historical memory

• 
• 12/18/2022
  

  Mussolini in Myth and Memory

  by Paul Corner

  Italians' recollection of Mussolini and the Fascist regime embody the replacement of historical memory with national mythology—a mythology that dismisses both the violence of the dictatorship and Italians' collective responsibility for it and enables the resurgence of the far right today.

• 
• SOURCE: Public Books
  3/29/2022
  

  Can the Past be Repaired?

  by Sophie Gonick

  Menachem Kaiser's memoir of attempts to reclaim a Polish building lost by his Jewish grandfather during World War II raises questions about the right to property as parts of historical memory, and the problematic aspects of seeking reparation through restoration of ownership.

• 
• 1/9/2022
  

  One if by Land, Two if by Sea, and Three if by the Capitol Steps

  by Elise Lemire

  On the first anniversary of the Capitol attack, and the 162nd of Longfellow's poetic canonization of the Boston patriot, Paul Revere's ride remains a contested and protean symbol for a nation in crisis. 

• 
• 10/24/2021
  

  Flying the Confederate Battle Flag in the North is a Special Sort of Disgrace

  by Daniel Koch

  Upstate New York was once the most pro-Lincoln and anti-slavery part of the Union. The growing presence of Confederate symbols there insults the region's history and contributions paid in blood for freedom. 

• 
• 9/12/2021
  

  9/11's Memorials and the Politics of Historical Memory

  by Marita Sturken

  Major 9/11 memorials try to fix the public memory on a moment of national unity that, 20 years later, seems illusory. Other memorials point the way to using the force of memory to encourage critical reflection on nationalism.

• 
• SOURCE: New York Magazine
  8/26/2021
  

  New Documentary Examines the Politics that Have Undermined the 9/11 Museum

  by David Klion

  A new documentary chronicles the personal conflicts behind the scenes of the 9/11 museum, but asks pointed questions about whether the museum supports deeper public understanding of the attacks and their aftermath. 

• 
• SOURCE: Washington Post
  6/3/2021
  

  Germany Faced its Horrible Past. Can the US Do the Same?

  by Michele Norris

  "A full accounting of slavery is one of terror and trauma, and for decades the natural inclination was to ask, why would anyone want to claim that history?... What happens if we don’t?" Michele Norris's essay features University of Texas historian Daina Ramey Berry.

• 
• SOURCE: Baptist News
  5/18/2021
  

  What to Do if You Unearth a History of Slavery in Your Church, College or Institution?

  Many church denominations and denominational institutions like colleges and universities have been pushed to reckon with their past involvement in slavery and consider what obligations that confers on them in the present. 

• 
• SOURCE: Journal of the History of Ideas
  10/7/2020
  

  With a Touch of Wisdom: Human Rights, Memory, and Forgetting

  by Antoon de Baets

  A historian concerned with memory, censorship and human rights considers whether there is an affirmative duty for historians to promote the memory of crimes and atrocities.

• 
• 2/7/2021
  

  To Save Democracy, We Need Historical Memory to be "Hot"

  by Shannon Bontrager

  Historical memory can run hot or cold; hot memory, when we make ourselves vulnerable to the pain of the past, is a force that will ensure America doesn't just move on from the needless death of the COVID pandemic or the violence of the Capitol insurrection without committing to justice and accountability.

• 
• SOURCE: Charleston Post and Courier
  12/20/2020
  

  Review: New Book Seeks To Differentiate Between Confederate History And Historical Memory

  "Adam Domby’s book provides a helpful guide through White Southern memory, a place where the Civil War never really ended."

• 
• SOURCE: New York Times
  9/2/2020
  

  We Are Still Living the Legacy of World War II

  by Tom Hanks

  The actor Tom Hanks reflects on the false narrative of closure of World War II. The forces unleashed by war and the struggle to reshape the world resonate today. 

• 
• 8/16/2020
  

  Who Shaped the Story of Hiroshima and Nagasaki?

  by William Johnston

  Most Americans' knowledge of Hiroshima and Nagasaki reflects how American leaders in 1945 wanted the atomic bombings remembered more than their real history. 

• 
• SOURCE: New York Times
  8/13/2020
  

  How History Turns Riots Into Tea Parties

  by Stacy Schiff

  For years Boston hesitated to erect a monument to the rabble-rousers of 1770. We do not care for the revolutionary spirit to survive the revolution. The revolution, however, goes nowhere without it.

• 
• SOURCE: The New Yorker
  7/6/2020
  

  How to Confront a Racist National History

  by Isaac Chotiner

  "But we have to acknowledge that we’re not upholding history, we’re upholding values, and those are not the values that we want in the twenty-first century."

• 
• SOURCE: USA Today
  7/6/2020
  

  As Divisions Threaten America, The Pressure To Cancel Presidents Is Dangerous

  Any hint of admiration for Lee means automatic cancellation these days but in the mid-20th century, it was ordinary and accepted.   

• 
• 7/3/2020
  

  While Monuments are Being Removed, a Historian Asks Questions

  by Andrew Joseph Pegoda

  People have a right to walk around their neighborhood park without being terrorized by iconography devoted to people who denied their ancestors human rights.

• 
• SOURCE: The New Republic
  6/30/2020
  

  The Confederates Loved America, and They’re Still Defining What Patriotism Means

  by Richard Kreitner

  For most of U.S. history, patriotism and white supremacy, the values supposedly embodied by the two flags, have hardly been at odds. Rather, they have been mutually constitutive and disturbingly aligned.

• 
• SOURCE: KCRW
  6/24/2020
  

  Who Owns History? New Book Reconsiders San Gabriel Valley’s Pioneer Past

  The local history project East of East seeks to amplify the histories of people of color in El Monte, CA.

• 
• SOURCE: San Jose Mercury-News
  6/17/2020
  

  2 Berkeley Elementary Schools, Washington and Jefferson, to be Renamed in Response to Black Lives Matter Push

  Two San Francisco Bay Area schools named for founding fathers who were slaveholders will get new names following a push by Black Lives Matter activists, according to a newspaper report.