Roundup: Talking About History

Roger B. Porter: Leadership lessons from Gerald R. Ford

[Roger B. Porter, Ph.D. ’78, IBM professor of business and government in the Kennedy School of Government and master of Dunster House, teaches (among other courses) “The American Presidency.” He served as special assistant to President Ford from 1974 to 1977.] As 2007 began, and several aspirants prepared to announce their candidacies for our nation’s highest office, Americans paused to celebrate the life of Gerald R. Ford, our only chief executive never elected either president or

Michael Chase-Levenson: Why are we still so obsessed with the Victorians?

[Michael Chase-Levenson is a professor of English at the University of Virginia.] We keep calling them back, the Victorians, but why do we? It's not only the academics, the eccentrics, the architects, and the Brits—most everyone walks around with some Victorian picture in the head. Why are they our favorite ghosts? What do we want from them any longer? Last summer, David Cameron, the smart, slick, young leader of the resurgent British Tory Party, made headlines when he

Michael Lee Pope: African-American family histories can be difficult to come by, but rewarding to find

For African-Americans, researching genealogy can be a frustrating prospect. During the time of slavery, an individual’s last name may or may not have changed after being sold from one owner to another. Because slaves were often legally banned from marrying each other, a married couple might not have the same last name; then again, they might not. Free blacks were frequently in court trying to get permission for all manor of activities, so court records can be a wealth of information. But wading

Beth Kowaleski Wallace: Britain's ban on the slave trade ... moral lessons for today

[Beth Kowaleski Wallace is an associate professor of English at Boston College.] "I thought it was the Yanks that had the slave trade." I overheard this comment in 2002 in Liverpool, once one of England's three largest slave- trading ports. Until very recently, Britain rarely gave public acknowledgment of its own involvement in the transatlantic slave trade. But this year, the country is commemorating the bicentenary of the slave trade's abolition. After nat

Eric Rauchway: Wikipedia is good for Academia

The History Department at Middlebury College last month banned students' citation of Wikipedia, saying the free online encyclopedia that anyone can edit "suffers inevitably from inaccuracies deriving in large measure from its unique manner of compilation." In The New York Times, a professor explained that the policy would help students "escape the consequences of errors." But if, as the Middlebury history professor Amy Morsman said, "Middlebury College stude

Ronald Radosh: Glamorizing History At City Museum

The romanticizing of the Spanish Civil War (1936–39) and the role of the Abraham Lincoln "Brigade," the American contingent of the Comintern army sent to fight on the side of the Spanish Republic against Franco, is hardly a new phenomenon. Now, a year after the Brigade's 70th anniversary, a new book, "Facing Fascism: New York and the Spanish Civil War" edited by Peter Carroll and James Fernandez (New York University Press, 203 pages, $27.95), has been published as a glossy pa

Marek Jan Chodakiewicz: The 20th Century Archives ... No Access, No Freedom

[Marek Jan Chodakiewicz is academic dean and professor of history at the Institute of World Politics in Washington, D.C. He was formerly assistant professor of history of the Kosciuszko Chair in Polish Studies at the Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia. He has authored numerous works in both Polish and English.] In April 2006, the German government appeared finally to have consented to grant scholars full access to the documentary depositories of the Internationa

Frederick Clarkson: Why the Christian Right Distorts History and Why it Matters

[Frederick Clarkson is the author of Eternal Hostility: The Struggle Between Theocracy and Democracy, and founder of Talk2Action.org, the group blog about the Christian Right. He is a member of The Public Eye editorial board.] The notion that America was founded as a Christian nation is a central animating element of the ideology of the Christian Right. It touches every aspect of life and culture in this, one of the most successful and powerful political movements in American histor

Darrell Huckaby: In land of cotton, old times aren’t forgotten

[Darrell Huckaby is a local author and educator.] So now we have a full-blown brouhaha brewing in the General Assembly over a proposal by Georgia state Sen. Jeff Mullis to set the month of April aside as Confederate History and Heritage Month. Holy 1950s, Batman! Now when I first heard about Mullis’ proposal, my very first thought was, “Good luck with that.” Honesty compels me to admit that I thought — and said aloud — that O.J. would have more luck finding

Kwame Anthony Appiah: Slavery's gone but in Africa the low-status of the descendants of slaves endures

[Kwame Anthony Appiah, a philosopher at Princeton University, is the editor, with Martin Bunzl, of “Buying Freedom: The Ethics and Economics of Slave Redemption,” coming this fall.] ... Beginning around 1700, Kumasi was the capital of the Ashanti empire as it rose and fell. At some point in my education, I was taught that the empire had been the center of a great trading system, with roads radiating from Kumasi in every direction, connecting us with the Atlantic trading system along

Thomas Vinciguerra: Why Millard Fillmore Gets the Laughs

Millard Fillmore. The name itself sounds vaguely ridiculous. And that’s pretty much how the poor fellow rates in the popular imagination, 133 years after his death. Examples abound. In 1917, H. L. Mencken perpetrated a famous hoax by claiming, in a newspaper column, that Fillmore had installed the first bathtub in the White House. In the comic strip “Sally Bananas,” the cartoonist Charles Barsotti depicted the characters celebrating “Millard Fillmore’s Birthday Eve.” Mad magazine on

Michael Radu: The Dangers of the Armenian Genocide Resolution

[Michael Radu, Ph.D., is Co-Chair of FPRI’s Center on Terrorism, Counter-Terrorism, and Homeland Security. He is currently at work on a book on Islamism in Europe.] The European Union has told Turkey that in order to become a “true democracy” worth joining it, it must acknowledge responsibility for the 1915 Armenian “genocide,” even if the Republic of Turkey as such did not exist until 1923. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has now decided to bring to a vote a non-bind

Tessa Morris-Suzuki: The Forgotten Victims of the North Korean Crisis

[Tessa Morris-Suzuki is Professor of Japanese History and Convenor of the Division of Pacific and Asian History in the College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University. Her book Exodus to North Korea: Shadows from Japan's Cold War will be published next month at Rowman and Littlefield. Contact e-mail: tessams@hotmail.com.] As the slow and difficult negotiations on North Korean denuclearisation unfold, one small group of a hundred people or so in Japan are watching proceedi

Amy H. Sturgis: Rediscovering the most successful slave revolt in American history

[Amy H. Sturgis (amyhsturgis.com) teaches Native American studies at Belmont University and is a member of the Scholarly Board of the Tennessee Center for Policy Research. Her newest book is The Trail of Tears and Indian Removal (Greenwood Press).] John Horse's story feels like an answer to every Hollywood studio's wish list: a mix of Spartacus, Braveheart, Amistad, and Glory, with just a pinch of Dances With Wolves. A sweeping tale of a decades-long struggle against oppression, the

Stephen Prothero: Public school courses that promote Bible literacy can enhance our civic life

[STEPHEN PROTHERO is chairman of the religion department at Boston University and the author of "Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know -- and Doesn't."] ALTHOUGH THE 110th Congress has brought to Capitol Hill 43 Jews, two Buddhists and a Muslim — Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), who took his oath of office on Thomas Jefferson's Koran — Washington remains a disproportionately Christian town. More than 90% of federal legislators call themselves Christians, makin

DeWayne Wickham: Real black history too often gathers dust

Now that Black History Month is over, I have something to say about black history: Let's get it right. For too many African-Americans, black history has become a twisted mix of urban legend and pop culture. And for more than a few whites, the truth of the treatment their racial ancestors meted out to blacks is buried beneath a mountain of denied history. What am I talking about? To begin with, there's Juneteenth. For years it has been hawked by black advocates as a &quo

Jeannie Suk and Noah Feldman: Japan's Uncomfortable History

[Ms. Suk is a professor at Harvard Law School. Mr. Feldman is a professor at NYU School of Law and a fellow of the Council on Foreign Relations.] ... When women who survived the sex-slavery camps sued Japan in federal court six years ago, they alleged that the whole sex slavery scheme functioned as commercial activity. Faced with this charge, Japan denied it had acted as a business. The D.C. district court agreed, holding in effect that the fact that the women were abducted and ensl

David Litterick: America's craze for historic sites now includes Wall Street

You don't have to do much to become an historic monument in America. Being the young country it is, waiting too long for the light to turn green is enough to get a preservation order slapped on you. It should come as little surprise, then, that there are more than one million buildings in America covered by the National Register of Historic Places. Some of them would barely warrant a second look, others are so "historic" you can imagine them being branded &quo

Alexander Stille: Machiavelli's Hero ... Even 500 years after his death, Cesare Borgia speaks to us about power and politics

[ALEXANDER STILLE writes frequently about Italy. His latest book is "The Sack of Rome: How a Beautiful European Country With a Fabled History and a Storied Culture Was Taken Over by a Man Named Silvio."] THE NAME Borgia is synonymous with Renaissance decadence, treachery and ruthless realpolitik. The tales of the handsome and bloodthirsty condottiere Cesare Borgia; his father, Pope Alexander VI, and his sister, the beautiful Lucrezia, who may (or may not) have also been hi

Tessa Morris-Suzuki: The Truth About Japan's So-Called "Comfort Women"

[Tessa Morris-Suzuki is Professor of Japanese History and Convenor of the Division of Pacific and Asian History in the College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University. She also convenes the Asia Civic Rights Network, and co-edits its online journal AsiaRights. Her books include Re-inventing Japan: Time, Space, Nation, The Past Within Us: Media, Memory, History, and Exodus to North Korea: Shadows from Japan's Cold War (Rowman and Littlefield. Contact e-mail: tessams@hotmail.com.]