Marvin Chiles is Assistant Professor of African American History at Old Dominion University. This interview is based on his new book, The Struggle for Change: Race and the Politics of Reconciliation in Modern Richmond (University of Virginia Press, 2023). JF:...
race in America
Charlie Kirk: Pastors who encouraged their flocks to march in a BLM rally were “introducing an unclean spirit from Satan into the church”
Charlie Kirk, a leader of the Trump youth movement, often visits megachurches on the weekends. Here is a taste of his recent visit to Foothills Christian Church in El Cajon, California. Pastor Neil Hoffman seems to be thoroughly enjoying the...
The Author’s Corner with Fergus Bordewich
Fergus Bordewich is an independent historian and writer. This interview is based on his new book, Klan War: Ulysses S. Grant and the Battle to Save Reconstruction (Knopf, 2023). JF: What led you to write Klan War? FB: Many of my...
Edward Garrison Draper is admitted to the Maryland bar
His admission came 166 years after he first applied to the bar and was denied. Here is Sydney Trent at The Washington Post: Edward Garrison Draper was more prepared to be a lawyer than most White attorneys in the mid-19th...
Melting Robert E. Lee
The Lee statue at the center of the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia was just melted. Here is Teo Armus and Hadley Green at The Washington Post: It was a choice to melt down Robert E. Lee....
John McWhorter: Ibram X. Kendi is not a “grifter”
I continue to be fascinated by this Ibram X. Kendi story. One of Kendi’s harshest critics over the last several years has been Columbia University linguistics professor John McWhorter. In a piece at The New York Times, McWhorter defends Kendi...
The Author’s Corner with Stephen D. Engle
Stephen D. Engle is Professor of History and Associate Provost for Academic Personnel at Florida Atlantic University. This interview is based on his new book, In Pursuit of Justice: The Life of John Albion Andrew (University of Massachusetts Press, 2023)....
Ibram X. Kendi’s “failure, intellectual and moral, is as much ours as it is his”
Back in June we brought some attention to Bates University environmental studies scholar Tyler Austin Harper‘s New York Times piece on race and college admissions. Now, in a piece at The Washington Post, he has weighed-in on the Ibram X....
Should Wheaton College have expunged the name of its third president from the campus library?
Last week we called your attention to Wheaton College’s 122-page report on its history of race. In response to the findings of that report, Wheaton College announced that it would be changing the name of its library. It is no...
Jemar Tisby responds to Boston University’s investigation of Ibram X. Kendi’s antiracist center
I am not sure if Jemar Tisby will like this comparison, but I think it is fair to say that most evangelicals see him–for good or for bad–as the Christian version of Ibram X. Kendi. Kendi wrote Stamped from the...
Ibram X. Kendi responds to Boston University’s investigation into his antiracist center
Get up to speed here. Here is Abby Patkin at Boston.Com: Following news of mass layoffs and an official inquiry into Ibram X. Kendi’s Center for Antiracist Research at Boston University, the famed author is pushing back on allegations of mismanagement from current...
Hamline University’s president is rebuked for an “inaccurate” and “harmful” approach to academic freedom. She responds by inviting Eric Dyson and Robin DiAngelo to campus.
I think they call this “doubling down.” Here is Mark Berkson at The Chronicle of Higher Education: On September 12, Hamline University held a forum on academic freedom. The forum was presented as a response to the incident that occurred last year...
Boston University Center for Antiracist Research has a lot of money, but virtually nothing to show for it.
$43 million dollars later and Ibram X. Kendi’s Center for Antiracist Research at Boston University appears to be suffering from “disorganization” and “mismanagement.” This comes after diversity expert Eboo Patel turned to the pages of The Chronicle of Higher Education...
75% of Americans side with the United Auto Workers. Why aren’t more Americans in the streets as a show of support?
When the George Floyd was killed, Americans took the streets in protest. When Donald Trump was elected president, the #MeToo movement took the streets in protest. Why don’t we see similar uprisings in support of working class Americans fighting for...
Wheaton College study on race: “We cannot be healed and cannot be reconciled unless and until we repent”
A Wheaton College task force has released a 122-page historical report on race relations at the evangelical institution. Read it here. Here is Daniel Silliman and Kate Shellnut at Christianity Today: Though the flagship evangelical institution was founded by abolitionists,...
Bayard Rustin and the politics of class
Civil rights activist Bayard Rustin was a complicated guy. Perhaps that’s why I find myself drawn to him and his work. Today The New York Times is running a piece on Rustin by writer James Kirchick. Kirchick is the author...
Eboo Patel: “It’s time to overturn the Robin DiAngelo and Ibram X. Kendi model” of “power and privilege”
Patel argues that universities should switch from an “antiracism” model of diversity to a ‘cosmpolitan” model. Here is a taste his Chronicle of Higher Education piece: “Today’s DEI Is Obsessed With Power and Privilege“: Over the past five years or...
For some at a 1933 civil rights conference, fighting racial oppression meant fighting class oppression
Over at Jacobin, historian Eben Miller tells the story of the 1933 Amenia conference. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) hosted the event in Amenia, New York. W.E.B. Du Bois was co-organizer. Some of the country’s...
John McWhorter on the Florida African American history curriculum
I took a little heat for my take on the Florida African American history controversy. Last month I wrote: The standards were much better than I expected. If I was a high school teacher in Florida I could easily work...
Does a fixation with identity politics hurt the fight against racism?
Over at Jacobin, Taj Ali interviews writer Kenan Malik, the author of Not So Black and White: A History of Race from White Supremacy to Identity Politics. Here is a taste: TAJ ALI: You discuss the decline of cross-racial class...