Keri Leigh Merritt, Ph.D
@KeriLeighMerrit
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Writer. Historian. Labor & Inequality. Books: #AfterLife #MasterlessMen . NEW: Lillian Smith bio. Film @thecivilwardoc1 . IG @kerileighmerritt
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Pinned Tweet
I have a lot to be thankful for this year.
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Labor historian here:
Papers not reporting but the US is in the midst of biggest general strike since 1863/4.
service industry gutted. If it’s not yet in your city/town, it soon will be
Ppl’re not gonna work for $7/hr in a pandemic & still be in debt w no healthcare. Fuck that.
Saturday marks the first time America has ever gone 12 years without a minimum wage increase.
It was $7.25 on July 24, 2009.
But with inflation, it is now worth $5.76.
Stop asking if businesses can afford it and start asking why workers got an effective pay cut for 12 years.
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Goodbye, kind soul. You were the closest thing to a father I had. And you fought death almost as hard as you fought both the Nazis AND the Soviets. One day I will tell your story. Rest well.💔💔💔
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Y’all - this has MADE my day.
If I do end up securing funding for a new Civil War doc, you’re *definitely* in, my dude.
(Still crackin’ up over the Mississippi boy with the low country accent comment 🤣😂🤣).
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Rando guy on LinkedIn: can you send me a PDF of your book?
Me: Sorry, I don't have one. But you can purchase the ebook from Cambridge or even Amazon!
Him (huffily): I don't PAY for knowledge.
Me: Well good luck with that, motherf****r.
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Psychologically it’s easier for Americans to scapegoat southerners than it is for them to *really* examine how deeply entrenched this dysfunction is throughout the *entire* country.
To everyone out here blaming the people of Alabama and Georgia for these monstrous abortion laws and saying we deserve it for voting these people into office - y’all have a lot to learn about gerrymandering and voter suppression
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This is some antebellum shit right here.
(*whispers*: guess what the next move will be? Making loads of petty crimes felonies before the next election...)
Florida legislators advanced a bill that is expected to limit the number of former felons who can vote, in part by requiring former felons to pay back all court fees and fines before they can register.
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Retuning home and reality sinking in. My boys’ sports cancelled for the foreseeable future, tons of neighbors sick, & school closings TBD bc there’s literally not enough staff.
Again, remember that this country - under both Rs & Ds - left you alone in a DIY-pandemic, to die.
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it's been a bad day but in a Zoom parent-teacher conference I learned my 8yo - upon hearing another child say "ew" at someone being gay - not only lectured the entire class on how LGBTQ rights don't infringe on any of their personal rights, so why care?...
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Remember what happened when we didn’t hold the leaders of the 1861 insurrection accountable???
They & their heirs were back in *complete* political power within about a decade.
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Stop saying Amy Coney Barrett was “taught,” “brainwashed,” “trained,” “indoctrinated,” etc.
She’s a grown-ass woman and *everything* she’s doing is in calculated self-interest.
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During early
#Reconstruction
it was common for Black politicians to be expelled from state legislatures.
Aaron Alpeoria Bradley was expelled from GA’s Senate bc he grinned with “full teeth” at a white senator while winning a debate…
#tennessee
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As someone who’s read an awful lot of Jim Crow era court records and newspapers, I can tell you with absolute, complete certainty that the lynchings we know about far, far underrepresent the sheer violence & bloodshed throughout America for so many generations.
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I'm seeing some misinformation here re: non-slaveholding southerners fighting in the
#CivilWar
since
@TheTattooedProf
's
#RobertELee
thread went viral. So let's get a few things right:
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Yeah too late
Kagan warns that Supreme Court legitimacy at risk if it strays too far from public sentiment
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A foreshadowing of the fascism to come.
BREAKING: DeSantis suspends four Broward County School Board members, appoints replacements
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Fewer than 5,000 African Americans gained land. Instead, the
#HomesteadAct
was a huge wealth transfer from Native Americans to white Americans & white immigrants. See my essay:
In addition to Emancipation Proclamation, the Homestead Act went into effect
#OnThisDay
in 1863. Turned 270 million acres in 30 states from federal to private ownership, including to women & African Americans. Check out our
@NatlParkService
colleagues at
@HomesteadNM
for more!
