The people who profited most from the cancel culture/free speech panic were less interested in actual freedom of speech than establishing their own control over public discourse. You don't even have to take my word for it. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...

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...

White men have been griping about the unfair advantages given to Black people since literally the day after slavery

A new book traces the history of Black nationalism in the U.S. through the remarkable, contradictory life of an overlooked activist, Dara T. Mathis writes. On Ashley D. Farmer’s biography of Audley Moore:

Thinking about one of my all-time favorite historians, CUNY grad Nick Salvatore, & what he did for cultural/political biography, radical history, Af-Am history. I am always telling folks about We All Got History: The Memory Books of Amos Webber. www.ithacavoice.org/2025/12/obituary-nick-salvatore/

This is idiotic. There is no reason for anyone to do pull-ups in an airport. This has always been obvious until now.

I have never been on the campus of Harvard or any other university in the last 40 years, but I did watch With Honors on Netflix. Here's what American higher education needs to do differently....(1/88)

Full pardon for the convicted drug trafficker who helped move 400 tons of cocaine. Death by airstrike for the guys on the boat www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/1...

Every time he talks, you can just feel the resentment toward the people he is supposed to serve.

Accommodations in higher education were supposed to help disabled Americans access the same opportunities as their nondisabled peers, @rosehorowitch.bsky.social reports. How did they become another way for wealthy students to gain an advantage?

Today is the 70th anniversary of Rosa Parks' arrest. Six myths: 1) She wasn't old or tired. 42 years old that day, she had a "life history of being rebellious" & had spent two decades helping to turn the Montgomery NAACP into a more activist branch alongside ED Nixon and Johnnie Carr.

An issue we're seeing at all levels of university is that many students are simply refusing to do *anything*. They aren't reading the syllabus, aren't following assignment guidelines, aren't engaging with material, ignoring deadlines. And this might seem like old news, but it truly has ramped up.

“The first 2-3 yrs of university education should encourage students to develop their minds by wrestling with complex texts, learning how to distill and organize their insights in lucid writing, and absorbing the key ideas and methods of their chosen discipline.” www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...?

Since 2000, political giving by the wealthiest 100 Americans to federal elections has gone up almost 140 times, well outpacing the growing costs of campaigns, a Washington Post analysis found. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/int...

SHEAR Dissertation Prize deadline extended! There is still time to apply for the SHEAR/UVA Press Dissertation Prize. The new deadline is January 20, 2025. More info here: shear.org/shear-book-p...

The History Department of the University of Massachusetts Amherst invites applications for an Assistant Professor in the History of the Modern Middle East. Areas of specialization are open. Please share! - careers.umass.edu/amherst/en-u... #History #Historians

Ah, yes. Let's look to The Founders to examine the proper ways for elite white men to interact with very young vulnerable women

79-year-old Paul Bojerski was born to Polish parents in a WWII German refugee camp. His family legally emigrated to the U.S. when he was 5. He’s been taken by ICE in Florida. www.orlandosentinel.com/2025/11/16/s...

As the history wars heat up, we’re releasing a new book that brings together some of the nation’s leading voices—Nikole Hannah-Jones, Annette Gordon-Reed, and many others—for an urgent, energizing conversation about the origins of the United States. Preorder is now available.

This essay by David Herzberg is worth your time.

Preorder the 2nd edition of my book No Common Ground using the code 01SOCIAL30 on uncpress.org to get 30% off. @uncpress.bsky.social #confederate #monuments

The African American Military History Museum in Hattiesburg, MS hosts an annual early Veterans Day open house www.wdam.com/2025/11/06/h...

Shapiro: He rose to some prominence by writing a book about growing up in Appalachia, where there are a whole lot of people who get SNAP. He made millions of dollars off telling their stories, and then he turned his damn back on those very people he likes to write about and claim as his own.

Chris Rufo/Ron DeSantis overhauled New College and made it "the most financially inefficient school in the university system" Degree yield is 19%, 2nd-worst in Fla. Operating funds per student at New College: $83,207 Same category at Univ of Florida: $45,765 www.heraldtribune.com/story/news/e...

NPR has aired a story about turmoil regarding Indiana University's treatment of the Indiana Daily Student newspaper, and the lawsuit its adult advisor filed after the school fired him. The story on preserving free speech for student journalists spreads. https://loom.ly/Q_eRgcg

Friends in African-American history. Come be our colleague at UGA! careers.historians.org/jobs/2180454...

