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"We're Going to Publish": The New York Times' Oral History of the Pentagon Papers

From RAND Corporation leaker Daniel Ellsberg to first amendement litigator Floyd Abrams, the key players in the 1971 publication of the Pentagon papers reflect on their work 50 years later.  

Efforts to Restrict Teaching about Racism and Bias Have Multiplied across the U.S.

ChalkBeat presents an interactive aggregation of state laws passed to restrict the teaching of topics related to racism.

"It’s Apartheid," Say Former Israeli Ambassadors to South Africa

by Ilan Baruch and Alon Liel

Two former Israeli ambassadors to South Africa this week declared their view that Israel's occupation of the West Bank, now 55 years on, is a form of apartheid. 

When Monuments Go Bad

Chicago is engaging in a broad and unprecedented study of the city's monuments and the political and cultural implications of memorialization in public space. Will this help avoid the bitter controversies and protests that have erupted in other cities? 

Lewis Hine, Photographer of the American Working Class

Lewis Hine's photographs, including for WPA arts programs, "contributed to an aesthetic of worker empowerment through images of strife and solidarity."

UK Education System Struggles to Prepare for Exams as Israel-Palestine Conflict Scares Publishers

Publishers have withdrawn materials needed for prep for the British exams in middle east history because of political complaints of bias both against Israel and the Palestinians. 

John McWhorter: The Problem With Dropping Standards in the Name of Racial Equity

The linguist and cultural critic links Princeton's decision to drop the requirement that classics majors study ancient Greek or Latin to other changes in the field he argues are driven by trendy concern with racism instead of intellectual value.

USPS Unveils Stamp Honoring Japanese American WWII Veterans

“A picture is worth a thousand words,” said Lynn Heirakuji, president of the Nisei Veterans Legacy and co-chair of the Stamp Our Story Hawaii Organizing Committee.

Forrest's Remains, the National Confederate Museum and Racist Hate

The Sons of Confederate Veterans' effort to move Nathan Bedford Forrest's remains from Memphis to its National Confederate Museum only makes sense if the SCV intends to valorize Confederates who were active in the KKK after the Civil War. 

Plantations Aren’t Paying Reparations, But Have Started Programs To Give Back To Descendants

Joy Banner, descended from people enslaved at the Whitney Plantation in Louisiana, is pursuing reparations in the form of input into the use of land owned by the Whitney, saying “there are as many different forms of reparations as you can think of, because healing looks different in every community.”

Retaining Its Name

Despite a protest movement by students and other stakeholders, Washington and Lee University's institutional changes in response to its legacy of slavery and ties to the Confederacy will not include rejecting Robert E. Lee's name.

Why Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley Won’t Be Punished for Fomenting a Riot

by Alex Pareene

The Senate's ethics processes reflect an instution that has historically policed itself. They are completely useless when Senators ignore see political advantage in ignoring institutional norms. 

Save Democracy: Abolish the Senate

by Michael Tomasky

Great Britain made the wise choice of diminishing the political power of the House of Lords. The New Republic's editor says that the history of Parliament and Congress shows it's time to do the same to the Senate. 

What the Pandemic Has Stolen from Black America

Longtime DC activist Howard Croft died from COVID complications in June 2020. His surviving relatives found a trove of papers and artifacts about civil rights struggles in the District and beyond, but feel the lack of his voice to explain what the pieces mean. 

How a WWII Japanese Sub Commander Helped Exonerate a U.S. Navy Captain

Captain Charles McVay took the fall for the sinking of the USS Indianapolis, torpedoed by a Japanese submarine in the last days of the second world war, finally taking his own life. An appeal by the Mochitsura Hashimoto, commander of the sub to US Senator John Warner cleared the way for a legislative exoneration. 

Tom Hanks: You Should Learn the Truth About the Tulsa Race Massacre

by Tom Hanks

Tom Hanks weighs in on the new culture war over teaching history.

This Map Shows How the New Deal Was a Big Deal for DC

Historian Brent McKee presents a guide to sites around the greater Washington area that show how the New Deal transformed the region, from historic preservation to wastewater treatment. 

Hitler’s ‘Mein Kampf’ Gets New French Edition, With Each Lie Annotated

The publishers, who will donate proceeds to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation, argue that with other versions of Hitler's manifesto circulating widely, a translation that preserves the incoherence and paranoia of the original with extensive debunking commentary is a positive contribution to efforts to fight the far right. 

What Is History For?

by Charlie Sykes

The Bulwark founder Charlie Sykes weighs in on the controversy over teaching history. 

The Conservative Disinformation Campaign Against Nikole Hannah-Jones

by Alice Marwick and Daniel Kreiss

Two of Nikole Hannah-Jones's prospective UNC colleagues describe the pressure to prevent her being hired with tenure a part of a long pattern of conservative political activism using disinformation and distortion as weapons to control what is taught at universities.