Michael T. Bertrand is Professor of History at Tennessee State University. This interview is based on his new book, Southern History Remixed: On Rock ’n’ Roll and the Dilemma of Race (University Press of Florida, 2024). JF: What led you […]
race in America
The Author’s Corner with Diego Javier Luis
Diego Javier Luis is Assistant Professor of History at Tufts University. This interview is based on his new book, The First Asians in the Americas: A Transpacific History (Harvard University Press, 2024). JF: What led you to write The First […]
Social media “created ‘an alternate universe’ in which identity-based suffering—or merely the claim to such…could be converted into social capital.”
I just finished reading Thomas Chatterton Williams’s fascinating piece at The Atlantic on Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Michael R. Jackson. Here is a taste: In the summer of 2020, the playwright Michael R. Jackson received an unusual message from a fan of A […]
Texas GOP congressman Chip Roy: Democrats want to “end Western civilization” with open borders
Here is Ben Metzner at The New Republic: Texas Republican Representative Chip Roy may have stirred up disunity in the GOP earlier this year with his threats to oust House Speaker Mike Johnson, but he’s in lockstep with the rest of his […]
What Nikki Haley gets right and what she gets wrong about slavery and race in America
My message to Nikki Haley’s staff: Please hire a historian. First there was this: Just to be clear, the Civil War was about slavery. We addressed this here. Then there was this: And then there was last night’s CNN town […]
On the “poverty of anti-wokeness”
Over at Compact, writer Geoff Shullenberger reviews five books on “wokeness.” They are: Frederik deBoer, How Elites Ate the Social Justice Movement Richard Hanania, The Origins of Woke: Civil Rights Law, Corporate America, and the Triumph of Identity Politics Yascha […]
Are the 1619 Project and the 1776 Commission really that different?
I just read Zine Magubane’s review of Kenan Malik’s Not So Black and White: A History of Race from White Supremacy at Catalyst. Malik argues that both the 1619 Project and Donald Trump’s “1776 Commission” fail to recognize the importance […]
The Author’s Corner with Marvin Chiles
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: […]
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 […]