Dr. Jim Downs
@jimdowns1
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Author of Maladies of Empire & Sick from Freedom; GilderLehrman NEH Prof at Gettysburg Coll; Editor of Civil War History; History Studio; Director of PAAH @ LCP
Joined June 2012
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When I began researching history of epidemiology 10 years ago, I couldn’t imagine I would finish during a pandemic.I uncovered how epidemiology began w/ doctors studying enslaved & colonized populations, soldiers & Muslim migrants.Thrilled to announce it’s available for pre-order
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I got fired from teaching at a high school b/c I was gay in 1995. They hacked into my hotmail email & found out I was gay. No lawyer would rep me & I was left alone. I got a job as a waiter at a restaurant at the mall. This is important-The Washington Post
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Dear World, Please watch this. On a lark, I told my
@ConnCollege
students they would be excused from the final exam if they created a music video that engaged the themes of our course, Intro to American Studies. I am speechless & weeping. Its brilliant!
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I’m historian of medicine & I’ve been trying to publish an OpEd that places coronavirus in historical context in order to relieve the hysteria but the media continues to play into this dangerous apocalyptic narrative. We need historians as experts to be part of this conversation.
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An insult to the more than 360,000 soldiers who died to prevent this from happening. This has been brewing for years but few have listened to Civil War historians about how the radical right has resurrected the Confederacy to make their agenda visible.
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MAJOR DISCOVERY: I was shocked when I found this document in the archives about sex & intimacy between men in the 1840s. I’m thrilled
@NewYorker
published to show we were here b4 the medical invention of homosexuality. We created worlds & I found one!
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Who is the “you” in this headline, this is getting exhausting. Pauli Murray is a well-known Black, queer icon & the subject of, at least, two very recent biographies,
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My parents just called me & sang a madeup song “happy 1st day of your new job tomorrow” to the tune of Happy Bday. They are treating my 1st day as an endowed chair at a new college the same way they treated me b4 my 1st day of preschool in 1977–and I am 💯 here for it.
#grateful
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Today is Thea’s birthday. The time goes by but the absence of her presence doesn’t dissipate. She had a beautiful mind & huge heart. I still miss her. I still want to remind people of her. The Human Cost of Higher Education's Adjunct Shift - The Atlantic
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Good News: I've been named the Director of the Program in African American History at the Library Company of Philadelphia. Founded by Ben Franklin in 1731, the LCP was the first Library of Congress & has one of the world’s largest collections in 18th & 19th Centuries Black
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Formerly enslaved people invented Memorial Day because no major newspaper printed the names (or acknowledged) thousands who died from epidemics in their escape from slavery during the Civil War. Memorial Day: What Is the Holiday and Who Invented It? | Time
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I wrote my heart out in this article to try to explain
@petebuttigieg
's identity. Please consider it. Mayor Pete is getting slammed for being a type of gay man America fails to appreciate. via
@slate
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Columbia Radio WKCR provided a thorough blow by blow account of the raid. They were fiercely courageous, unabashedly honest, &, without undermining their rigor or acumen, earnest & sweet. They deserve this & many more
spotlights!
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I don’t like to write negative reviews but this is fiction being passed off as history, all done in the name of historical recovery. Major media outlets have praised this book but few have asked historians to weigh in—who would call this out. It’s readable b/c it’s make believe.
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I'm thrilled to be in conversation w/
@Arrianna_Planey
at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health this Thursday on on Race, Racism & the Origins of Epidemiology. It is virtual & in person
@johnshopkinsepi
@JHSPH_HPM
#MedTwitter
@ihmjhu
@JHU_History
@ihmjhu
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I woke up to news this morning that I’ve been elected to the Royal Historical Society in England! I’m profoundly grateful to receive this honor. I dedicate this fellowship in honor of my paternal great grandmother, who was born in Belfast, but fled to the US b/c the British
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We must end Voter Suppression. This is a brand-new unique book that is a published dialogue with the nation’s leading experts:
@staceyabrams
,
@ProfCAnderson
,
@KevinMKruse
@HC_Richardson
@hthompsn
. It also includes powerful commentaries by
@repjohnlewis
&
@AriBerman
@UGAPress
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We often measure how long it takes to write a book in years but somehow that scale doesn’t seem to capture the almost incalculable number of hours it took in a day or a week or even a month to write a book. I’ve never worked harder or longer on a book & I’m so happy, it’s here!
