@jamellebouie.net A terrific explanation of the institutional power of slavery before the civil war, but also the power of individual choice in combatting it. Great job analyzing the historical scholarship, but also calling out books by @katemasur.bsky.social & @profmsinha.bsky.social

My friend @gowder.io and his colleagues are brilliant and unflinching here. I’m sorry to be late to it but this is an outstanding piece of critical analysis that has lessons well beyond the current debate over birthright citizenship. publications.lawschool.cornell.edu/lawreview/20...

Historians @marthasjones.bsky.social and @katemasur.bsky.social filed a critical brief on birthright citizenship in the circuit courts, showing how the story of free Black Americans' advocacy unravels the admin's lead justification for its executive order. www.brennancenter.org/media/14006/...

Birthright citizenship has been a core constitutional guarantee for ages. If you're just tuning into the discourse now, check out our panel with expert historians @marthasjones.bsky.social @katemasur.bsky.social and Erika Lee: www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QCI... @brennancenter.org

With news that NPS is implementing an EO by deleting info about slavery and climate change, I thought I'd share this article, where Greg Downs & I describe our experience w/NPS's commitment to good history. This is precisely what the admin is trying to destroy. www.historians.org/perspectives...

With news that NPS is implementing an EO by deleting info about slavery and climate change, I thought I'd share this article, where Greg Downs & I describe our experience w/NPS's commitment to good history. This is precisely what the admin is trying to destroy. www.historians.org/perspectives...

Look at this: @inquirer.com has digitally preserved the interpretative signage removed by NPS, and used annotations to explain what specifically was flagged before removal. This keeps the content publicly accessible (for now) while doing newsworthy reporting www.inquirer.com/news/philade...

Here’s a great piece on @netflix.com’s series “Death by Lightning” by the outstanding Historian and National Park Ranger @richcondon.bsky.social. He’s kind enough to mention my name and cite my book in this review of the series for @scwhistorians.bsky.social’s Journal of the Civil War Era.

I'm sure Bouie has read this, but for those interested in the kinds of details this testimony revealed, I strongly recommend: Kidada E. Williams, I Saw Death Coming: A History of Terror and Survival in the War Against Reconstruction (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2023).

Kate Masur and Greg Downs break it down. A must-read. Jan. 6 and the Long Shadow of Civil War- and Reconstruction-Era Political Violence talkingpointsmemo.com/cafe/jan-6-a...

9th Year since losing my mother, labor lawyer & reproductive rights pioneer Beatrice K. Braun. Please learn her story in my A Woman’s Life is a Human Life @groveatlantic.bsky.social @amyhundley.bsky.social @darakaye.bsky.social @katemasur.bsky.social @serenamayeri.bsky.social @kmtani.bsky.social

In today's Muster @robertdbland.bsky.social examines the legacy of the Reconstruction generation www.journalofthecivilwarera.org/2026/01/reme...

ICYMI @jcwe.bsky.social editors @katemasur.bsky.social and Gregory Downs discuss January 6 and the legacy of Civil War-era violence with @talkingpointsmemo.com talkingpointsmemo.com/cafe/jan-6-a...

Thanks to @talkingpointsmemo.com for the terrific suite of articles on what Jan. 6 really was. Here's the report Greg Downs and I wrote for the J6 committee, in which we cast that day's events -- and the response to them -- as part of a very long struggle over democracy in the United States

In today's Muster, @richcondon.bsky.social explores the recent Netflix series Death by Lightning and its portrait of James Garfield as the last "Lincoln Republican" www.journalofthecivilwarera.org/2025/12/deat...

Thanks to @talkingpointsmemo.com for the terrific suite of articles on what Jan. 6 really was. Here's the report Greg Downs and I wrote for the J6 committee, in which we cast that day's events -- and the response to them -- as part of a very long struggle over democracy in the United States

This is a perfect example of why it’s so very irresponsible for educational and other orgs to give in to Trump extortion. It buys into the premise that accepting Fed funds gives the President a license to use them to reward or punish in any amount, w or without the requisite statutory processes 1/2

Thank you for coming to my TOM Talk…

@ajhasocial.bsky.social Please spread the word about the Charles R. Eisendrath Fellowship at the Clements Library. The fellowship supports research on the relation of journalism to US history before 1900 in both pictorial and written reportage and commentary. See clements.umich.edu/research/fel...

@katemasur.bsky.social, Until Justice Be Done America's First Civil Rights Movement, from the Revolution to Reconstruction wwnorton.com/books/978132...

