From stolen land to the fight for voting rights—Holmes County, Mississippi, has been at the center of America’s struggle for justice. BORROWED LAND, STOLEN LABOR, AND THE HOLY SPIRIT chronicles the farmers, church leaders, and families who changed history. 📖 Learn their story : buff.ly/TPbmR6K

Today's featured book: "Borrowed Land, Stolen Labor, and the Holy Spirit: The Struggle for Power and Equality in Holmes County, Mississippi," by Diane T. Feldman, University Press of Mississippi, 2025. @dianetfeldman.bsky.social @upmississippi.bsky.social www.upress.state.ms.us/Books/B/Borr...

#ICYMI: University Press of Mississippi's 🔥📚 #Juneteenth Reading List 📚🔥, with recent and forthcoming titles that celebrate Black life, history, and the ongoing struggle for justice and equality www.upress.state.ms.us/Collections/...

🎉 Two UPM books are up for a 2025 Eisner Award for Best Academic/Scholarly Work! 👏 COMICS AND MODERNISM (Najarian) 👏 FROM GUM WRAPPERS TO RICHIE RICH (Barnholden) We’re honored to see them recognized! #EisnerAwards #ComicsStudies #UPMississippi

MSU told departments to remove words like “access,” “minority,” “bias" and “discrimination” from official websites, Engagement Librarian DeeDee Baldwin said. “Pretty much anything that acknowledges racism exists has to be taken off. Anything like diversity is a bad word," she said.

Wait a minute! Are you saying there are some people who would use our democratic system to undermine democracy? Man, that’s crazy.

Love seeing WADING IN: DESEGREGATION ON THE MISSISSIPPI GULF COAST continue to make an impact. 🎉 In his full review, James C. Giesen compares Amy Lemco's book to the work of John Dittmer and Charles Payne—some of the highest praise a civil rights scholar can get! 😊📚🔥

📗 BORROWED LAND, STOLEN LABOR, AND THE HOLY SPIRIT: THE STRUGGLE FOR POWER AND EQUALITY IN HOLMES COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI by Diane T. Feldman (@dianetfeldman.bsky.social) Coming in July! www.upress.state.ms.us/Books/B/Borr...

See this is what I mean. Mississippi is a state with a 40% Black population. African American candidate Mike Espy garnered nearly 45% of the vote in the 2020 General Election for the U.S. Senate. Why isn’t there a 10 yr Dem plan for organizing Mississippi? Why concede the state w/a 40% Black pop?

📸 Bold. Baroque. Unapologetically New Orleans. GEORGE VALENTINE DUREAU by Howard Philips Smith celebrates the life & work of one of Nola’s most iconic artists. Through stunning photography & rich storytelling, this book captures Dureau’s flair, his reverence of the human form, & deep love for Nola.

A TONE PARALLEL TO DUKE ELLINGTON dives deep into the sound, style, & cultural impact of jazz composer & icon Duke Ellington. Through powerful essays, this collection explores Ellington’s art as both personal expression and social commentary—always in tune with the world around him. #JazzStudies

🖤 “More and scarier monsters, always.” We’re thrilled to see GLOBAL INDIGENOUS HORROR, edited by Naomi Simone Borwein, featured in the Los Angeles Review of Books! Vanessa Evans dives into this groundbreaking anthology and how it challenges genre, culture, and colonial narratives. 👉 buff.ly/GZkFhJE

Hello BlueSkyers! Just a reminder that my book is out in less than 90 days so order now at the pre-order price. Amazon link is below but also available through University Press of Mississippi or Barnes & Noble. Buy if you are interested in #MississippiHistory. www.amazon.com/Borrowed-Lan...

Tons of food USAID bought from USA farmers is rotting at the Port of Houston. Due to Elon’s ax-wielding at the agency, no one is overseeing where the food should go. DOGE is WASTING billions of dollars #Voices4Victory m.youtube.com/watch?v=nDr-...

@jenpsaki.msnbc.com: “It has always been Trump’s strategy to overwhelm the media and critics with far-right noise. Trump ally Steve Bannon laid it out very clearly all the way back in 2020… Four years later, that’s still the strategy. And Bannon says it’s going great!”

Keep thinking about 1962 video of PPM singing Puff in NYT with Peter Yarrow’s obit. Innocent young white faces listening. A lovely fantasy from long ago. Didn’t last. And recent dragons have not been kind. Now one has breathed fire on LA and another wants to melt and steal Greenland.

Very worth a read imo. Joe Biden overestimated us (and Merrick Garland). Still, there is appeal in a President who has confidence in the people, even as he may become the last one to really have that faith. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

Voters are unhappy with a government they feel does not deliver for them. Unfair voting maps are part of why Washington too frequently does not work.

🚨NEW: The U.S. Senate has passed the Social Security Fairness Act, which will give Social Security benefits to over 3 million Americans. This was championed by outgoing Senator Sherrod Brown and will be part of his legacy! REPOST to thank Senator Brown for his service!

Recently we interviewed Booker "Bukka" White's biographer David W. Johnson about his book The Life and Music of Booker “Bukka” White – Recalling the Blues published by @upmississippi.bsky.social The English spoken interview is now available on Spotify open.spotify.com/show/3mPSH3q...

