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Beverly Cleary, Legendary Children's Author Who Quietly Revolutionized Kid Lit, Dies at 104

"She often credited one young library patron for launching her literary career after the boy stubbornly lamented––as she once did––that he couldn’t find any books about kids 'like us'."

Editors Refused to Publish Richard Wright's Most Important Novel—Until Now

"Though Wright himself considered The Man Who Lived Underground his finest work, its depiction of police brutality was so graphic, his publishers believed that it shouldn't see the light of day. When Wright submitted the work to his editor, it was turned down."

The Crimson Klan

Harvard's administration treated the burning of a cross on Harvard Yard in 1952 as a "prank" and threatened Black students with disciplinary action if they described the incident to the press. A student journalist's research shows that the incident was not out of step with the university's practices in the 20th century. 

The Obscure Case That Could Blow Up American Civil-Rights and Consumer-Protection Laws

Law professor Eduardo Peñalver argues that the case of Cedar Point Nursery v. Hassid which challenges a 1975 California law allowing labor organizers limited access to private agricultural land to speak to workers, could apply a radical version of the "takings" doctrine to block many kinds of labor, consumer, and civil rights law. 

SSU Faculty Retrenchment Plan Accidentally Released

Salem (MA) State University's General Counsel disputed that a spreadsheet accidentally relased in response to a records request and circulated by a faculty member constitutes a plan to terminate faculty positions for budgetary reasons. Faculty argue that it is consistent with pressure they face to accept furloughs and doubt administration assurances that retrenchment is off the table.

Virginia Becomes First Southern State to Abolish the Death Penalty

Governor Ralph Northam explained that the state could guarantee neither racial equity nor the indisputable guilt of condemned prisoners. Virginia had executed more prisoners than any American state or colony in 413 years of the death penalty.

The Future of Conservatism?

by Charlie Sykes

"The Bulwark" columnist compares a recent task force for conservatism convened by former Governor Scott Walker to the legacy of the movement and finds it sorely lacking. 

Why America’s Great Crime Decline Is Over

Sociologist Patrick Sharkey examines the trajectory of crime in modern America and rejects single-cause explanations. 

There’s No Migrant ‘Surge’ at the U.S. Southern Border. Here’s the Data

Three political scientists argue that the recent media narrative of a "border crisis" is political hype and not supported by data about historical migration patterns. Looking at month-to-month fluctuations distorts the situation and leads to bad policy. 

Biden Met with Historians to Discuss Pace and Scope of Policy Agenda

Joe Biden has sought the counsel of historians as he calibrates his domestic policy agenda, explicitly comparing the current moment to the New Deal and Great Society. 

It’s Time to Reframe Voting Rights in the Courts

Since the expansion of voting rights by legislation and the courts in the 1960s, conservative legal activists have narrowed ballot access by shifting legal focus from the interests of the voters toward the purported interest of the state in protecting election integrity, balancing a real problem against a largely imaginary one. 

Justice for the Negro Leagues Will Mean More Than Just Stats

Major League Baseball will incorporate player records from various Negro League competitions in its official statistics. Black players denied the chance to play in the segregated Major Leagues will now be listed among the official all-time greats, but will this move actually raise awareness of the political and social forces that kept the game segregated?

Argentina’s Military Coup of 1976: What the U.S. Knew

Newly declassified documents demonstrate that the US government, including Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, were aware of the developing coup and evaluated policy as a balancing of the prospective military dictatorship's friendliness to the US against its likely willingness to commit human rights violations. 

The Intellectual Case For Trump: A Debate

Vox's Sean Illing discusses the subject with Charles Kesler, Professor of Politics at Claremont McKenna College.

Filmmaker’s Suit Says A&E Networks Suppressed ‘Watergate’ Series

A documentarian is suing the A&E cable network claiming it didn't promote his 2018 Watergate series out of deference to Trump voters. The network says the decision was based on ratings and defends its record of airing controversial subjects. 

Minneapolis Homeowners Can Now Reject Racial Covenants On Their Deed

Racial restrictive covenants have been legally unenforceable since 1948 and illegal under the Fair Housing Act of 1968, but remain on the deeds of many older properties. A program in Minnesota allows homeowners to remove them. 

Does Requiring Only Men to Register for the Draft Violate the Constitution?

by Adam Liptak

A Supreme Court challenge to the male-only requirement to register for the draft is an odd coalition of the ACLU and the anti-feminist National Coalition for Men. If successful, it could end one of the last legal sex-based distinctions in federal law. 

Ed Markey’s Ahistorical Attack on the Filibuster?

According to the Post's Fact Check, Sen. Markey earns "Three Pinocchios" because, even though the filibuster became a prominent legislative tactic through the efforts of pro-slavery John C. Calhoun (and was prominently used by his ideological successors in th Jim Crow South), the South Carolina Senator didn't actually invent it. Three Pinocchios. 

New Study: 5 Ways Racist 1930s Housing Policies Still Haunt Schools

Past discriminatory housing policies have been determined to be a major factor in the black-white wealth gap. A new report has linked redlining to present-day inequalities in education. 

Letters Found In An Attic Reveal Eerie Similarities Between Adolf Hitler And His Father

A trove of letters discovered in an Austrian attic are a rare primary source about the parents of the Nazi leader.