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This book began as a tribute to our advisor, Eric Foner, but it ended as a way to guarantee Dr. Thea Hunter will be enshrined as an author in the Library of Congress. She was working on this essay hours before she unexpectedly died. We published it as is. Rest in power, my sister
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The assassination of Harvey Milk led to Diane Feinstein’s political ascent. She became mayor of San Fran after he died. It’s remarkable to hear Milk’s legendary name spoken today not as part of a historical commemoration, but actually as part of breaking news coverage on
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I'm delivering a message from the 1832 cholera pandemic. "We call the attention of our friends to the lamentable conditions of the poor. If prompt measures be not adopted for their relief...we cannot expect that the Disease...will be arrested." This is why history matters.
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On Nov. 2, Amy Coney Barrett will be a federal judge for 3 yrs, & is being interviewed for a seat on the Supreme Court—that’s the academic equivalent of an asst professor preparing their 3rd year review file while interviewing for an endowed chair professorship at the
@the_IAS
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Big News Alert:Historians are about to change how movies & tv shows are made.I'm starting a company w/
@hthompsn
@ericaadunbar
@BeckyNic7
,
@briankov
@SableVictorian
@junghpak1
Caitlin Parker,Annie Powers, Eric Avila.
#aha2020
Check us out!Spread the word
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One of my graduating seniors made me this candle as a gift for the last day of class…
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This is my first published article, drawing on research from my new book. Please read & share widely. Thanks to the team at
@time
for this, especially
@ElleDubG
.
#epitwitter
#medtwitter
@PublicHealth
@AHAhistorians
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Thanks to
@AdamHSays
for writing this moving story in the
@TheAtlantic
about the unexpected death of my beloved friend,
@drtkhunter
. I am relieved to know her name & details of her life have been added to the archive. RIP, Thea. ❤️.
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It’s officially the publication day of MALADIES OF EMPIRE!!! Thanks to everyone at
@Harvard_Press
& to all those who blurbed it:
@ProfJLMorgan
@davidwblight1
@Sven_Beckert
@drcooperowens
"Meticulously researched and beautifully written" -
@ProfJLMorgan
"A timely, brilliant book" -
@davidwblight1
"A game-changing book" -
@drcooperowens
"A most original global history" -
@Sven_Beckert
Happy pub day,
@jimdowns1
!
@Harvard_Press
#epitwitter
#history
#medicine
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Celebrating
@nhannahjones
brilliant & bold vision: the launch of the 1619 Project with my mentors Eric Foner & Evelynn Hammonds.
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Wow! My newest book just got published! This is an engaging conversation among the nation's leading historians about Jan 6 but its also about how historians engage the public & respond to current events.
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As a gay man, I’ve seen HIV plague my community. As a historian, I uncovered a smallpox epidemic among formerly enslaved people, which the fed gov’t & historians ignored. I just wrote a book on epidemiology.Coronavirus doesn’t scare me.This is my reply.
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I was walking home tonight in Chelsea where a group of teenagers began making homophobic slurs & then followed me to my apartment. People question the overemphasis of
#Pride2019
but do u realize the hate so many of us experience, regardless of being in gay mecca on pride weekend
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@MyMonkeypoxLife
Please don’t delete. this. It’s vitally important. I’ve been trying to sound the alarm about MPX since May &
wrote an article & talked to many journalists. We need this patient story, it will teach MDs & public health officials. THANKS for sharing! Wishing u a speedy recovery!❤️
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Thrilled this is published. I explain how the transatlantic slave trade coincided w/ the rise of chemistry as a field, which crystalized ideas about oxygen.I then track ventilation from the c19 slavey to TB to CoVid to BLM. Thanks
@steerewilliams
& Hirshbein for excellent
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I'm thrilled to announce that this important book will soon be out in the world, which is a conversation about JAN 6 with the nation's leading historians. I am deeply grateful to
@jbf1755
,
@elizabhinton
, Jill Lepore,
@smccurry3
@william_sturkey
&
@julianzelizer
.
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Super excited to be giving this talk tomorrow at the University of Rochester.
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I have the most thoughtful students at
@ConnCollege
. This is what they surprised me with this morning. I was promoted to Full Professor, becoming the 1st LGBT person to climb thru the ranks in the History Dept. Another lavender ceiling broken!
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Also some news to report!
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Important article. I made a similar claim in my coedited volume, CONNEXIONS, about same-sex intimacy among enslaved men.
