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Nov 13 • 38 tweets • 26 min read
For as long as we’re here, I’ll be here, & so will be my #ScholarSunday theads—here’s my 101st thread of great public scholarly writing & work, podcast episodes, new & forthcoming books from the past week. Share more below, & solidarity! #twitterstorians
Starting with a few favorites from the week, including @SIfill_ for her newsletter on why real Americans vote vote vote (as they did on Tuesday!):
sherrilyn.substack.com/p/for-real-ame…
Here’s @silasdhouse in @TIME on the resurgence of Christian nationalists:
time.com/6229171/christ…
& here’s @EranZelnik for @acthistreview, importantly challenging my arguments for even the most critical forms of patriotism (h/t @wihorne):
activisthistory.com/2022/11/08/no-…
Plenty of great takes on the midterms of course, but I’ll share just a couple: @JonathanBurdick for @belt_magazine with an American Studies take on Pennsylvania:
beltmag.com/conflict-in-th…
& @Will_Bunch for his @PhillyInquirer column on the vital voices of young voters in this election:
inquirer.com/opinion/2022-m…
As #NativeAmericanHeritageMonth continues, here’s @rebeccanagle for @TheAtlantic on the frustrating case currently before the #SupremeCourt:
theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…
Great resources from @TeachingLC on the Cherokee & the Civil War:

blogs.loc.gov/teachers/2022/…
& here’s H.W. Brands for @lithub on the life & legend of Geronimo (h/t @OGrady_Texas):
lithub.com/how-grief-and-…
Compelling piece from Nathan Marsak for his Bunker Hill Los Angeles site on tracing the legacies of the great Anna May Wong (h/t @Lisa_See):
bunkerhilllosangeles.com/2022/11/06/bun…
Moving @SmithsonianMag excerpt from Andrew Diemer’s new book on William Still (h/t @SIfill_):
smithsonianmag.com/history/the-fo…
& here’s @weistwiley for @NewYorker the remarkable #photography of Baldwin Lee:
newyorker.com/culture/photo-…
Lots of great new podcast eps this week, including from @Unsung__History featuring @agilbertwriter:
unsunghistorypodcast.com/elsie-robinson/
A new @draftingthepast episode is always worth celebrating, & here’s episode 18 with @AdamMSowards:

draftingthepast.com/podcast-episod…
For Now & Then @jbf1755 & @HC_Richardson covered the election week topics of polling & public opinion:
cafe.com/now-and-then/p…
Important @pastpresentpod episode on affirmative action featuring @pastpunditry @nataliapetrzela & @NeilJYoung17:
publicseminar.org/essays/affirma…
@DrBrandonJett1 of @NewBooksNetwork interviewed @davidsilkenat about his book Scars on the Land:
newbooksnetwork.com/david-silkenat…
The new @SheWoreBlackPod episode features @rachfacelogic on her books:
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e52…
& here’s the phenomenal pair of sisters @TembiLocke & @atticalocke, talking about their new show on @BreneBrown’s #UnlockingUS:

open.spotify.com/episode/2LAqx1…
Tons of goodness for @madebyhistory this week as ever, including Catherine Mas on the political changes in Miami Dade county:
washingtonpost.com/made-by-histor…
Here’s Jessica Adler with a @madebyhistory #VeteransDay special on veteran activism:
washingtonpost.com/made-by-histor…
@henrymjtonks wrote for @madebyhistory on Biden revisiting an 80s industrial foreign policy playbook:
washingtonpost.com/made-by-histor…
Also for @madebyhistory, here’s @rwells1961 on a historical journalist who can help our current media move forward:
washingtonpost.com/made-by-histor…
Finally for @madebyhistory, here’s @wjnewsome on how the pink triangle evolved from oppression to liberation:
washingtonpost.com/made-by-histor…
Couple great new @BlkPerspectives columns this week, including @kbphd08 on Black women’s experiences of war & slavery:
aaihs.org/on-war-and-u-s…
While Tony Pecinovsky wrote for @BlkPerspectives on the plan to tear down the groundbreaking National Negro Labor Council:
aaihs.org/colluding-to-c…
@BlkPerspectives also featured two reviews of new @UGAPress books, including Taylor Prescott on Vincent Carretta’s Olaudah Equiano bio:
aaihs.org/olaudah-equian…
& Tichaona Chinyelu reviewed @thomasaiello’s Practical Radicalism & the Great Migration for @BlkPerspectives:
aaihs.org/black-journali…
Speaking of new books, this was the release week for @d_l_mayfield’s bio of the great Dorothy Day (h/t @CarisAdel):
dlmayfield.substack.com/p/dorothy-day-…
@LaurenHaumesser’s The Democratic Collapse is also out this week from @UNC_Press:

As is @AntiquatedMeds’ Masters of Health, also from @UNC_Press:

