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Nov 29 • 3 tweets • 2 min read
Happy Bronson Alcott Day and Louisa May Alcott Day! One of my fav versions of the American Dream--that our children take what we pass along & then far surpass us. #activism #twitterstorians @PedagogyAmLitSt

memorydaycalendar.blogspot.com/p/november-nom…
Louisa May Alcott's Hospital Sketches (1863) is a book I really discovered for a section on #CivilWar nurses in Of Thee I Sing, & I think it's a compelling glimpse into that role as well as Alcott's psyche:

digital.library.upenn.edu/women/alcott/s…
& on Alcott's birthday, always worth revisiting this rightly viral thread on Lou Alcott as trans:

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More from @AmericanStudier

Ben Railton Profile picture
Nov 27
It’s a little bit shorter of a thread due to the holiday, but y’all just produced too much public scholarly goodness this week for me to miss one of my #ScholarSunday threads entirely! So…
…here’s my 103rd #ScholarSunday thread of great public scholarly writing & work, podcast episodes, new & forthcoming books from the past week. Share more below, & I hope it’s been a restful & thankful week, all! #twitterstorians
Starting with a few favorites from the week as usual, including @LeviRickert1 of @nativenews_net on Billy Mills for #NativeAmericanHeritageMonth (h/t @jeff_ostler):
nativenewsonline.net/opinion/billy-…
Read 32 tweets
Ben Railton Profile picture
Nov 13
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…
Read 38 tweets
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

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