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systemic racism

The Author’s Corner with Marvin Chiles

Rachel Petroziello   |  December 6, 2023

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: […]

The Author’s Corner with Kevin McQueeney

Rachel Petroziello   |  May 30, 2023

Kevin McQueeney is Assistant Professor of History at Nicholls State University. This interview is based on his new book, A City without Care: 300 Years of Racism, Health Disparities, and Health Care Activism in New Orleans (University of North Carolina […]

The Author’s Corner with Leslie A. Schwalm

Rachel Petroziello   |  March 27, 2023

Leslie A. Schwalm is Professor Emeritus of History and Gender, Women’s, and Sexuality Studies at the University of Iowa. This interview is based on her new book, Medicine, Science, and Making Race in Civil War America (University of North Carolina […]

Redlining: 1860-Present

John Fea   |  August 2, 2022

ArcGIS Story Maps has published a very valuable resource on redlining in American history. Redlining is perhaps the best illustration we have of systemic racism in America. Indeed, white people created public policy in American cities to keep Blacks segregated […]

Why does an image of the lynching of a Black man in Texas appear in a family photo album with vacation and wedding photos?

John Fea   |  May 31, 2022

I will let historian Jeffrey Littlejohn explain. Here is a taste of his piece at The Conversation: As a historian and director of the Lynching in Texas project, which has documented more than 600 racial terror lynchings, I receive regular emails from journalists, scholars […]

The latest Christian Right critique of the 1619 Project is full of problems. Let’s break it down.

John Fea   |  January 16, 2022

Jerry Newcombe is a writer and local Florida radio host who comes out of the D. James Kennedy (Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church of Ft. Lauderdale) wing of conservative evangelicals. He is also the president of a Christian nationalist historical organization […]

North Dakota bans critical race theory in K-12 schools. How should the state’s history teachers respond?

John Fea   |  November 16, 2021

North Dakota governor Doug Burgum just signed a bill that bans the teaching of critical race theory in K-12 schools. Here are a few of the pertinent sections: Each school district and public school shall ensure instruction of its curriculum […]

What is going on at McLean Bible Church? (And the ongoing debate over “wokeness” in evangelicalism)

John Fea   |  August 2, 2021

I remember back in 2010 when evangelicals were reading David Platt’s book Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream and giving out copies to their friends. Platt is now the pastor of McLean Bible Church, a flagship evangelical […]

David Brooks asks: “How racist is America?”

John Fea   |  July 23, 2021

For Blacks, this country is still pretty racist. For Hispanics, things are getting better. Here is Brooks: How high are the barriers to opportunity for different groups? Do different groups have a fair shot at the American dream? This approach […]

Conservative columnist on systemic racism: “I didn’t create these systems. But I wish I had realized earlier that these systems had created me”

John Fea   |  June 22, 2021

Here is Wheaton College graduate and former George W. Bush speechwriter Michael Gerson: Systems had been carefully created to ensure I went to an all-White church, in an all-White neighborhood, while attending an all-White Christian school and shopping in all-White […]