@OutHistory
#twitterstorians
#histsex
Anthropologists Hid African Same-Sex Relationships via
@JSTOR_Daily
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“The AHA encourages history departments to provide full library access to their own scholar alumni and to unaffiliated historians in their regions.” Important article by
@beckynic7
&
@jimgrossmanaha
Research Scholarly Equity Perspectives on History | AHA
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Big News Alert:
@HistoryStudioLA
now has a podcast and I’m the host. We’ve been working on this for a year and I’m thrilled that our show launches with
@TheAcademy
Winner
@DLanceBlack
, who is a brilliant, mesmerizing storyteller! Please share!
Happy Pride! 🌈 Our first History Studio Podcast guest is
@DLanceBlack
, Academy-Award winning screenwriter, director, producer, and activist for LGBTQ rights. The episode with DLB drops Thursday!
#Pride2021
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Based on research at
@USNatArchives
, I uncovered how over 60,000 formerly enslaved people died of a smallpox epidemic.This history still is not part of textbooks but serves as a warning of how pandemics end.I explain how
@TheAtlantic
today.
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It doesn't matter how many books there are about Black history, when it comes to writing a historical overview, its always just about white people. Reviewer also fails to mention that Onesimus, an enslaved person, introduced inoculation.
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Let us not forget the sexual politics of the Cuomo family that led them to power. In 1977,
@andrewcuomo
father ran on the slogan “Vote for Cuomo, Not the Homo.” This is a family who has built their bravado & brand by insult & intimidation.
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Good News Update! I am excited to be at the
@HutchinsCenter
for the next academic year to work on my new research project that charts how the confluence of race, indigeneity & sexuality defined public health in the 1860s.
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We just had the latest conversation of “History in the Headlines” on Jan6 & the Politics of History.The book will be out in 2022. It was 🔥. Jill Lepore,
@william_sturkey
@elizabhinton
@RedheadProf
@jbf1755
@julianzelizer
@smccurry3
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Here is a list of people who wanted to repeal
#BirthrightCitizenship
since its ratification 150 years ago during Reconstruction: former slaveholders, Confederates, the KKK, segregationists, white nationalists, and now
@realDonaldTrump
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Medical Historian here. Stop using yellow fever to frame
#covid
-19. Slaveholders fabricated the idea of immunity to yellow fever to exploit enslaved people. Stop cherrypicking examples without explaining how this idea resulted from racism.
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In commemoration of Memorial Day,
@TIME
republished my article on how formerly enslaved people invented Memorial Day.
#twitterstorians
@The_OAH
@SCWHistorians
@CharlesMBlow
@TheRoot
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There is a certain joy of walking into a bookstore and seeing that my book on slavery, empire, & war is in the SCIENCE section.
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Who at
@NationalHistory
invented the idea that middle school students should interview historians for their projects? How is this pedagogically valuable, and why are you pimping out historians to basically do middle school homework? Asking for a friend...
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In 2019,
@staceyabrams
discussed her ground game in getting more people to register to vote in Georgia in the face of voter suppression with
@ProfCAnderson
,
@KevinMKruse
,
@hthompsn
@HC_Richardson
. That conversation was published as this
@UGAPress
book
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Happy Birthday, Thea! I think of u everyday and profoundly miss you. I still think you are just going to call me, I can still hear your infectious laugh but will never be able to retrieve what it was like to be entranced by your melodious intellect.
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I was hired to teach Black lit b/c the school failed its “multiculturalism” assessment by Middle States accreditation. The faculty, headmaster & students harassed me constantly. It was hell.
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Of course, I suspected this & wrote an OpEd explaining this in early March but every major news outlet rejected it.
#COVID__19
is new but it also followed many historical patterns of pandemics, and I explained that. When will historians ever get a seat at the table?
Covid-19 was spreading inside the country before anyone started looking. Here’s the data to prove it.
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@Amelia5437
All of those people are excellent writers, but none of them are historians who know how to evaluate the evidence . I’ve watched a lot of episodes of Judge Judy – – that doesn’t make me a lawyer.
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Another case of non historians distorting the past. This is a devastating blow to social history. It calls for a reconsideration of how people at the "top" enacted change while claiming that we have mythologized people at the "bottom" as principle actors .
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In 1998, long before I got my PhD & became a professor, I taught middle school. A group of moms asked me to serve as a discussion leader for their book club. 21 years later, we are still meeting & read
@pronounced_ing
spectacular, brilliantly told novel, Little Fires Everywhere
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To my history prof colleagues, will you or have you mentioned the HIV/AIDS epidemic in your courses on the 1980s, Reaganomics, conservatism, or even in your surveys? There is a lot of material out there but here is sampling.
