Johann Neem — The Model Minority Might Be Too Good at the Game

This post is a smart and timely essay by Johann Neem, which was recently published in The Hedgehog Review.  Here's a link to the original.  As we wait for the Supreme Court to issue its ruling on the Harvard admissions case, it's a good time to think about how elite universities manage the makeup of …

Johann Neem — A Usable Past: Providing a Narrative to House the Facts of American History

This post is an essay by one of my favorite historians, Johann Neem, which appeared recently in Hedgehog Review.  Here's a link to the original. His topic is the critically important question of how we can create a shared narrative for the  American people -- one that incorporates the bad parts without denying the good parts.  …

Du Bois — Of the Coming of John

This post is a classic piece by W. E. B. Du Bois called "Of the Coming of John."  It's a chapter from his book, The Souls of Black Folk, published in 1903.  Here's a link to the online version. It's a heartbreaking work of fiction filled with a lot of hard truths.  It's the story of …

The Central Link between Liberty and Slavery in American History

In this post, I explore insights from two important books about the peculiar way in which liberty and slavery jointly emerged from the context of colonial America. One is a new book by David Stasavage, The Decline and Rise of Democracy. The other is a 1992 book by Toni Morrison, Playing in the Dark: Whiteness …

Frederick Douglass’s 1852 Speech, “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?”

  I’m reposting today one of the greatest speeches ever given, from that master of rhetoric, Frederick Douglass, which I originally posted last year about this time.  It demonstrates the power of language to make arguments and change hearts.  In a time like ours, when rhetoric is used to promote the worst social ills, it’s …