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1920s

The Harlem Renaissance librarians

John Fea   |  June 20, 2024

We don’t normally think about librarians when we talk about the revival of African-American culture in Harlem during the 1920s and 1930s. But as Jennifer Schuessler notes in a recent piece at The New York Times, scholars are starting to […]

Pittsburgh and the Great Migration

John Fea   |  May 14, 2024

Over at Black Perspectives, historian Adam Lee Cilli introduces us to “Migrant Voices,” a website collecting oral history interviews of African Americans who migrated from the rural South to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania between 1915 and 1930. It is an amazing resource. […]

1923 was the last time a vote for Speaker of the House went more than one ballot

John Fea   |  January 3, 2023

The House of Representatives just adjourned for the day. It did not choose a speaker. Hakeem Jeffries won on the first ballot. Jeffries also won on the second ballot and third ballot. Nineteen right-wing Republicans voted against McCarthy on the […]

Christian nationalism, 1925 style

John Fea   |  October 14, 2022

In November, 1925, Dr. Edgar Lowther, pastor of the First Methodist Church of Oakland, California, preached a sermon on Christian nationalism. Here is the Oakland Tribune: Now that is a Christian nationalism I can live with.

The Author’s Corner with Mark Monmonier

Rachel Petroziello   |  April 7, 2022

Mark Monmonier is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Geography and the Environment at Syracuse University. This interview is based on his new book, Clock and Compass: How John Byron Plato Gave Farmers a Real Address (University of Iowa Press, 2022). JF: […]

A St. Louis anti-vaxxer was arrested, strapped down by four men, and vaccinated after trying to convince Blacks from the South not to take the vaccine

John Fea   |  February 12, 2022

The article is from the St. Louis Dispatch, August 6, 1923. Thanks to historian Andrew Wehrman for bringing this to my attention. Here is his Twitter commentary: