By Chris Babits Last March, students in Dr. Erika Bsumek’s Introduction to American Indian History took their midterm exam. Most students earned good grades, but on a mid-semester assessment, a large number expressed interest in some form of extra credit. Students also indicated that since the material was very new to them (secondary curricula rarely emphasizes […]
The Price for Their Pound of Flesh
History in a “Post-Truth” Era
How to Survive a Plague: The Inside Story of How Citizens and Science Tamed AIDS, by David France (2016)
By John Carranza In the 1980s, the United States experienced a new disease that seemed to target young, gay men living in New York City and San Francisco. From the beginning, those doctors and scientists willing to treat members of the gay community remained perplexed as to why these men, their ages ranging from their […]
Finding Hitler (in All the Wrong Places?)
By Christopher Babits Good historians keep an open mind when doing archival research. Our reading of the relevant literature, not to mention the preliminary research we conduct, provides a general understanding of our topic, but we have to prepare ourselves for surprises. This is the most exciting part of research — examining documents no one […]
Digital Dividends
Historical Perspectives on The Birth of a Nation (2016)
“They killing people everywhere for no reason at all but being black.” —Cherry (the wife of Nat Turner played by Aja Naomi King) By Ronald Davis The number of books, novels, articles, plays and movies committed to the life and times of Nat Turner is vast. None of these sources is without controversy. It should […]
Cuba on Not Even Past
Tatlin’s Fish: Art and Revolution in Everyday Life
Textbooks, Texas, and Discontent: The Fight against Inadequate Educational Resources
By Alejandra Garza and Maria Esther Hammack Controversies surrounding textbooks are nothing new, especially in Texas. For years, textbook selection in Texas has grabbed headlines and generated great discontent and debate. Textbooks adopted by the Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) are unusually important because they are also adopted for use in classrooms across the country. Whatever Texas adopts, students across […]