With support from the University of Richmond

History News Network

History News Network puts current events into historical perspective. Subscribe to our newsletter for new perspectives on the ways history continues to resonate in the present. Explore our archive of thousands of original op-eds and curated stories from around the web. Join us to learn more about the past, now.

The Roundup Top Ten for July 16, 2021

There Is No Debate Over Critical Race Theory

by Ibram X. Kendi

"Republican operatives... are effectively debating themselves. They have conjured an imagined monster to scare the American people and project themselves as the nation’s defenders from that fictional monster."

America’s 40-Year Experiment With Big Business Is Over

by Nelson Lichtenstein

Biden's executive order returns to a longstanding American view of concentrated economic power as a threat to democracy. 

A Major Supreme Court First Amendment Decision Could Be At Risk

by Samantha Barbas

The "actual malice" standard of proof in libel suits established by New York Times v. Sullivan is an imperfect fit for the social media age, but right-wing calls to overturn the ruling would allow the rich and powerful to bully the press with expensive lawsuits. 

What the Hell Happened to the Claremont Institute?

by Laura K. Field

"Many of the people associated with Claremont, including several of its most prominent figures, have gone all in for MAGA—some even embracing its most authoritarian, paranoid, and racist strands."

The Many Myths of the Term ‘Anglo-Saxon’

by Mary Rambaran-Olm and Erik Wade

References to America's "Anglo-Saxon heritage" are often racist dogwhistles, and usually fully detached from the history of the Anglo-Saxon people. 

The Legacy of 9/11

by Stephen Wertheim

"9/11 might well have 'changed everything' as momentously as was assumed—just not in the direction intended."

Conservatives are Once Again Trying to Erase Black History

by Tyler D. Parry

There are, in fact, millions of southerners from the antebellum,Civil War and Reconstruction eras that deserve to be memorialized. Their stories have been suppressed not out of political correctness but because they were Black southerners fighting for freedom and interracial democracy.

From the Labor Struggles of the 1930s to Today, the Highlander School has Sought to Make America More Equitable

by Jelani M. Favors

From the Great Depression through the Civil Rights era and beyond, Myles Horton's Highlander Folk School was a rare interracial space for political organizing. 

Autobiography with Scholarly Trimmings

by Zachary M. Schrag

"The autobiographical tradition has served historians well, as both scholars and teachers. Our personal experiences—and those of our ancestors, biological or fictive—inspire our research, help us make sense of the past, and guide our students to questions that drive their curiosity and passion."

Culture War in the Classroom: Time for Educators to Go on the Offensive

by Leo Casey

Educators need to fight back aggressively against the CRT panic, which is a right-wing effort to limit teaching and learning about racism in K-12 schools. A civics educator and teacher advocate explains how.