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Now you know why they’ve been:
1) destroying tenure
2) purging activist profs
3) getting rid of as many worker protections as possible
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New thread that I will add to over the coming days as I re-watch Ken Burns' The Civil War.
I'm gonna call this
#WhyWeNeedaNewCivilWarDocumentary
. 🤓
(
@netflix
listen up!)
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but also then told the kid that the kid might grow up to be gay so stop the negative talk. And then ended the diatribe telling them they all should worry about climate change instead.😹✊
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I can’t believe a sniveling prep school rapist gets to make decisions about MY fucking body.
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I think today’s the perfect day to repost.
Solidarity, lady academics. Solidarity.✊💅😹
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Sending all my ♥️♥️♥️ tonight to parents of immunocompromised kiddos and children 5 and under.
I hate that we have failed you.
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As someone born in Mississippi, I cannot emphasize enough how ***extra brave*** these U Mississippi kids are.
In case you don’t know, “Ole Miss” is a play on words for “Old Missus,” just like “Old Master.”
Plantation slavery’s literally enshrined in their chosen nickname.
This is why i get upset when folks discredit activist work in the South. You gotta have extra smarts, optimism, & conviction because you have structural powers & old-fashion cultural weight against you.
My activism was stronger when I lived in Mississippi than anywhere else.
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We live in one of the richest nations in the history of the world and I’m currently texting friends in one of its biggest cities to see if they need to come over to shower or bathe because they haven’t had CLEAN WATER in four days.
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The existential crisis of loneliness in this country has been entirely underrated - esp given its oversized role in this precise moment.
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Wow - this has blown up, thank you.
(And many thanks to
@TheTattooedProf
&
@PatrickIber
for the shout-outs).
For those who are asking, yes, this is pretty much all from my book:
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Just your periodic reminder that Kavanaugh perjured himself multiple times. Aaaand we still don't have answers on where all that money came from....
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Stop wasting your time reading what a wealthy white woman with a BA in *religious studies* thinks about DuBois & historiography.
You’re welcome.
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This is not about babies.
Not about fetuses.
It’s about complete & total control over women & girls.
Not just sexually.
Not just bodily.
But *complete* control over every aspect of our lives.
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My thoughts on the Kevin Kruse plagiarism allegations:
The silence re: this story has been astounding. There are two main reasons for the silence:
🧵/1
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When Dick Cheney's the voice of reason you know we're living in a complete shitshow.
Dick CHENEY tells PENCE at closed-door retreat in Ga — “We’re getting into a situation when our friends and allies around the world that we depend upon are going to lack confidence in us.” via
@costareports
@AshleyRParker
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Defunding libraries isn't just about education and literacy - it's a primary tool of class oppression.
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Yeah...conflicted about this.
Aren't women academics nearly *always* shamed for their personal lives if they've been productive?
Furthermore, if I don't "boast" about my own work, believe me:
Ain't no man gonna do it for me.
Proposal: any academics boasting on social media about how productive they've been in 2018 to be required to add a report on the state of their personal life.
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Introvert confession: sometimes in between conference sessions I sneak back up to my hotel room for 10-20 mins of decompression - silence & alone time.🤓
@FromPhDtoLife
I’m 110% extrovert, but even for me conferences are exhausting! I always have bittersweet feelings after it’s done. Happy to have some physical rest, but missing the social interaction.
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One thing I’ve not seen on national news re: climate change is that in the Deep South right now, we’re having days each week when the heat advisory is so high kids can’t go out side for recess and all sports are cancelled.
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18 (FIN). The slave regime of the South - the
#Confederacy
- needs to be remembered for what it was. In 1867 Union General John Pope wrote a letter to Ulysses Grant, expressing his concerns about how the Civil War—and the causes of the Confederacy—would be remembered in history:
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Happy to be writing for
@SmithsonianMag
for the first time! Many thanks to
@BrianWolly
for being a great editor.
#CivilWar
#ReconstructionPBS
#documentary
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Whenever I give “history” talks, a big part is making sure ppl understand WHY they don’t know certain things, or why they learned outright lies.
History IS political, & ppl understand that.
