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18 Dec, 6 tweets, 2 min read
Not gonna QT that despicable Lippincott thread on immigration, but just wanted to share one of the most telling speeches in American history: South Carolina Senator Ellison DuRant Smith in support of the 1924 Quota Act.

billofrightsinstitute.org/activities/ell…
Smith's speech exemplifies two ideas at the heart of my last two books. An exclusionary definition of American identity: "It is for the preservation of that splendid stock that has characterized us that I would make this not an asylum for the oppressed of all countries..." +
& the link of that white supremacy to mythic patriotism & its idealized vision of the Revolution/Constitution: "Let up keep what we have, protect what we have, make what we have the realization of the dream of those who wrote the Constitution."
It's no coincidence that national immigration laws developed alongside that white supremacist exclusion & mythic patriotism (as did other 1910s/20s histories, including the Sedition Act, the Red Summer, the Red Scare, anti-labor narratives, & more). That stew is our opponent.
For more, those last two books:

We the People: rowman.com/ISBN/978153812…
& Of Thee I Sing:
rowman.com/ISBN/978153814…

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More from @AmericanStudier

Ben Railton Profile picture
19 Dec
Here it is, my 57th #ScholarSunday thread (& last regular one of 2021, before a year-end special in a couple weeks) of great public scholarly writing & work from the last week! Enjoy & share more, please! #twitterstorians
We lost one of our true scholarly giants this week in bell hooks. @JSTOR is offering many of her foundational readings free of charge: daily.jstor.org/bell-hooks-res…
Here’s just a handful of the week’s many other moving & important pieces on hooks’ passing. @DrLisaBThompson wrote for @NPR:
npr.org/2021/12/17/106…
Read 28 tweets
Ben Railton Profile picture
17 Dec
When Susie King Taylor worked alongside Clara Barton at a Beaufort hospital, it was a collaboration between two of the Civil War's most inspiring figures. One of so many histories we can only remember if we learn about race & antiracism! #twitterstorians
saturdayeveningpost.com/2021/12/consid…
For more on Taylor, check out my @Unsung__History episode!
unsunghistorypodcast.com/susie-king-tay…
If, as @jimdowns1 has argued so well, the #CivilWar was centrally linked to disease & pandemic, that makes figures like Taylor & Barton as influential & important as any generals or politicians. All part of the ongoing reframing of the era & expanding of our collective memories.
Read 4 tweets
Ben Railton Profile picture
30 Nov
In November 2019, as stories of the latest school shooting crossed my feed, I dashed off this opening to my most hastily composed @SatEvePost column ever: "One morning early last spring, my younger son & I were in an argument as I drove the boys to their respective schools.+
The subject was entirely silly & unnecessary, but we both felt passionately & weren’t backing down. The argument continued up until he got out of the car, which meant that for the only time during that entire school year, we didn’t say “I love you” to each other as he got out.+
I spent the remainder of the day paralyzed, unable to think about anything other than the possibility of a school shooting and of that angry drop-off being our last interaction." Over 2 years later, the only thing that's changed is I never miss the chance to tell 'em I love them.
Read 4 tweets
Ben Railton Profile picture
29 Nov
The vital @gutenberg_org turns 50 this year! So to celebrate that bday, I wanted to share 5 books you can read for free thanks to that amazing collection. Starting w/Zitkala-Ŝa’s American Indian Stories for #NativeAmericanHeritageMonth. #twitterstorians

americanstudier.blogspot.com/2021/11/novemb…
I'd love to share lots more online reading recommendations, on Project Gutenberg & beyond, in the crowd-sourced weekend post! What digitally available works or online collections/resources would you highlight, all? @PedagogyAmLitSt
The next free online read in my @gutenberg_org bday series is Helen Hunt Jackson's Ramona (1884), a blend of romance & realism that has inspired generations (not always in the ways she intended) & still has a great deal more to teach us. #twitterstorians

americanstudier.blogspot.com/2021/11/novemb…
Read 5 tweets
Ben Railton Profile picture
28 Nov
My #ScholarSunday threads are taking a holiday weekend & will return next week. Keep up the great writing & work, all!

Today, in honor of my newest blog Guest Post, I wanted to share all of this year’s great Guest Posts (the most in one year ever!). #twitterstorians
In January, following up a New Year’s blog series on hope-full texts, I was honored to share a similar such reading list from @HermioneClone:

americanstudier.blogspot.com/2021/01/januar…
In February, I finally got to share a Guest Post from one of my very first Twitter connections & one of my AmericanStudying models, @adamgolub on creativity:

americanstudier.blogspot.com/2021/02/februa…
Read 18 tweets
Ben Railton Profile picture
11 Nov
Apropos of this earlier mini-thread on Rittenhouse & exclusion/inclusion, wanted to share a few #VeteransDay thoughts on US military service & those competing visions of America. #twitterstorians

At one of my book talks for We the People back in 2019, an audience member asked a challenging, excellent question about how many of my examples of an inclusive America seem to come from wars & military service.
rowman.com/ISBN/978153812…
They had a point: in that talk alone I focused at length on Japanese American soldiers in WWII, the US Colored Troops during the Civil War, & the “Manilamen,” the Filipino Americans who played such a vital role in the War of 1812's culminating Battle of New Orleans.
Read 19 tweets

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