Should we debate the usefulness of critical race theory? Of course we should. We live in a free and democratic society. But the conservative attack on the theory is getting downright absurd. Take the recent hullaballoo over Air Force Academy […]
American history
Florida history teacher: “I do not teach critical race theory”
Jessica Morey teaches African-American history, Advanced Placement U.S. history, A.P. U.S. government, and economics at St. Francis Catholic High School in Gainesville, Florida. She says she does not teach critical race theory. In a recent piece at The Gainesville Sun, […]
Some January 6 insurrectionists are finally getting around to studying American history
Defense attorney H. Heather Shaner is giving books and movies on the Holocaust, lynching, slavery, and the Tulsa Race Massacre to defendants arrested in connection with the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Here is Ryan J. Rielly […]
Scholars respond to legislative efforts to restrict education about racism in American history.
I currently serve as Vice President of the Conference and Faith and History. (I become president in the Fall). I am proud to say that the Conference is one of the scholarly organizations who are condemning laws limiting teaching on […]
Historian Steven Mintz reimagines the U.S. survey
There is a lot in this piece at Inside Higher Ed. Here is a small taste: What should we do? The first step is to clarify, in our own minds, what students ought to get out of these survey courses. […]
Are American conservatives advancing a new “Lost Cause?”
Paul Waldman writes: “Everywhere conservatives look, their view of America’s racial story is being challenged.” Most of our culture war debate right now seem to focus on school curriculum and race. Here is Waldman at The Washington Post: As conservatives […]
Texas is trying to whitewash its history
One of these days I will try to put together a list of state education boards trying to change their history curriculums so that students do not come face to face with the many sins of America’s past. Texas will […]
What did anti-1619 Project U.S. senators learn about race from their school textbooks?
The Root just published excerpts of U.S. history textbooks used in schools attended by the thirty-eight Republican senators, including majority leader Mitch McConnell, who recently signed a letter criticizing the New York Times 1619 Project and critical race theory. Here […]
“84% of Republicans believe history should celebrate our nation’s past, while 70% of Democrats think history should question it”
Our culture war is rooted in competing perceptions of the American past. Here is Peter Burkholder of Fairleigh Dickinson University and Dana Schaffer of the American Historical Association at Time: Our recent national survey of people’s understandings and uses of […]
Apparently I am not the only one who gets emotional about infrastructure
One of my favorite lectures in my U.S. history survey class is on early 19th-century infrastructure. I am fascinated by the way roads, bridges, canals, and railroads contributed to American nationalism. It looks like I am not alone. Here is […]
Department of Education proposes “priorities” for American History and Civics programs
You can read the document here. These priorities may influence who gets federal money for American history and civics programs and who does not. The Department is soliciting comments on these proposed priorities. The American History and Civics Education programs […]
Robert Middlekauff, RIP
Middlekauff is best known as the author of The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 1763-1789. It was the first book to appear in the Oxford History of the United States series, which also includes James McPherson’s Battle Cry for Freedom: […]