But most importantly, historiography gives ppl reasons to change their erroneous beliefs
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Also, I hardly ever talk about this here, but I actually DID adopt one of my sons, & I can tell you Amy Coney Barrett is undoubtedly a *profoundly* shitty mother to have adopted children & not recognize the pain inherent in ALL ADOPTIONS, no matter how idyllic.
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I still don't understand why Dems (particularly in these states) haven't organized massive "drive/bus people to the polls" programs - not just in cities but *especially* rural areas!
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740,000 people dead.
Seven hundred forty thousand.
More than the 1918 flu. More than the Civil War. More than AIDS.
And still, no healthcare.
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Now 11 days into taking care of kids w COVID. I’ll write something up about our experiences after we are though this, but it’s gonna be longer bc now my husband has a bad breakthrough case.
I’m completely exhausted. Stressed to the max. So worn down.
Sending ♥️ to all y’all.
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I thought I'd have a nice, quiet
#ValentinesDay
tomorrow, but now it's ON.🔥
Was asked to testify before the
#Georgia
#Senate
Oversight Committee tomorrow about why
#ConfederateMonuments
need to be removed.
Please send me good wishes for a sharp mind & sharper tongue.✊
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9 yo son: you know I chose you to be my mommy.
Me: really? How did you do that?
Him: I was alive before I was alive.
Me: 😳
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All the rich ass people saying “just take the bus” have
A) never taken a bus & have NO IDEA how unreliable they are & how many hours waiting for/changing buses adds to ur day
B) believe America is only major cities- discarding rural, suburban, & even small city ppl yet AGAIN.
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Yesterday was a supremely horrible day for America and I’m still reeling.
But I wanted to share good news: I did get the call that my baby boy’s (the one w the horrible accident this year) biopsies came back negative for everything bad and I’m so damn grateful…♥️🙏♥️
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yeah i don't give a shit about her hair, it's the rancidness of her soul that's the problem.
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The first iteration of this flag I’ve actually liked.
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As I hold my feverish baby shaking with chills tonight, all I have to say is too little too fucking late.
A WH official says President Biden's COVID speech is now Thursday & that he will speak about his plan to stop the spread of the Delta variant & boost vaccinations & "lay out a six pronged strategy that will help us do just that, working across the public & private sectors."
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Any good 19th c historian will tell you to stop making Civil War comparisons.
The real comparison is Reconstruction, with pockets of racist terrorism & massacres, & (increasing) political assassinations & insurrections.
BREAKING: A militia member is suspected of having just shot and killed a former judge in Juneau County, WI. Sources say the suspect was carrying a hit list that includes other politically-motivated targets including Governor Evers.
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PLEASE stop getting history from people who are not historians.
Industrialization didn't "make slavery redundant," in fact, the 2 worked well together in certain circumstances.
Slavery ended bc the enslaved fought for freedom, over & over. Won by rebellions & labor stoppages.
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I really wish we’d stop calling outright lies “misinformation.”
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i guess it was only a matter of time after taking care of sick people for the last 3weeks.
I've been feeling bad & finally took a test. I have a breakthrough case of COVID.
And my husband is still really sick, day 6 of running a fever.
I don't know what to do at this point.😭
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Omg elder care is so stressful. Solidarity with all y’all going thru it.✊♥️
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I got shingles in my early 30s, while trying to write my dissertation & raise an infant and a toddler (neither of whom ever slept!😫).
It was horribly painful, & stress *totally* brings it on. And rn, some of y'all are the most stressed you've ever been.
Get the shot.
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Yesterday was Mr. Rogers' birthday.
I recently watched the doc on his life & ugly-cried my whole way thru.
It was this scene, tho -filmed in 1968 -a time of great racial strife, when white supremacists were pouring acid in pools where Black children were swimming - THIS scene...
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How do ppl not know many of the OG country ⭐s were progressives??
Cash:
"I wear the black for the poor & the beaten down,
Livin' in the hopeless, hungry side of town,
I wear it for the prisoner who has long paid for his crime,
But is there because he's a victim of the times."
FANS TURN ON WILLIE: Country singer
@WillieNelson
was called just about every name in the book after announcing he's playing during an upcoming rally for Texas Democratic Senate candidate
@BetoORourke
.
