George Santos compares himself to Rosa Parks: This not only shows that Santos has no clue about American history or how to use the past in the present, but it is also the worst form of identity politics. Reminds me […]
Civil Rights movement
The Author’s Corner with Hajar Yazdiha
Hajar Yazdiha is Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Southern California. This interview is based on her new book, The Struggle for the People’s King: How Politics Transforms the Memory of the Civil Rights Movement (Princeton University Press, […]
The Author’s Corner with Aniko Bodroghkozy
Aniko Bodroghkozy is Professor of Media Studies at the University of Virginia. This interview is based on her new book, Making #Charlottesville: Media from Civil Rights to Unite the Right (University of Virginia Press, 2023). JF: What led you to […]
Did Martin Luther King Jr. really criticize Malcolm X?
Here is Gillian Brockell at The Washington Post: Jonathan Eig was deep in the Duke University archives researching his new biography of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. when he made an alarming discovery: King’s harshest and most famous criticism of Malcolm X, in which […]
Justin Jones and Justin Pearson in historical context
Over at The Washington Post, historians Ansley Quiros and Anthony Siracusa connect the recent removal of Justin Jones and Justin Pearson from the Tennessee legislature to the early civil rights movement in Nashville. Here is a taste of their piece: […]
Howard Thurman and the civil rights movement
Black Perspectives is running an online forum on civil rights activist and Christian mystic Howard Thurman. Here are the pieces they have published: Tejai Beulah Howard, Howard Thurman’s Biographer: An Author Interview with Peter Eisenstadt Dorsey Blake, Beyond Faiths and […]
How U.S. history textbook publishers are catering to Florida’s “anti-woke” laws
Here is a taste of Sarah Mervosh’s piece at The New York Times: In an attempt to cater to Florida, at least one publisher made significant changes to its materials, walking back or omitting references to race, even in its […]
The Author’s Corner with Samantha Barbas
Samantha Barbas is Professor of Legal History and Director of the Baldy Center for Law and Social Policy at the University at Buffalo School of Law. This interview is based on her new book, Actual Malice: Civil Rights and Freedom […]
On Fred Shuttlesworth
Here is a taste of Tish Harrison Warren’s New York Times piece on the late Birmingham civil rights activist: On Sept. 9, 1957, the very day President Eisenhower signed the Civil Rights Act and lawyers sought injunctive relief to force […]
The Author’s Corner with Trent Brown
Trent Brown is Professor of American Studies at Missouri University of Science and Technology. This interview is based on his new book, Roadhouse Justice: Hattie Lee Barnes and the Killing of a White Man in 1950s Mississippi (LSU Press, 2022). […]
Kareem Abdul Jabbar on Bill Russell
Here is Kareem at his Substack page: I always knew I wanted to be active in civil rights, but I didn’t always know how I would do that. I had attended some anti-war and civil rights protests rallies while at […]
The Author’s Corner with Davis Houck
Davis Houck is Fannie Lou Hamer Professor of Rhetorical Studies at Florida State University. This interview is based on his new book, Black Bodies in the River: Searching for Freedom Summer (University Press of Mississippi, 2022). JF: What led you […]
The Canadian convoy was not the first protest group to tie-up traffic
As Rutgers University historian David Greenberg reminds us, this practice has a long history. Here is a taste of his Politico piece: “The History of Trying Up Traffic for Civil Rights”: The Ottawa truckers’ protests, which shut down Canada’s capital […]
Meme of the day
Learn more about Ruby Bridges here.
Episode 19: “The Black Church and Gay Marriage”
The Christian Right was not the only opponent of same-sex marriage in early 2004. Episode 19: “The Black Church and Gay Marriage” dropped last night. Subscribers to Current at the Longshore level and above receive this narrative history podcast. Here is a teaser: […]
Rip Patton, freedom rider, RIP
Today I learned from my friend and colleague Todd Allen that yet another veteran of the civil rights movement has passed away. Here is the Associated Press: Ernest “Rip” Patton, a member of the Nashville Freedom Riders and civil rights […]
Episode 85: Reckoning with Confederate Monuments
Historian Karen L. Cox argues that “when it comes to Confederate monuments, there is no common ground.” In this episode, we talk with Cox about the history of Confederate monuments and how the recent racial unrest in the United States […]
A Third Reconstruction?
Matt Ford gives us a lot to think about in this piece at The New Republic. titled “Our 250-Year Fight for Multiracial Democracy.” A taste: Some scholars and activists, by the same token, break down American history into presidencies or […]
The John R. Lewis Memorial 10 Highway
Glad to see this. Here is WSFA 12 News: The Alabama legislature passed a bill Thursday to name a portion of U.S. Highway 80, from Selma to Montgomery, after the late civil rights icon and congressman, John R. Lewis. According to […]
Fannie Lou Hamer webinar for teachers
Current‘s Managing Editor Jay Green, will join Chris Burkett and Sarah Beth Kitch on Saturday, April 10, 2021 for a webinar on civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer. The webinar readings include: Testimony Before Congress, Fannie Lou Hamer, 1964 Voting […]