We covered Trump’s executive order on American history here. Today at The New York Times, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David Blight offers his thoughts. A taste: According to the president, “objective facts” have been replaced with a “distorted narrative driven by […]
David Blight
Historians take on Trump’s executive order on K-12 schooling
Here is David Blight, Beth English, and Jim Grossman at The New Republic: Under the grossly misleading title “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling,” the White House last week issued an executive order that would undermine the integrity of writing […]
David Blight: “We need to openly recommit to learning and teaching about the whole of our knowledge…as much or more than we stress our racial, ethnic and gendered parts.”
Yale historian David Blight has some wise words for elite institutions of higher education: “We” need to openly recommit to learning and teaching about the whole of our knowledge — our histories, our literature, our sciences, our social structures, as […]
David Blight on the Supreme Court’s recent decision on presidential immunity
The Pulitzer Prize-winning historian weighs-in on Trump vs. United States:
“Trump should be thrown off the ballot.” Historians convince E.J. Dionne
When the Colorado–14th Amendment ballot case broke, Washington Post columnist and public intellectual E.J. Dionne was skeptical. He was among those who thought that Trump should stay on the ballot in Colorado and let the people decide whether he should […]
It is dangerous “when the side that loses the debate cannot accept the result”
Yale historian David Blight from a 15-year-old lecture on the Dred Scott case and John Brown:
Rep. Scott Perry references Frederick Douglass from the House floor. Historian David Blight is having none of it.
I have never voted for Scott Perry, but he does represent me in the United States House of Representatives. Perry is the chairman of the right-wing House Freedom Caucus. He refused to cooperate with the House committee investigating January 6th […]
David Blight: “Dred Scott was the point of no return”
I hope you get some time this week to read Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David Blight’s piece at The New York Times Magazine, “Was the Civil War Inevitable?” Blight reflects on the 1850s, particularly the Dred Scott case, and wonders if […]
David Blight on fighting the Trumpian Lost Cause
The Yale historian wants us to keep battling for democracy. Here is a taste of his piece at The Guardian: On 6 January 2021, an American mob, orchestrated by the most powerful man in the land, along with many congressional […]
David Blight: “Trust the teachers!”
The Yale historian and Pulitzer Prize-winner spun his recent tweets into a piece at The Atlantic. Here is a taste: The curriculum, however, is another matter. Trained teachers, curriculum directors, and school principals are responsible for organizing the content and […]
Historian David Blight champions teachers; criticizes Democratic Party’s “endless debates over the right language”
Here is the Pulitzer Prize-winner and Frederick Douglass biographer: Blight is also concerned about the current state of the Democratic Party:
David Blight coming to Messiah University!
On Tuesday, October 12, Yale historian David Blight will deliver the 2021 Messiah University American Democracy Lecture. Free tickets are still available. They can be reserved at the Messiah ticket office: 717-691-6036. On Wednesday, October 13, I will join my […]
On the road, in print, and at Messiah University
On Sunday I flew down to sunny Palm Beach, Florida to deliver the Presidential Distinguished Scholar Lectures at Palm Beach Atlantic University. I am making new friends in this hospitable and thoughtful intellectual community and hopefully saying some things from […]