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And due to our history of slavery without reparations, & the subsequent ravages of racism, it also means that the vast majority of that wealth is inherited by WHITES.
Per Thomas Piketty roughly 60% of America's wealth is inherited, meaning most of America's riches are owned by people who didn't work for them.
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I’m abt to break. After 3 weeks in the hospital starting in August, my father-in-law has been in hospice w 24/7 care dying a slow, horrible, agitated death.
Now my mother-in-law’s in the ICU.
They are our only family, & us theirs.
Comforting my emotional sons tonight.💔
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I’m starting to realize that the events of the past month have really triggered my PTSD over almost losing my child in a horrific accident in April.
Imma log off this site for a while.
Love to all y’all. Please be kind to each other.♥️
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Happy to share my latest on capitalism and the underdevelopment of the US South - it’s one of the most important things I’ve ever written.
‘Plantation slavery had made the planters rich, but it left the South poor.’ On capitalism and (under)development in the American South.
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Really struggling to not become completely depressed by the state of my chosen industry, and by extension, the state of the country.
The subject of history is dying - being actively killed off; and nonfiction book sales have plummeted - ppl just aren’t reading.
The old forms
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Almost a week into breakthrough COVID & I am only getting worse - have completely lost my voice.
Luckily got a teledoc appt this morning & have to get on steroids & antibiotics.
Telling y’all this is no joke. *Nothing* is worth getting this.
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Just wait till the interstate fighting starts... y'all better brush up on some early 1800s legal history.
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Strange how no one talks about death toll anymore
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I know I’ve been quiet but I’ve been hard at work grant writing & script writing.
Thrilled to announce that
@TheCivilWarDoc1
is now fiscally sponsored by The Southern Documentary Fund.
We have some big grant applications ready to go & are ready to get this film made!
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Can’t fuckin wait.
Signed,
A historian
Sarah Sanders, we hardly knew ya. Actually that’s not really true. Your tenure serving this administration will now be in the hands of historians to judge.
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@KeishaBlain
@politico
Some of my fave
#twitterstorians
not yet listed:
@jmjafrx
,
@marthasjones_
,
@SKBlakney
,
@profgabrielle
,
@ProfJeffries
,
@loumoore12
,
@WorldProfessor
,
@GuyEmersonMount
,
@AustinMcCoy3
,
@drjelks
,
@robgreeneII
,
@CrownVictoria22
,
@CulturedModesty
,
@william_sturkey
,
@HilaryGreen77
#FF
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Thread as promised on the Solid White (
#Confederate
) South thesis, including the "herding thesis," culture of honor, "Cracker culture" tropes, & why overturning these rids us (false) history written by white supremacists.
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Happy
#Juneteenth
#Juneteenth2018
. If you don't know about the holiday, do yourself a favor and read up today.
#twitterstorians
THREAD (1) In my many years as a historian of the 19th c. South, I've read well over 4,000 interviews with/narratives of the formerly enslaved.
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Pres
#Carter
used to speak to every freshman class
@emory
. For mine, he was asked abt the 1st time he met
#RosalynnCarter
.
I remember vividly: he choked up, tears rolling down his cheeks as he recalled the movie lights flickering across her beautiful face. What a rare, true love
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I’m just saying a complete general strike would be a helluva a lot more powerful than marching or protesting…
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Tips for dealing with MAGA relatives:
Cut them off & live your life free from hate. 😘 xo
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Waiting with bated breath...😂🤣😂
This will go well with my two martini lunch, lol.
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South Carolina & Brazil, together again...
just as in the days of slavery & the Confederacy.
Congratulations to Brazil’s new President Bolsonaro. It’s great to have another U.S.-friendly leader in South America, who will join the fight against dictatorships in Venezuela and Cuba, and who clearly understands the danger of China’s expanding influence in the region.
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Shame on
@politico
's all-white historian list. So patently racist.
I publicly vow that if I'm ever included in something re: historians, I'll inquire about who else is included & if there are no Black scholars, I'm OUT.
And I'm calling on other white historians to do the same.
