obituaries

• 
• SOURCE: New York Times
  12/27/2021
  

  Jonathan Spence, Noted China Scholar, Dies at 85

  Spence taught for four decades at Yale, and published a number of popular and critically acclaimed books on the vast history of modern China. 

• 
• SOURCE: New York Times
  1/4/2022
  

  Lisa Brodyaga, Crusading Lawyer for Immigrants’ Rights, Dies at 81

  “I like to be underestimated,” she once told law students at the University of Miami. “I like to have people think, ‘She’s just a hick lawyer.’” She added: “Go ahead, I dare you. Dismiss me.”

• 
• SOURCE: Jacobin
  12/21/2021
  

  Tyler Stovall Was a Groundbreaking Historian of Modern France, Colonialism, Race and Empire

  by Michael G. Vann

  "Tyler Stovall should be remembered as a scholar who firmly believed that the writing and teaching of history was a political act. Throughout his vibrant career, he used pathbreaking research, critical analysis, and engaging lectures as weapons in the fight for social justice."

• 
• SOURCE: Ebony
  12/19/2021
  

  Julius S. Scott, Noted Scholar and Professor of Caribbean History, Passes Away at 66

  Scott's unpublished disseration on Black internationalism in the Caribbean became legendary; Harvard University’s Vincent Brown described it as “an underground mix-tape” that influenced many other scholars in a field that was not yet established in the academic mainstream. 

• 
• SOURCE: Washington Post
  12/8/2021
  

  Julius S. Scott, Author of "The Common Wind" Dies at 66

  “As a young African-American, I noticed other Black athletes from Africa, the Caribbean and South America, and I thought about their relationship to Afro-North Americans, and what were some of the important vehicles of communication between Black people in different parts of the Americas."

• 
• SOURCE: Washington Post
  12/6/2021
  

  Bob Dole: War, Power, Defeated Ambitions, and Zingers

  Colleagues remembered Dole's deadpan wit, which didn't translate well enough to the national stage for the Kansas legislator to win the presidency. 

• 
• SOURCE: CNN
  11/28/2021
  

  Carrie Meek, Trailblazing Black Congresswoman, Dies at 95

  Carrie Meek was the daughter of sharecroppers and the granddaughter of a slave; she was elected to Congress from Florida in 1992 as one of the first Black representatives since Reconstruction. 

• 
• SOURCE: The Guardian
  11/15/2021
  

  Colin Morris, 1928-2021

  Colin Morris identified the beginnings of the concept of individualism two centuries earlier than had previously been believed, part of a career of groundbreaking scholarship on the Middle Ages. 

• 
• SOURCE: Not Even Past
  10/19/2021
  

  In Memoriam: Robert Divine, 1929-2021

  by H.W. Brands and Mark Atwood Lawrence

  Two University of Texas colleagues pay tribute to the scholarly, teaching, and personal contributions of the late Robert Divine to the field of diplimatic history. 

• 
• SOURCE: New York Times
  10/18/2021
  

  Colin Powell Dies at 84; Career of Military and Diplomatic Leadership Featured Controversial Support for Iraq Invasion

  “I’m the one who presented it on behalf of the United States to the world,” Mr. Powell said, acknowledging that his presentation “will always be a part of my record.”

• 
• SOURCE: Chicago Sun-Times
  10/13/2021
  

  Timuel Black, Historian and Civil Rights Activist, Dies at 102

  Among those expressing sadness at Mr. Black’s death was Barack Obama, who said “the city of Chicago and the world lost an icon with the passing of Timuel Black."

• 
• SOURCE: Dissent
  9/24/2021
  

  The House that Charles Built: Moral Clarity for Racial Justice

  by Jared Loggins

  Beginning with 1997's "The Racial Contract," Mills unsparingly examined the intimate connections of racism and the liberal tradition; but his goal was always to reconstruct a truly inclusive version of liberalism.

• 
• SOURCE: New York Times
  9/24/2021
  

  Charles Sellers, 98, Historian Who Upset the Postwar Consensus, Dies

  Charles Sellers was an influential figure in explaining how the rise of market capitalism disrupted all aspects of American life, and argued this change was not for the better. 

• 
• SOURCE: The Guardian
  9/19/2021
  

  Jonathan Mirsky: Historian Turned Beijing Correspondent, Mao Fan turned Critic of Beijing

  After beginning an academic career in east Asian history, Mirsky reported on the Chinese occupation of Tibet and the Tiananmen demonstrations and massacre, letting the facts he observed change his assumptions.

• 
• SOURCE: New York Times
  9/8/2021
  

  Phil Schaap, Grammy-Winning Jazz D.J. and Historian, Dies at 70

  “They say I’m a history teacher,” he said in a video interview for the National Endowment for the Arts, which this year named him a Jazz Master, the country’s highest official honor for a living jazz figure, but he viewed his role differently. “I teach listening.” 

• 
• SOURCE: New York Times
  9/1/2021
  

  Robert Middlekauff, Historian of Washington and His War, Dies at 91

  Robert Middlekauff wrote what was long considered the best single-volume study of the American Revolution, "The Glorious Cause." 

• 
• SOURCE: New York Times
  8/27/2021
  

  Stephen B. Oates, Civil War Historian, Dies at 85

  In his best-known works, Dr. Oates explored the lives of four prominent figures — John Brown, Nat Turner, Lincoln and Dr. King — in what he called his “Civil War quartet.”

• 
• SOURCE: Chicago Tribune
  8/25/2021
  

  Noel Swerdlow, U. of C. Professor who Won a Macarthur ‘Genius Grant,’ Dies at 79

  Noel Swerdlow wove together the humanities and the sciences through his study of the history of science.

• 
• SOURCE: New York Times
  8/21/2021
  

  Historian Gary Nash, Who Fought to Update History Teaching, Dies at 88

  Dr. Nash led a project to update national history teaching standards which was denounced by Rush Limbaugh and other conservatives, after a long career as an influential scholar of early American history who reconstructed the lives of ordinary Americans.

• 
• SOURCE: New York Times
  8/20/2021
  

  James W. Loewen, Who Challenged How History Is Taught, Dies at 79

  James W. Loewen, a sociologist and civil rights champion, took high school teachers and textbook publishers to task for distorting American history.