#Twitterstorians
#WorldAIDSDay
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There are historical forces that will attempt to suppress the vote. The nation’s leading experts sat down to discuss it. This book, which I edited, is a rare conversation among these brilliant thought leaders:
@staceyabrams
@ProfCAnderson
@KevinMKruse
@HC_Richardson
@hthompsn
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Some good news. I am honored to be elected to this distinguished group of historians whose work I greatly admire. I look forward to the induction in a few weeks in NYC.
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Wow! The Lancet reviewed my book! “Maladies of Empire is a powerful & timely reminder that the advancement of medical knowledge about infectious diseases could not have been possible without the suffering of people of colour.”
#histmed
#epitwitter
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This is fierce.
@HC_Richardson
and
@jbf1755
are the podcast hosts we have been waiting for. WOW! So smart and dynamic.
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It took me over a decade to write this article on same-sex desire among enslaved men & the problems of the archive. I am thrilled it’s finding an audience! Thanks,
@Jerrad_Pacatte
#histsex
#twitterstorians
: Stop what you’re doing and read
@jimdowns1
‘s “With Only A Trace: Same-Sex Sexual Desire and Violence on Slave Plantations, 1607-1865” (available on JSTOR). Downs’ methods for reading along and against the heteronormative and epistemically violent archive...
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I am reviewing copyeditor's queries for a textbook. I wrote about how the 1973 arson attack on the Upstairs Lounge, a gay bar in New Orleans, was homophobic. Query: "Are we sure that it was an anti-gay act?" My imagined response: Are we sure water is wet?
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Jean Fagan Yellin was one of my mentors. I read her edited volume of Harriet Jacob’s’ book & and then worked as her research assistant on her biography of Jacobs. Yellin was a meticulous researcher & had an unparalleled grasp of the 19th century. We know so much about Harriet
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Exciting News! This
@NEH
institute is designed to bring together scholars who work on "the archival turn" w/ Civil War historians. See link↓ for more info. Applications available in Jan. Save the dates--2 Week Institute.
#twitterstorians
@AHAhistorians
@The_OAH
@SCWHConference
Congratulations to Prof. Jim Downs! The
@NEHgov
grant he received will go toward a three-week institute here for faculty in higher education to “rethink the approach to Civil War history by examining meaning of the archive,” Downs said.
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Despite a depleting day, it is wonderful to get news that my book, Maladies of Empire: How Colonialism, Slavery, and War Transformed Medicine, which will drop in 5 weeks, has been licensed to be translated into both Chinese and Japanese! Wow! Thanks to HUP
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A powerful, brave essay by
@gcaw
“Trying to get your opponents to shut up or go away is intellectual cowardice.” When I published an essay on Monkeypox, critics did not just violently oppose it, they demanded I shut up. This essay is urgent.
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What are the odds that my op-ed, “What Shapes the Stories We Tell about Epidemics,” in
@latimes
got published while I was in LA. I am thrilled to see it in print!
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This wins the best student email I’ve ever received in 2019 or period:
“Hi Prof. Downs,
Let me set the stage:
It is Friday night, my hair is in a high side pony (obviously), and I am reading an article on Rachael Pringle Polgreen for my history class...”
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@Amelia5437
@DrJenGunter
Yes, I read her NYT review. She is clearly a very established physician with a sterling reputation but she’s not trained to evaluate historical evidence, which is why I spent time in my review explaining the problematic ways of using the WPA narratives to give Anarcha voice.
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I just found a breakup letter that I wrote when I was 25 & the most cringe worthy part was not my need to “provide closure” or having listed my parents’ landline number but rather, I included footnotes—to my ex...spelling out cultural references & citing further reading!!!
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A year ago today, the world lost a most brilliant light. I have thought about Thea nearly every day since she left us and I mourn the loss of not only a beloved friend but also of a fiercely intellectual and enchanting mind that the world will never know.
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Historians, if you are teaching a methods class in the fall, please consider adding this brand new book, which will be out this summer.
#twitterstorians
@ColumbiaUP
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Today is my birthday and here is my wish that a publisher pay a team of unemployed writers and artists to collate and caption all the Bernie memes and make it into a book. It’s like a WPA project for the present. I’m happy to help for free to get this started.
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Sorry, Harry Watson but “race” & “gender” are not designed to “enlighten” you, it’s designed to transform the narrative, retell the past, & recenter historical actors. This 1980s historiographic approach to needs to end.
#SHEAR2020
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I can’t watch
#ReconstructionPBS
because I know that, despite my research documenting epidemics, explosions of infectious disease & failure of the hospitals, which led to the death of tens of thousands of people, it won’t be included b/c too many scholars only focus on politics.