Pub day 👑 Queen Mother: Black Nationalism, Reparations, and the Untold Story of Audley Moore is officially here! @pantheonbooks.bsky.social A decade-long labor of love, of unearthing an archive said to be lost, building relationships with her family, interviewing those who knew her, and

Cheney, architect of endless war, helped kill our faith in leaders flip.it/wWhpax

How does one recover from and process a generational storm like Helene? For UNC Press author @shuffard.bsky.social and his friends, the answer was through music. Learn about the making of their band Spell of Leaves and their new single Old Fort Loops ⤵️ uncpressblog.com/2025/10/30/o...

Mother of the Revolution: How Audley Moore Influenced a Generation of Black Activists ASHLEY D. FARMER ON THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF THE WOMAN WHO SPEARHEADED THE FIGHT FOR REPARATIONS lithub.com/mother-of-th...

DC friends!! Join us on this Sunday on the National Mall for a teach-in in defense of history and museums, ft. an all-star line-up! We’ll be there from sun-up to sun-down. More info here: linktr.ee/historyteachin

I am thoroughly enjoying @johnfabianwitt.bsky.social's new book. Highly recommend. 🗃️

UPenn just rejected the compact

EXCLUSIVE: Thousands of leaked messages show leaders of Young Republican groups joking about gas chambers, slavery and rape in a private Telegram chat. Inside rising GOP leaders’ racist chats — obtained by POLITICO and spanning more than 7 months👇

New opportunity for professors in the humanities & social sciences in the US: Our Transatlantic Bridge Professorships support research & exchange in Germany & the US (€300,000 for up to 3 years). Apply from Jan 15, 2026. 🌉🇩🇪🇺🇸 More: 👉 www.volkswagenstiftung.de/en/funding/f...

MIT rejects "compact" proposed by the Trump administration. MIT prez wrote: it "would restrict freedom of expression and our independence as an institution" and "is inconsistent with our core belief that scientific funding should be based on scientific merit alone." orgchart.mit.edu/letters/rega...

yeah, trump has made very clear that he doesn’t think black people deserve to be in jobs of influence! www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/u...

The “compact” for higher ed is an unserious document written by unserious people from a position of spectacular ignorance. No one should take it seriously. Sadly, my bosses are taking it seriously. newrepublic.com/article/2013...

The elimination of USAID is a moral atrocity and all involved made a choice to enable, and then lie about, ending the lives of some of the most vulnerable people in the world.

This is very good and helpful on higher ed "compact": newrepublic.com/article/2013...

What people cannot seem to get through their heads is that the justifications the Trump administration uses to attack higher education is a *pretext* not the actual reason. There is no reasonable permanent compromise available, because their actual goal is control.

I also suspect that weed smoking has something to do with it.

Announcing the QUEEN MOTHER book tour, celebrating the life and legacy of Audley Moore—trailblazer, activist, and mother of modern Black Nationalism.⁣ ⁣ RSVP and more information: ashleydfarmer.com/events Pre-order today: lnkd.in/g9_gC2UA @pantheonbooks.bsky.social

Took about 20 years. And I never thought a book about enslavers using deputization to give themselves policing power would be relevant to our times. But we are where we are. My book, White Power: Policing American Slavery, is now available for preorder. a.co/d/29c7EIP

We're hiring 2 tenure-track positions this year at FSU's History dept, one in US post 1865 and the other in sub-Saharan Africa -- just CV, letter, and online app to apply by Nov 3. I'm not on either search committee (I'm on research leave in the spring) but am happy to answer any questions!

My latest:”Through gossamer tributes, Kirk’s cruel condemnation of transgender people & his racist throwback views abt Black Americans were no longer anathema but instead are being treated as just another political view to be respectfully debated —like a position on tax rates or health care policy.”

Even from a purely military standpoint, this is ridiculous. There is no one there whose actions would result in a MOH today. No way, not even close. And certainly not THAT many. It dilutes the value of the Medal itself. Let alone the reality of the killing.

I’m so fortunate to have had Bill Leuchtenburg in my life, and I’m honored to help extend his legacy with a donation to the WEL Fund at UNC Press. Please join me in donating, and support the kind of public-facing scholarship he championed.

The former provost of UNC says that trustees used closed-door sessions to discuss policy and finance issues, in violation of state open meetings laws.