers of Hollywood?

"After touring the museum’s seven stories, I discovered that Hollywood’s pioneers, who busted their tucheses building the industry it celebrates, ended up on the cutting room floor."

Mary McLeod Bethune Statue is Coming to the Capitol

Florida legislators unanimously approved Bethune to replace Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith in the Capitol statuary in 2018. 

Texas School Administrator Uses Holocaust as Example of Including "Opposing" Views

The advice illustrates the predicament of Texas teachers, who are concerned about being punished over any possible political objection to the content of their teaching or the books in their classrooms.