For @TheAtlantic, @DrewFaust28 reviewed @GreenridgeKerri’s provocative & crucial new book on the Grimkes:
theatlantic.com/magazine/archi…
& @DWaldstreicher’s The Odyssey of Phillis Wheatley is now available for pre-order from @Palgrave:

Gonna end with a few more favorites from the week, including @mitchellatencio for @Sojourners on a forgotten, radical farmer:
sojo.net/magazine/decem…
If you’re already sick of Christmas music, @williamrblack for @contingent_mag is a must-read (h/t @CarisAdel):
contingentmagazine.org/2022/11/07/whe…
& I loved @AdaMcVean’s rightfully viral thread on the sinking of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald (& so much more):

Finally, my new @SatEvePost Considering History column was a tribute to those who have suffered & sacrificed to secure & exercise the right to vote:
saturdayeveningpost.com/2022/11/consid…
PS. I sure I missed plenty as ever, so please share more writing, podcasts, books (yours in particular!) below. Thanks, happy reading, & may this awesome community & conversation continue! #twitterstorians

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More from @AmericanStudier

Ben Railton Profile picture
Nov 5
Tomorrow my 100th #ScholarSunday thread of great public scholarly writing & work, podcast episodes & conversations, new & forthcoming books will drop. I was trying to think of how to celebrate a centennial of sharing y’all’s amazing work, & then it hit me:
I started these threads because I saw so much great work & I was worried it was getting lost in the flood. Hopefully the threads have helped highlight the goodness week to week, but it’s still sometimes too easy for all those vital words to come and go. So:
Here’s a Google Doc sharing all 99 of my #ScholarSunday threads to date. I’ll pin it; dip in when & where you’re able, share if you can, & revisit all this amazing work from well more than two years of public scholarly goodness:

docs.google.com/document/d/1cm…
Read 6 tweets
Ben Railton Profile picture
Nov 4
Teaching a bunch of poems by the amazing Frances E.W. Harper in 19C Af Am lit today, including the three I talked about in this blog post, & I was in a bit of a mood. Which led to one of my favorite things I've said in a class in my 22 years of teaching.+
americanstudier.blogspot.com/2020/04/april-…
After a student presentation on Harper, one of the most multi-talented & impressive Americans in our history, I added: "In this political & divisive moment, here's my request for y'all. Any time you hear someone complain about antiracism, 'CRT,' teaching race, etc, ask them this:
'Tell me everything you know about Frances Ellen Watkins Harper.' If they know even one damn thing, then maybe they have a toe to stand on. If they don't, then they need a hell of a lot more education, on all those topics & a lot more." What else is there to say?
Read 4 tweets
Ben Railton Profile picture
Nov 3
I've debated whether I have anything to add to all the thoughtful & righteously frustrated responses to the tone-deaf AHA presidential comments. But I think I do, & it comes courtesy of a key element to our tenure & promotion process at Fitchburg State (& all the MA State Unis):
For the Continuing Scholarship category in our T&P process, an option candidates can select (& I always advise folks to check this box instead of any others) is Contributions to the Content of the Discipline. That can include publications, of all kinds, but isn't limited to 'em.
& isn't that what we're all trying to do? To contribute, to the content & the conversations alike? To academic communities for sure, but also to so many other parallel & connected communities? Is there really any single phrase that better captures why we do the work?
Read 5 tweets
Ben Railton Profile picture
Oct 23
The countdown to 100 continues with my 98th #ScholarSunday thread of great public scholarly writing & work, podcast episodes & conversations, new & forthcoming books from the last week. Add more below & enjoy, all! #twitterstorians
Starting with a few favorites from the week, including @PamHutch for @guardian on the newest historic figure on US currency, Anna May Wong:
theguardian.com/film/2022/oct/…
Here’s @OBWax for @TIME with a great piece on @mattdelmont’s vital new book:
time.com/6222909/black-…
Read 44 tweets
Ben Railton Profile picture
Oct 21
I’m not gonna link to that horrific, fascist @FDRLST article about the need for right-wing revolution & “blunt” use of government in defense of “American values,” but you’re damn right I have a response. Quick thread:
In this Fall semester preview blog post, I wrote about my newest adult learning class: “Our boasted civilization is but a thin veneer”: How White Supremacy Erodes the American Ideals It Claims to Love.

americanstudier.blogspot.com/2022/09/septem…
The first version of that class concludes today (teaching it again for a different program in a few weeks), & the conversations have helped me continue thinking about that fundamental American contradiction.
Read 12 tweets
Ben Railton Profile picture
Oct 20
Most days in my 19C Af Am Lit course we have one author in front of us, but occasionally we have to double up to get through everyone I want on the syllabus. & today that means a one-two punch of amazing figures & voices: Martin Delany & Henry Highland Garnet!
I wrote about Delany & his vital & inspiring meeting with Lincoln in this post:

americanstudier.blogspot.com/2013/02/februa…
& about Garnet's stunning "An Address to the Slaves of the United States of America" in this one:

americanstudier.blogspot.com/2018/08/august…
Read 4 tweets

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