Thanks,
@politico
, for your all-white list of
#historians
offering insights on 2018! Here's a thread of some other historians in the United States who you did not know existed. I'll start with a few & others will contribute to the thread to help you out.
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***whispers***
evictions are also a means of disfranchisement
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Just sent my favorite email reply (bc it reminds me of the absolute absurdity of academe *every* single time):
"Sorry, but I'm not taking on non-paying work at the moment."
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People telling women to “act civilly” and not protest at someone’s home who’s attempting to take away our rights to control OUR OWN BODIES is so ridiculously absurd and hypocritical I can’t even…
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I’m furious today:
1) one son was asked by a stranger -a GROWN ASS ADULT- his “adoption story.” (Don’t EVER do this, none yo fucking business)
2) other son got laughed at by a teacher when he said his grandfather survived the Germans in WWII. (He did.)
WTH is wrong w ppl???
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Well, you’re looking at the newest member of the Board of the Friends of the Georgia Archives and History.
Many thanks to
@sdpatenaude
for recommending me.
Power over archives = power over the narrative of REAL history.
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Now's the time for a really good think piece on the lasting, devastating damage moderate liberals did to the New Deal.
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Y'all do realize that both his anger & his privileged-little-white-boy tears are ONLY because he truly thinks that the world OWES him this job...
Ain't no entitlement like prep-school white boy entitlement.
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Always goes back to that
@ADtheBand
lyric, one of my fave lyrics ever:
“Raise your fist but also
Raise your children
So when you die
the movement moves on…”
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As a woman w several years more life experience than AOC, I wish I could tell her one thing:
Stop responding to EVERY single personal attack.
They're trying to wear you down - mentally & emotionally.
Save your energy to defend others.
❤️, your older sisters in the struggle
Ocasio-Cortez rips Washington Post writer's "resentful" column comparing her to Sarah Palin
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Literally getting “confirmed COVID cases in your child’s school” emails EVERY SINGLE DAY now.
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If y'all only knew a fraction of what Kemp's done to suppress Black & Brown voters down here...
This is an illegitimate election. Period.
@staceyabrams
*should* fight. Give ppl time to expose all of Kemp's dirty work.
Stacey Abrams Vows To Fight On: 'We Still Have A Few More Miles To Go'
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Just spent the night at a swanky charity event for children with cancer - and providing them with actual universal health care was not mentioned once.
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I really don't know much abt Britney Spears, but I *do* think that any analysis of her conservatorship MUST deal with the fact that the media always painted her as southern poor white trash.
There's a lot of historical precedent re: poor whites & eugenics in the Deep South.
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So I can spill my big news now:
#MasterlessMen
is a co-winner of the
#SSHA2018
Social Science History Association President's Book Award. Honored & very thankful. I am so sorry to miss the awards but have been on multiple
#2018SHA
panels today!
@cambUP_History
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They were expelled because they stood up for what was right, morally & ethically.
They were expelled because racist whites feared them.
They were expelled because they were POWERFUL.
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Whether due to racism, sexism, poverty, institutional snobbery etc, there are a lot of us who've had to work twice as hard to get half as far.
So for all y'all academics in the back: Keep promoting yourselves & don't let anyone shame you. And I'll promote you whenever I can.
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Faulkner was politically conservative & a segregationist who was even taken to task by other white southerners like Lillian Smith.
Joyce was a socialist w a complicated relationship w nationalism; Beckett was a member of the French Resistance during WWII, etc etc
This is BASIC.
Reasonable people may differ with me, but I'd argue the greatest writers of fiction & poetry have been apolitical--provided we define "political" as meaning "partisan." I don't think Joyce, Beckett, Faulkner, O'Connor, McCarthy, Stevens, Melville, et al had any use for politics.
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*whispers* Perhaps instead of trying to change the minds of those who disagree with us we should focus instead on getting those who *do* agree with us to take action…
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Yes everything sucks and no I never post pics of my kids on the internet, but here’s your feel good story today:
My baby boy, not even six months after sending the wheelchair back. I am the luckiest person in the entire world and I thank the universe daily.♥️♥️♥️
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The New Yorker writing this about historians shows they know *nothing* about the history of the profession - about the history of actual HISTORIANS:
"He relishes writing books and teaching, not influencing public policy..."
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