Brilliant from @adamserwer.bsky.social: the Roberts Court's attack on the Reconstruction Amendments are "consistent with the Antebellum Constitution’s narrow definition of who “We the People” are." Here are some legal historians exploring the Antebellum Const. www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...

Bulgarian Chicago business owner dies in ICE custody, sparking calls for 'immediate investigation' https://abc7chicago.com/post/bulgarian-chicago-business-owner-nenko-gantchev-dies-ice-custody-family-congresswoman-call-immediate-investigation/18301520/

Gregory Bovino, the Border Patrol commander//face of the Trump administration’s deportation efforts, held an impromptu news conference at an Evanston gas station, saying he couldn’t provide a reason for one arrest because his agents were “still running checks.” chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...

another case of faculty defending the university when the university won’t defend itself.

Letter to the Editor: Although deeply worrisome, Northwestern University’s recent surrender to President Donald Trump’s ongoing bid to control higher education comes as no surprise.

Northwestern University law profs argue that NU's "deal" with the Trump admin violates the First Amendment and federal antidiscrimination law. Moreover, the grant freeze Trump imposed on NU was unlawful and should have been challenged in court. www.theuniversityunderthreat.org/updates?fbcl...

Congratulations to former Muster editor @hngreen.bsky.social for being included on this illustrious list!

For more on this historical context, see this amicus brief from @marthasjones.bsky.social and @katemasur.bsky.social www.brennancenter.org/media/14006/...

bad actors like wurman are why i think it is important to place the birthright clause in the full context of section 1 and section 1 in the context of both dred scott and the two decades of antislavery and abolitionist agitation and political thinking that proceeded it

SCOTUS will take up argument on Trump's (unconstitutional) order rescinding birthright citizenship. 3 top historians -- @katemasur.bsky.social @marthasjones.bsky.social and Erika Lee -- joined @brennancenter.org to talk about its historical and legal dimensions... www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QCI...

Presidents can’t rescind birthright citizenship. www.brennancenter.org/our-work/ana... @brennancenter.org

Riffing on this theme… Or you could write: “That guarantee, which we wrote into the Constitution over 150 years ago so that politicians could no longer arbitrarily withhold it from disfavored classes of people, is grounded in the language of the 14th Amendment.”

The awfulness of the northwestern/Trump deal, described on NPR yesterday will.illinois.edu/21stshow/sto...

Trump’s extortion campaign continues. This time with Northwestern University reportedly capitulating to the tune of $75 million. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/26/u...

Fuck, Northwestern just caved. Reading the deal now. ( www.northwestern.edu/president/do... )

In today's Muster, we introduce four new contributors to the site. Welcome Cassy Werking, Will Horne, Elliott, and Kris Plunkett to the Muster team! www.journalofthecivilwarera.org/2025/10/intr...

In today's Muster, Clark North examines Stephen Douglas' role in shaping debates over citizenship and voting rights in antebellum Illinois www.journalofthecivilwarera.org/2025/11/step...

In today's Muster, JCWE Book Review Editor Megan Bever chats with J Matt Ward about his book Garden of Ruins (LSU Press, 2024) www.journalofthecivilwarera.org/2025/11/jcwe...

NEW: Evanston has released video + reports surrounding a 10/31 incident where a CBP agent threatened to shoot people + another beat a handcuffed man. We found some disturbing X posts from one of the feds, also seen in other viral videos. His name is Timothy Donahue, and it's now public record:

Ellis is on the bench.

Federal judge blasts Border Patrol chief Greg Bovino for lying and extends an order restricting his agents' use of force in Chicago. blockclubchi.co/3WJRPe5

#tdih 1837 Colored Convention @ccp-org.bsky.social attendees wrote a petition to state of Ohio to revoke its racist laws. They printed it in a newspaper so it could be cut out and pasted onto larger pages that people could sign. #PeoplesHistory #Organizing Read ⬇️by @katemasur.bsky.social

"The combination of Mr. Trump’s authoritarian moves and the Supreme Court’s authorization of them has produced, for many, a deepening despair. But here is the essential fact: The Constitution’s meaning is not the Supreme Court’s alone to define. It belongs to 'we the people.' "

And for a (fantastic) read on the "lessons of history" and the constitutional threat of Trump's executive order on birthright citizenship, see this amicus brief from @marthasjones.bsky.social and @katemasur.bsky.social: www.brennancenter.org/media/13981/...

BREAKING! 1st Cir. blocks Trump's attempt to end birthright citizenship. Strong, clear close: