Finding my 3-times great grandfather, Henry Rucker, registering to vote in 1867 was life changing. He did so at great risk to life and livelihood, but he did it anyway. Honored to commemorate the day that those rights were Constitutionally enshrined, still sacred & paid for at great sacrifice.

Feb. 1, 1960, 4 NC A&T students sat-in at the “whites only” counter at Woolworths in Greensboro. Their defiance ignited a movement led to the birth of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. Young people fuel movements. It is inspiring to see that today they still do. #BlackHistoryMonth

Thrilled to be your speaker for this year!

Just in case you missed this article about the erosion of the 14th and 15th Amendments during the holiday. Important reporting by @adamserwer.bsky.social

I'm so sorry, keep speaking, keep fighting. I'm deeply convinced that most people who aren't directly affected are deeply unaware. We spent decades talking about the environment only to turn around and wreck unprecedented havoc.

We are fighting data centers in our little town and the big wigs just keep going around us. They tried to pass it under the table but people found out and turned out. We got it voted down. Then they took it to court saying we weren't allowed to speak. Now republican courts are undermining us. *sob*

The question people ask me most in my current position is about AI. People passionately opposed to AI, people who believe it is the answer to all our problems, people who wonder what it will mean for the humanities. However most people change the subject when I mention the people bearing AI's costs.

Ajamu A. Dillahunt-Holloway’s review of Black Folk: The Roots of the Black Working Class ( @wwnorton.com ) by Blair LM Kelley ( @profblmkelley.bsky.social )

AI is just scraping what already exists while historians are putting the materials of the past together in new and unexpected ways. Drawing on the insights, teaching, and ways of knowing that are intangible. No comparison.

Breaking: The University of Virginia's Board of Visitors named a new president Friday: Scott Beardsley, dean of UVA's Darden School of Business since 2015. Beardsley called the selection "the honor of my life."

Join our team! We’re hiring a Vice President of Development to advance our organization’s philanthropic mission. Visit our website for more information about the position, including how to apply.

Thankful to have the strength to make this wonderful meal this year. #Blairiscooking

This one is for my son, his fave triple chocolate, chocolate cake, extra chocolate icing. Candied yams up next... #Blairiscooking

First cake is for a family friend. Yellow cake/chocolate icing. Getting dropped off soon! #blairiscooking

It's happening... #Blairiscooking

Dr. @profblmkelley.bsky.social speaks to this in her book: uncpress.org/978080787101...

We are honored and thrilled to welcome Dr. Vinson to the Center this year.

What an amazing and powerful conversation we had @natlhumanities Monday! Building the groundwork!

Congratulations to Signe Cohen (NHC Fellow, 2025–26) for receiving this honor!

Always a pleasure to speak to Leoneda Inge and the Due South team about Black history!

Headed to Atlanta for ASALH. Hoping to see you there!

Congratulations to Tressie McMillan Cottom (NHC Fellow, 2025–26), recipient of the 2025 Thomas Wolfe Prize. As this year’s recipient, Cottom will deliver the annual Thomas Wolfe Lecture on September 30 at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Did you know 1,783 books have resulted from NHC fellowships? Over the past five decades, the Center has been privileged to support the work of some of the world’s leading humanists, and to enlist their expertise on behalf of its programs for educators and public #humanities work.

We stand with the Smithsonian.

When folks at CBS clap back at each other about the role of slavery in history... youtu.be/xkPYmz3dMBA?... got to love it...

An interesting take on AI and the value of interdisciplinary collaborative thinking that also mightily fails to consider where the information inside the bot is coming from/what prompting the bot is doing to our environment. What It’s Like to Brainstorm with a Bot www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...

The National Humanities Center welcomes fellowship applications from faculty engaged in advanced #humanities research at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Help us spread the word about this exciting opportunity.

The National Humanities Center welcomes fellowship applications from scholars engaged in the study of China in the Ming dynasty or of regions and periods connected to the Ming dynasty. Applications are due October 2, 2025. #AsianStudies cc: @asianstudies.org

ChatGPT psychosis is real. Philosopher Krista Thomason (NHC Fellow, 2021–22) explores how our emotional needs can lead to psychological distress when interacting with AI.

Black women face a particularly daunting reality. They are more likely to be diagnosed with aggressive forms of breast cancer at younger ages compared to their white counterparts

Wow. More than a century after the fight I chronicled in Right to Ride, when Black passengers challenged segregation on trains and boycotted segregated streetcars, Black passengers are now being told to move to the back of the bus? And threatened with arrest if they don't? #StudyingSegregation

Thank you so much sis!

Big news! I'm heading to the National Humanities Center as the next president. I'm proud to be the first woman, the first Black person, and the first person of color to lead it. Honored to start this new chapter. #Humanities #BlackWomenLead #BlackSky

An awesome story about how solar microgrids kept the power on during Puerto Rico's latest blackouts. This is bottom-up, power-to-the-people shit. Get excited!

A few months ago, Nature published how-to guide for using ChatGPT to write your peer reviews in 30 minutes. This is, of course, a horrible idea. Here’s my response with @jbakcoleman.bsky.social .

Add this to your must reads... For Black Women, Life in America Has Always Been a Crossroads www.nytimes.com/2025/06/21/b...

Oh.

Good morning to those commemorating the struggle for freedom, fervently defending freedom's possibilities for our descendants, and having a good time doing it. #HappyJuneteenth

Mansplaining encapsulated in one clip.

What happened to Adriana Smith is such a profoundly violent intrusion. Where was any semblance of bodily autonomy and a family's wishes? Why didn't that matter at all? Once again, policies get played out to awful ends on the terrain of Black women's bodies. I am praying for her family.

Here it is, my 229th #ScholarSunday thread of great public scholarly writing & work, podcast episodes, new & forthcoming books from the last week. Please add more below, share widely, & enjoy, all! 🗃️ americanstudier.substack.com/p/scholarsun...

Picking radishes is no easy task. Efrén spends 8-10 hrs/day on his knees, picking and sorting the radishes into small bunches to fill dozens of crates a day in CA's Ventura County. He's proud to have worked in America's fields for 49 years. #WeFeedYou

My old school social media friend needs help. Please consider helping if you have it!

A huge percentage of Americans will need care at end of life. They need to wake up and think about how they want their elders treated. They need to wake up and think about how they want to be treated.

People don't understand end of life care, Medicaid, and how this legislation will make things unimaginably worse. If people are too ill for home care, Medicare only covers a set amount of time. Once that ends, the patient covers it, and on average it exceeds a pension and social security check.

Heard some ignorance about Medicaid today, so I thought I would share this fun fact: Medicaid covers the costs for 63 percent of the nearly 1.3 million nursing home residents in the US. I wonder if folks consider them worthy of care or not.

As states put forward their budgets, a reminder that the remnants of segregation are still with us. #studyingsegregation

Excited to share that I was elected to be a member of the Society of American Historians "in recognition of the narrative power and scholarly distinction" of my work as a historian. Such an honor to be in the company of scholars that I esteem and admire! #BlackFolk keeps opening doors!

I kept digging into that AI company behind Sports Illustrated's fake writers. Turns out it's created tons more fake writers across the web, sometimes for surprisingly huge media clients. And then things get even wilder... For @futurism.bsky.social // futurism.com/advon-ai-con...

Me and my mom.