With support from the University of Richmond

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 March 18, 2022

Putin's Anti-Gay War on Ukraine

by Emil Edenborg

The Kremlin's political campaign of traditionalism has made homophobia into politics, and nationalism has made homophobia into geopolitics. 

Why Does St. Brigid Get So Much Less Attention than Patrick?

by Lisa Bitel

"This year on March 17, when you’re wearing the green and singing “Dirty Ol’ Town,” take a moment to whisper thanks to St. Brigid, the compassionate, sensible, native-born patron saint of Ireland, and ask if Ireland’s premier patron saint should be a woman."

Trump's "Sh*thole Countries" Remark is Nothing American Churches Haven't Said for Generations

by Kathryn Gin Lum

American missionaries in the nineteenth century prefigured the former president's comments by forming a worldview of a "blessed us" and a "backward them." 

Biden's Push for Infrastructure Can't Leave Black Communities Behind

by N.D.B. Connolly

When infrastructure programs drive growth politics, entrenched interests in banking, real estate and planning can profit from preserving and expanding racial inequality. 

Targeting the Marginalized for Political Gain is Nothing New in Texas Politics

by Nancy Beck Young

Minority groups have often had a perilous existence in Texas, but that hasn't stopped politicians from attacking them as dire threats to the state's moral fabric. 

We're Talking about Climate Change with Outdated Colonial Language

by Priya Satia

The dominant climate activist theme of sacrificing in the present to protect the future is rooted in the intellectual history of economics which has driven the profligate consumption and gross inequality that threatens the planet. 

Don't Use Anti-Asian Violence to Throw More Money at Police

by Crystal Jing Luo

Business interests in Oakland have hijacked the safety concerns of Asian Americans to support arming police in service of real estate development that threatens low-income housing. 

Kyiv Has Faced Adversity Before, and Emerged with Stronger Ukrainian Identity

by Matthew Pauly

Ukrainian nationalists were ultimately unable to defy Bolshevik control, but their movement established a more powerful national political identity. 

St. Patrick's Story Should Make Us Consider How Ireland Treats Refugees

by Elizabeth Boyle

Both the legacy of St. Patrick and attention to a new wave of Ukrainian refugees should make the Republic of Ireland reconsider how it welcomes refugees from around the world. 

Texas's Anti-Transgender Policies Erase the State's Indigenous Transgender History

by Gregory D. Smithers

The prominent role of what would now be called transgender individuals in indigenous societies in Texas was part of the justification Europeans claimed to colonize the land; students compelled to learn Texas history in school could learn a much more inclusive set of stories.