Had a full circle moment giving the MMUF Mid-Atlantic Conference keynote tonight! My first keynote ever. Meeting these students and future professors, I know the future is bright!

After taking a day to reflect, as New Yorker by birth who has always been priced out, and as someone who has been thinking deeply about the practice of Black Studies as it intersects with History, this is where I’m at about Mamdani’s victory:

When the Supreme Court allowed immigration agents to consider race during sweeps, Justice Brett Kavanaugh said that citizens shouldn’t worry because if they’re detained, agents will “promptly let the individual go.” For these Americans, that wasn’t true.

Bluesky is not (yet) what Twitter was 5-10 years ago. That said, the scholarly community here feels worth staying for. I just finished a class where I taught readings folks recommended to me “on here” and the students loved it. Thank you SkyScholars!

The government of Jamaica has set up a portal for contributing to official relief efforts. I will update this thread if anything analogous opens up for Haiti, Cuba, or the DR supportjamaica.gov.jm

Keeping folks in Philly and around the country in mind for mutual aid as we brace for widespread food insecurity with Nov 1 hits. Also keeping Jamaica in mind for aid as Melissa bears down. So much at once. Too much.

Reflecting on the power of Indigenous Studies today and everyday as the discipline is under fire and still persists in transforming how we see the world.

Holding on to the power of Black Studies, Gender and Sexuality Studies, and Latin American and Latino Studies everyday. These disciplines are elemental to my understanding of history. And when they come for us as they have it’s because they see our transformative power and brilliance.

Universities like UT Austin have shown that they will place ideology and political power ahead of the most vulnerable students, faculty, and staff they serve. Fight against the closure of Black, Latino, and Gender Studies at UT Austin. Support our students. #Blacksky #polisky

yearly reminder to people insisting that we view Christopher Columbus as "a man of his time" that *the people responsible for the Spanish Inquisition* thought Columbus was out of pocket

As a historian with affiliations in Black Studies, Gender and Sexuality Studies, and Latin American and Latino Studies I am appalled by the news out of UT Austin. Please support the students, faculty, and alumni’s actions to preserve these departments and programs of study.

There is a GoFundMe for Mark Bray and his family. I've confirmed with a friend who knows them that this is legit. Please donate if you can.

This is heartbreaking and terrifying in any instance, especially when it hits members of your scholarly community. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/n...

At this point, from my little sphere as professor, I’m like, pedagogically, how do I respond to mass trauma? Not saying kids weren’t traumatized before now, but like we are going to see a generation of young adults who are sick from all this. As educators how do we even begin to respond?

The treatment of children in the 21st century… I am at a loss for words from Gaza and Greta to Chicago to Khartoum, to everywhere under attack, where aid has been relinquished and denied, where children can not access healthcare, gender affirming or otherwise. I am at a loss.

The event went well. swarthmorephoenix.com/2025/10/02/a...

Student editors ask some of my colleagues and I to reflect on the role of professors at our college today. Our responses: swarthmorephoenix.com/2025/10/02/o...

Even with a smaller class Black History Taboo was still a blast! After I teach the second half of the survey next semester, I will be working with a designer for a full deck!

We ended class in “Black Atlantic History” today by discussing social death and historical redress. A brilliant student argued that historical redress is insufficient if we don’t attend to Black people’s material circumstances and political exigencies in the present.

So we are getting an Assata Shakur Day right? A day for community love right? A day for prison and policing abolition right? Or is even asking that question a fireable offense now too?

I mean… we might just have to go analog after all the social media nonsense going on these days… idk call me or something until further notice…

The @aaup.org just shared guidance for academic workers on how to protect themselves online www.aaup.org/news/advisor...

If you’re on academia dot edu, let me suggest that you strongly consider deleting your account.

I love being invited to speak and share work. I especially love it when the forum is within commuting distance of Philadelphia. Just calling in more local opportunities this year…

“Antifascism not only drew students and faculty out of the universities and into the streets. It also brought antifascism and varieties of Marxism—Trotskyism, Stalinism, Fabian Socialism—into the university.” Robin D. G. Kelley:

🚨 UPDATE on the current COVID vaccine access situation in the US. Please note that this is based on state laws but different things may be happening on the ground, and some pharmacies are defaulting to federal guidelines instead of state laws.

The ACH Executive Committee is pleased to announce that its 57th Annual Conference will be held at the University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica, from May 24-28, 2026. (There will be an optional field trip on Friday, May 29.) Call for papers! associationofcaribbeanhistorians.org/annual-meeti...

El Comité Ejecutivo de la ACH anuncia la 57ª Conferencia Anual se celebrará en la University of the West Indies Jamaica, del 24 a 28 de mayo de 2026. (El viernes 29 de mayo está prevista una excursión opcional.) Convocatoria: associationofcaribbeanhistorians.org/es/reunion-a...

Le comité exécutif de l’ACH sont heureux de vous annoncer que la 57e conférence annuelle se tiendra du 24 au 28 mai 2026 à l’Université des West Indies en Jamaïque. (Une excursion facultative est prévue le vendredi 29 mai.) Appel a contributions: associationofcaribbeanhistorians.org/fr/reunion-a...

Day one… and the students continue to inspire…

This SEPTA nonsense in Harrisburg is going to make people lose their jobs.

You have to understand, as a historian of slavery, the slave trade, and public health, I can’t unsee the harm the US (Democrats and Republicans) have sewn and supported around the world during my short lifetime. Care, solidarity, and collective action feel like the only option, knowing what I know.

“This is not about ego. It is about refusing to disappear... In Gaza, to be an academic today is to refuse to be reduced to a statistic.” www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

Oh my gosh just fund it!

very much saddened to learn that bucknell university press will be closing. they took a chance on my first book when other presses said it was too short or too narrowly focused on minor authors. www.chronicle.com/blogs/letter...

Grateful to those amazing profs who put their teaching materials online!

Who is doing work on early modern (pre-1800) Black queer history? Nothing against Sweet (and passing mentions in Saunders) but I’d love to include some other voices in my syllabi! Feel free to shamelessly self-promote!

Another crucial issue of @hammerandhope.bsky.social Currently reading: hammerandhope.org/article/gaza...

Here's a good write-up on universities in Sudan surviving against all odds, with some tips on what we could do to support higher education there, and for its displaced diasporas by my former student, and now dear friend, Rebecca Glade, and Muna Elgadal. www.cmi.no/publications...

"Silencing the Coverage": Israel Assassinates 5 Al Jazeera Journalists in Targeted Strike in Gaza

AI / LLMs are just bad for public health. From the water and electricity of it all to the mental health crises brewing in our midst to the mass surveillance. And yet, higher ed continues to shove it down our throats.

Given the rising mental/public health crisis of “AI psychosis” perhaps colleges and universities should stop promoting AI in the classroom. Already vulnerable to mental health crises, COVID-era students need social connection, critical thinking, and analog affirmation now more than ever.

Sharing some public writing again since it’s Black August and National Immunization Awareness Month slate.com/news-and-pol...

If you thought the AHA was embarrassing as an institution, wait until you read this..

SEPTA officials said new state funding is needed by Aug. 14 to avoid deep service cuts and fare increases starting later this month.

The US South is the future of the US. If you live in the Northeast or on the West Coast, watch the South. It will teach you what is headed your way, for better and for worse. This couldn’t be more true for academia in particular and we regularly ignore this fact.

Today, I showed up to my job and everyone I interacted with showed up to their jobs. Dozens of challenges were resolved swiftly and efficiently. When had this ever happened in the history of academia? Yall it happened today. It happened today.