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"Vanquished Confederates chose to see the end of black slavery as the beginning of white persecution and victimization." By Martha Hodes.
#twitterstorians
| Why some white Americans see racial equality as oppression
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Special thanks to
@staceyabrams
for her insightful & incisive comments & to
@ProfCAnderson
,
@KevinMKruse
,
@HC_Richardson
, &
@hthompsn
for adding compelling historical evidence. Thanks to
@dbcthesis2002
for hosting us & to
@RedheadProf
, my coeditor of History in the Headlines.
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Foner argues how the film Lincoln claimed that Lincoln invented the idea of the 13th amendment but Foner explains how women activists came up with the idea first.
#DraperConference2019
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As a tenured prof, I'm always happy to talk to grad students & early career scholars about the profession for free. I benefited from being mentored by a # of senior scholars & am happy to pay it forward. Thats tradition in
@TheSouthernSHA
, Black & Queer history.
#twitterstorians
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I went to my 1st
@shear
in 2004 & it still looks the same. Despite efforts to diversify--age, gender, racial, & queer identity--it remains the same.
#SHEAR2020
, I tried for years to make it different. This debate also reflects a failure to consider new ways of reading the sources
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As Editor of Civil War History, I'm trying to make it an interdisciplinary & collaborative space. Check out the roundtable on Deborah Willis' photo book on the Black Soldier & a recent forum on Eric Foner's classic essay on the causes of the Civil War. Cover Art is by
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For the 2,019th time, this is why historians of infectious disease matter but sadly remain ignored. We are available….
For thousands of years, disease pathogens have spread from person to person. Never before have carriers been blamed for infecting the next sick person. That is a very dangerous ideology.
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Thrilled to see that my research on smallpox is part of this crucial series on slavery. I’ll never forget when I uncovered evidence of the epidemic in the archive & began piecing it together. Why Doesn’t America Have Universal Health Care? One Word: Race
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I woke up to see that my piece on Mayor Pete was not only the most read on
@Slate
but the lead article on the site. Thanks a million to my brilliant editor
@jbryanlowder
and to all those who read & shared!
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I just refused a peer review of a Reconstruction book b/c the bibliography & subjects covered didnt include Hannah Rosen,
@CaroleEmberton
,
@odonovanse1
,
@KidadaEWilliams
,Thavolia Glymph or
@TeraWHunter
. When will gender, violence, &, dare I say, health be part of this history?
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@AstorAaron
@CBSNews
Yet, even though he knows his daughters disagree with him, he gets on national television to espouse his point of view. He shows no respect for his daughters' opinion or how it will affect them. He is more concerned with declaring his support of Trump and that is the problem.
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As the shock begins to dissipate, it’s only being replaced with profound grief & heartbreaking devastation. Peter Carmichael was my beloved colleague & good friend at
@gettysburg
. His death was unexpected. I am gutted.
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On the final night of Hanukkah, I dedicate my blessing to elevate my beloved friend Thea Hunter’s soul, who unexpectedly died two years on this night.
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I am extremely honored to have my research included in the
#1619Project
and for it be used to frame the section on health.
@JInterlandi
reporting is excellent, and her use of the term “hopscotched” to describe the smallpox virus in the postwar South is superb.
@ConnCollege
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If you don’t know the severity of omicron, you can’t precipitously hit the panic button, as you have for 2 years. There is a mental health crisis growing, particularly among young people, that won’t resolve on its own in two weeks.
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Whenever I’m in New Orleans, I go to the site of this tragedy.When I first began writing about the arson attack of a gay bar turned into a gay church, there was no plaque. I’m glad my book, “stand by me: the forgotten history of gay liberation” & many others document this history
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Zoom info coming on Monday but please consider joining
@ProfCAnderson
,
@KevinMKruse
& me next Wednesday to discuss our book, VOTER SUPPRESSION IN U.S. ELECTIONS. This is hosted by
@SouthernStudies
at Ole Miss.
@UGAPress
@fairfightaction
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I took my
@ConnCollege
students to
#OAH19
where they got to sit in on a conversation on voter suppression with
@staceyabrams
at the
@librarycompany
. This summer they will be working on transcribing the conversation to turn it into a book for my series, History in the Headlines.
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My
@HistoryStudioLA
colleague
@ericaadunbar
is on 🔥! “Dunbar, a historian who specializes in 18th and 19th century American history, is a co-executive producer and consultant for the series, and great care has been taken with small details.”
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