@smithcal
Historian, Professor at Hamilton College (all views and opinions expressed are mine alone), PhD, writing about the neoliberal shift of Black politics in Chicago from 1929 to 1994, race, class, and 20th century U.S. political history. he\him\his
We spoke to Black women who started the Target boycott & who sustained it for a yr+. They'll likely never go back.
Teacher Laverne Mickens put it like this: “[Black women] will say if & when it’s over. And I can tell you right now: That will be the 15th of never ever.”
19thnews.org/2026/03/targ...
SPRING BREAK!!! School's OUT 4....two weeks!
ICE is still acting like ICE. Abolish ICE.
I would add: even if you don’t call yourself a legal historian but study history involving law-ish stuff, you’ll find a welcoming, friendly and brilliant group of scholars at ASLH!
I wanted to believe, but I jokingly told myself it's going to snow three days from now and, of course, three inches are expected in upstate New York on Thursday. False spring is a cruel thing.
Moderate Democrats with columns in newspapers are constantly saying the Democratic Party is way too liberal on "social" issues. Moderate Democratic voters in real life do not feel this way. With some polling data from @gelliottmorris.com and @dataforprogress.org. newrepublic.com/article/2074...
If an official commits an impeachable offense and nobody acts to impeach, it is no longer an impeachable offense.
People who oppose impeachment as “pointless” because it seems unlikely to result in removal do not understand this very simple point and seem unwilling to even try to understand it.
A. This is awful and no one, wherever you stand on the death penalty, should be okay with it
B. This is a good headline that refuses to equivocate
www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...
North Tehran’s Aqdasiyeh oil depot is ablaze tonight after it was targeted by multiple US-Israeli airstrikes. Apocalyptic scenes filmed by Iranians driving on the nearby highway. Local reporters saying firefighters can’t put it out. This depot is critical energy infrastructure for Iran.
Huge NYT article on the back story of those two weeks in March/April 2025 when DOGE illegally terminated hundreds of NEH grants. Gift link!!
www.nytimes.com/2026/03/07/a...
In a rare and beautiful display, in Fairbanks, Alaska, the northern lights danced across the sky at the same time as another uncommon event: a total lunar eclipse, also known as a blood moon.
Very confused by people who think folks in Maine don’t know about Platner‘s tattoos already
“It will come up in the general”
It’s come up in the primary! And he has since pulled away with the lead.
Are you under the impression more conservative voters won’t like it?
Now that they're trying to pretend their war is not a war, they've gone back to calling it the Defense Department.
One of the honors of my life was getting to spend the afternoon with Mr. LaFayette in conversation with my students inside Dr. Richard Harris's home, where the Freedom Riders found safety after they were beaten in the Montgomery, Alabama bus station in 1961.
MAGA Unreality vs the World
The U.S. government is in the hands of people who are fully detached from reality. That is a major weakness for the regime – but also a source of further radicalization.
Some thoughts from my new piece:
🧵
steady.page/en/democracy...
The Board of Governors decided, unilaterally, that no published textbook in the field of sociology could be used in compliance with the law for an Intro to Sociology class. None. Victor: There's not a single existing textbook on the market that could be used that would qualify under state law? Zachary: Correct. Victor: I'm sorry, that's kind of funny. Like, the absurdity of not a single sociology textbook getting past the censors. I mean, it makes me kind of proud of our colleagues, but...
I do want to shout-out my fellow sociologists, who have collectively created a discipline so woke that not a single one of our introductory textbooks can make it past Florida's censors.
Great work everyone.
CNN: Three US fighter jets accidentally shot down by Kuwaiti air defenses, military says By Haley Britzky , Helen Regan Helen Regan , Eyad Kourdi , Isaac Yee , Teele Rebane , Lucas Lilieholm Updated 13 hr ago
Reuters: Fire at US embassy complex in Riyadh after blast heard, sources say By Reuters March 2, 20266:23 PM CSTUpdated 13 mins ago
New York Times: U.S. military death toll rises to 6
CNN: State Dept urges US citizens to "DEPART NOW" from countries throughout Middle East
Two days into the war:
- three F-15s shot down
- U.S. embassy in Saudi Arabia in flames
- six U.S. service members confirmed dead; more wounded
- State Department tells Americans to flee the entire Middle East
Choose to be a protester or observer, OR a volunteer who delivers meals/food or provides transportation to school kids.
Mixing the two puts our immigrant communities at risk because ICE & DHS sometimes follow people.
Share Know Your Rights information.
Just a reminder that Trump didn't just bumble us into an unnecessary war -- he deliberately created the conditions that he's now screaming about
THIS.
With Trump, there's always a tweet.
U.S. map showing that as of 2023, 35 states have laws that criminalize or control actions that can potentially expose another person to HIV.
A reminder on HIV Is Not A Crime Awareness Day:
Most states still have laws that criminalize HIV.
This doesn't make communities safer. Instead, it reinforces stigma and further marginalizes Black & LGBTQ+ people.
These are “low enrollment” majors but the classes are regularly at capacity. They changed the funding structure a few years ago here, switching the allocation from course enrollments to majors then blamed these departments for a structural, top-down change. This is entirely a political choice.
33 of the people pardoned by Trump for January 6 have committed more crimes including molesting children and killing people while drunk driving.
Incredible shot of Rep. Al Green holding up a "BLACK PEOPLE AREN'T APES!" sign with Trump in the foreground from photographer Kenny Holston (Getty)
After months of relentless rapid response in Minneapolis, members of Defend the 612 had a moment to breathe and reflect on the lessons they’ve learned, the grief they carry, and the citywide fellowship they hope will endure. The crisis is not over, and I’m grateful they made time to speak with me.
I think often about how my ancestors were the ones labeled savages who needed to be tamed. And these folks were the ones who charged themselves with bringing us “civility.”
An awesome resource for researchers and others just opened this week. obamaoralhistory.columbia.edu/about
On 17 February, there was an annular solar eclipse visible only from Antarctica… and from space!
👇ESA’s Proba-2 satellite recorded the same eclipse no less than four times as it whizzed round Earth!
📷Credit: ESA/Royal Observatory of Belgium