Listen to a balanced assessment of gun culture and its folklore in America in the audiobook for GUNLORE: FIREARMS, FOLKWAYS, AND COMMUNITIES, edited by Robert Glenn Howard and Eric A. Eliason! #ReadUP #Audiobooks tinyurl.com/yejjbwm8

REP. JEFFRIES: “The Musk-Johnson proposal is not serious. It's laughable. Extreme Maga Republicans are driving us to a government shutdown.”

House Democrats will never bend the knee to far right extremists who want to shut down the government.

I had no other expectations!

I do not have any coping mechanisms for the next four years. I am all tapped out.

On a short visit to DC. Spending my last day at National Gallery seeking perspective after a couple days on the Hill. Recommend the Gordon Parks exhibit and adjacent 1970s documentary photography exhibit. Views of humanity and reality.

It’s not wrong to be wary of anticipatory obedience—but we don't know yet what senators like Ernst or McConnell will do, and given today's Trump/MAGA threat environment, I get what Wray did. Pls read before telling me I'm wrong and only you can predict the future. www.thebulwark.com/p/senate-rep...

Democrats, listen to @abstoddard.bsky.social.

I just watched Trump’s Meet the Press interview. A torrent of lies. The press is going to have to figure out how to cover this. Platform of lies will hasten the collapse of this democracy.

As many of you can see, I'm not as tech-savvy as many of my colleagues, but I’m glad to be in a space that isn't overly saturated with false information or a one-sided view of our country.

Trump & his minions can make all the assertions they want—but no election, no conspiracy theory, no pardon, & no threat of vengeful prosecution can rewrite history or wipe away his responsibility for the deadly violence on J6. We stood up to him before, & we will continue to.

Making a difference: Jackson Public Schools Superintendent wins national leadership award. See why here www.clarionledger.com/story/news/2...

North Carolina Republicans care more about an illegitimate power grab than getting needed relief to hurricane victims in the state. Truly shameful on many levels. www.nytimes.com/2024/11/26/u...

Picking up from last night, when the MS Supreme Court runoff was too close to call, GOP state Sen. Jennifer Branning is now up about 1,600 votes on moderate Justice Jim Kitchens. An unknown number of absentees/provisionals, plus a chunk of votes in deep blue Hinds County, still remain

MISSISSIPPI! There's less than two hours to vote in the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals races! The outcomes can have a huge impact on the future of our state! Polls close at 7 p.m. If you're in Supreme Court District 1 (left map) or Appeals Court District 5 (right), share this & GO VOTE!

Many people showed courage around the Jan 6th events - the Capitol Police, VP Pence, and all members of the Jan 6 Committee. Jack Smith and Judge Chutkan followed the law. Merrick Garland wimped out and let us all down. Smart guy from what I hear. Less important than courage as it turns out.

We Know Who’s to Blame for Trump’s Evasion of Justice. It Isn’t Jack Smith. None of this was inevitable.

Still relatively new to Blue Sky. Follow me if you are interested in books, history, writing, the American South or you are interested in but not obsessed with progressive politics. No MAGA folk please. Enough of that in the newspaper.

The first critical election of the new Trump era is just 132 days from now: Wisconsin’s state Supreme Court race. 🧵

Trump convinced enough voters that he was the candidate of change who would take on a corrupt political system. Well, his first 2 weeks show that he embodies everything these voters hate about politics. This is the case Dems should make: www.messageboxnews.com/p/trump-20-c...

University Press of Mississippi book sale ends Wednesday! All books including new and pre-orders are half price, including mine. Check it out. www.upress.state.ms.us/Books/B/Borr.... #books #history #mississippi #booksky

University Press of Mississippi book sale ends Wednesday! All books including new and pre-orders are half price, including mine. Check it out. www.upress.state.ms.us/Books/B/Borr.... #books #history #mississippi #booksky

I wrote a thing! open.substack.com/pub/sumatith...

Re post-election analyses: (1) Exit polls are polls and don’t all agree. (2) No meaningful analysis will choose one factor to explain it all. (3) In depth analysis takes time. (4) We won’t know if the Harris campaign made mistakes because we can’t replay it. (5) Chill out and move forward.

If you live in Central Mississippi, one more critical vote this year. November 26 Supreme Court runoff. Justice Kitchens for Justice. Don’t go back.

Attention: Book lovers, history lovers and other lovers. The University Press of Mississippi is having a one week half-off sale on books that are out - and others (yeah, like mine) that are in pre-order. Check out the sale! www.upress.state.ms.us/Books/B/Borr...

Attention: Book lovers, history lovers and other lovers. The University Press of Mississippi is having a one week half-off sale on books that are out - and others (yeah, like mine) that are in pre-order. Check out the sale! www.upress.state.ms.us/Books/B/Borr...

Seems like a good time to mention that my book, "Same Old Song: The Enduring Past in Popular Music," is now 50% for the next week. www.upress.state.ms.us/Books/S/Same... In fact, ALL books at University Press of Mississippi are 50% off, including preorders. More books you should check out: