ICYMI — “I identified myself as a U.S. citizen and a veteran, but that didn't matter. ICE Agents smashed my window, sprayed tear gas and pepper spray into my car, dragged me out… this experience violated the very principles I fought to defend.”

Podcast Alert! I had so much fun chatting with @lizcovart.bsky.social about the history of 1820s interoceanic Canal Dreamers. The @bfworld.bsky.social podcast episode went live today! What a great last day of classes treat. @uncpress.bsky.social 🗃️ benfranklinsworld.com/episode-428-...

An early Christmas present for all you Court of Requests fans. *All* the calendared Elizabethan proceedings [TNA REQ 2/26-294], over 20,000 items in total, are now searchable on The National Archives' online catalogue. Ho ho ho 🎄 discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/browse/r/h/C...

HOPE WALZ: “What world are we f*cking living in? I draw the line at Gus. You people are f*cking disgraceful.” She says MAGA loyalists are now driving by their home and yelling “R*tard!” at her family and her special needs brother after Trump called GovTimWalz the R word.

ICE should not be free to inflict this kind of pain and suffering on innocent immigrants. This doesn’t make anyone safer. Republicans must join Democrats in calling for oversight, accountability, and serious restraint.

I literally cannot tell if this is satire or not. Then again, if you’d shown me a picture of the current White House a year ago, I would also think it was satire.

move slowly and build things

The blatant use of false, inaccurate histories to arrive at a decision the majority of the Court clearly wanted regardless of the facts is a feature of both Dred Scott and Dobbs. It’s an apt comparison. 🗃️

Check out these fabulous DH talks 12/4—register to get details on how to join virtually—times are all PST.

This is too much.

Looks fantastic!

🔔 We’re honored to open a new round in the @susih.bsky.social -IU Community Scholars Program, which unlocks onsite + remote library access for 3 years for contingent scholars + historians working beyond the academy. Please apply + share! CFP due 2/1. Onward! 🗃️ s-usih.org/2025/12/cfp-...

This means NSF dissertation improvement grants in the social sciences are simply...not happening.

How Oregon’s Data Center Boom Is Supercharging a Water Crisis Amazon has come to the state’s eastern farmland, worsening a water pollution problem that’s been linked to cancer and miscarriages. Rolling Stone reports in collaboration with @thefern.org: www.rollingstone.com/culture/cult...

Hope it’s solid — Pauli Murray was so badass. She should be a household name. Legend.

I spent October traveling to schools throughout the South talking to students about American history. What I found were young people who understand we can tell a story that includes both the positive and the negative. As one 8th grader in Memphis said, “Doesn’t seem that hard, just say both things.”

PBS NEWS WEEKEND has been cancelled and 34 jobs will be cut at WETA in Washington D.C. The NEWS HOUR West Coast bureau will also close and the updated daily West Coast broadcast will end. “We cannot fully compensate for the scope of the federal funding loss.” current.org/2025/11/weta... #PBS

A reminder - last March, republicans promised to restore $1.1B in funding to DC in exchange for funding the government, and Mike Johnson never took it up in the House.

Dutch province wants to honour African-American WWII soldiers after the US removed a plaque at the militairy cemetery in Margraten highlighting their contributions. CC: @chadbourn.bsky.social

Here in Atlanta yesterday, more than 2,000 people waited in their cars—one woman for 14 hours—for a box of food. The giveaway ended early; there wasn't enough to go around. Multiply this scene by countless others across the country, and you get a sense of how crushing the desperation is right now.

The United States was the leading destination for top scientists from all over the world. That is ending. Politicians ended it. It will cripple our future competitiveness. And it’s such a bitter tragedy. Almost no Americans, Conservative or Liberal, grasp what is now being stolen from them.

Reminder you can donate $25 to help feed Angelenos and be entered into a raffle for two World Series tickets to game 4 with Shohei Ohtani on the mound! Let’s raise some money for people in need while gov’t funds/SNAP are being slashed: givebutter.com/game4?gbtid=...

Everybody needs a little help from their Friends. 💞 This #NationalFriendsofLibrariesWeek, help us at PLA & @ala-united.bsky.social thank the Friends for their support & advocacy! 🙌 Tell them how much you appreciate the work they do #ForOurLibraries! More on getting involved👉 https://bit.ly/3BWAy5a

This story is extraordinary even by 2025 standards. Marco Rubio, the nation's top diplomat, made a deal with Bukele and agreed to renege on informant agreements in a years-long DOJ investigation into MS-13, totally undercutting credibility of such agreements. www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

SHOHEI'S DOG DECOY 'THROWS' OUT THE FIRST PITCH. WE LOVE YOU SHOHEI WE LOVE YOU DECOY. I'm so glad Shohei came to LA. He's a baseball folk hero with an adorable doggy and he hits dingers and steals bases and he really loves baseball and his puppy

The Friends of BLS steering committee is sponsoring a member webinar noon to 1pm ET Thurs, Oct 23. We aim to build nonpartisan support for a strong BLS & need your perspectives & energy. Former Commissioners @ericagroshen.bsky.social, William Beach, & @erikamcentarfer.bsky.social will... #EconSky

Your reminder—or maybe no one ever told you—that complications from a measles infection include immune amnesia (where you lose immunity to everything), vision and hearing loss, brain damage, and a fatal brain disease called Subacute Sclerosing Panencephalitis that can show up years later.

Shared courtesy of my Penn History colleague, Ben Nathans

George was just trying to get to work. ICE pepper-sprayed him, dragged him from his car, locked him in a detention center, and placed him on suicide watch. He even missed his young daughter’s birthday in the process. This man is a veteran and American citizen. Don't look away.

New essay in the Atlantic today: How Native Nations Shaped the Revolution by Ned Blackhawk (with many lessons on how we ended up where we are as a nation, and a gift link) www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...

The Only Footage of Mark Twain: The Original & Digitally Restored Films Shot by Thomas Edison

i desperately want everyone involved in the destruction of USAID to have to, st the very least, answer to the american people for the suffering and misery they have caused apnews.com/article/myan...

This is all but literally one of the things that King James II did that led to the Glorious Revolution in 1688 and the English Bill of Rights in 1689. (Want to guess who used that document as a model in the 1770s and 1780s?) avalon.law.yale.edu/17th_century...

We’re so thankful to everyone who is spreading the word about our work at The TRiiBE. This moment demands more revolutionary voices in journalism. Support independent, Black-owned journalism today. Make a monetary contribution: buy.stripe.com/00w14n5ZRbhk...

history teacher in 50 years: So in September, that’s when the president signed an executive order criminalizing anti-fascism and saying all resistance would be crushed student: oh so that’s when the whole country realized they were living under fascism teacher: haha what? oh no lol not at all. no.

Trump has sought emergency intervention by the Supreme Court 28 times in the first eight months of his new term, more than Bush, Obama and Biden did combined over 20 years. www.wsj.com/us-news/law/...

Judge Immergut quotes James Madison from the Records of the Federal Convention of 1787: “A standing military force, with an overgrown Executive will not long be safe companions to liberty. The means of defence [against] foreign danger, have been always the instruments of tyranny at home.”

Today and tomorrow: "Six Decades Later: Legacies of the 1965 Immigration Act" at Duke and UNC - featured speakers include Madeline Hsu, Mae Ngai, and Pawan Dhingra - join us if you're in town! asianamericanstudies.duke.edu/conferences/...

“ABC7 spoke to Pertissue Fisher, a woman who lives in the building. She said ICE agents took everyone in the building, including her, and asked questions later….’They was bringing the kids down, too, had them zip tied to each other.’” It can’t happen here, you say. But it is happening.

From 1939-1945 German officers also listened to speeches from civilians about how the laws of war didn’t apply to them. And then they participated in the Holocaust, starved millions of prisoners of war, destroyed villages and cities, and were defeated.

The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice. Except it doesn’t bend on its own—it bends because we pull it in the direction of justice. What keeps me hopeful during times like these is being surrounded by people who are doing just that.

NEW: ALA is deeply disappointed in the FCC's vote today to end #ERate funding support for wi-fi hotspot lending programs at libraries and schools. We don't yet know the full extent of the impacts, but we know that libraries & their communities rely on this support: www.ala.org/news/2025/09...

Incredible pairing of text and chart

And... of course I sent the wrong link to register for Prof. Montemayor's talk. This is the correct one: bit.ly/AI-attention Let me make it up to you with a cat photo...

Dr. Quintard Taylor, historian and founder of BlackPast.org, has died at 77. From "The Forging of a Black Community" to building a global archive, he made Black history accessible to all. Read Lola E. Peters' reflection here: soseaem.org/4mEIrTv #Seattle

As always, support your local station. They need it more than you know. And, if you can swing it, adopt a station in another state: adoptastation.org

My employer New York Public Radio just announced that it is offering @onthemedia.bsky.social, @radiolab.bsky.social, and other programs to at-risk public radio stations for free! More info: current.org/2025/09/wnyc...

CNN has identified at least 100 U.S. citizen children who have been separated from their parents after ICE deported them - including newborns. As a parent I cannot imagine the horror of being separated from my child, but that trauma is even more acute for the innocent children left behind.

Something I’ve been thinking about: History as a profession has long relied on affiliation. Your university or museum pays your salary, and in return, you give time to edit journals, peer review articles, write book reviews, consult on exhibits, and volunteer for institutional support. 1/