Current Events in Historical Context

  • A Threat from the East?

    Leah Valtin-Erwin | Oct 29, 2020

    Several complex historical legacies underpin the rush to compare today's pandemic shopping experience to shortages in late communist eastern Europe.
  • “If Anybody Says Election to Me, I Want to Fight”

    Jon Grinspan | Oct 19, 2020

    The election of 1876 can shed light on how the nation's political institutions operate during a crisis of democracy.
  • We Want More History

    Greg Downs, Hilary N. Green, Scott Hancock, and Kate Masur | Oct 9, 2020

    Civil War historians took to the streets, parks, and visitor centers to demand better, more nuanced history during the first #WeWantMoreHistory day of action.
  • Who Is in Control?

    Jeremi Suri | Oct 5, 2020

    The White House was unprepared for the chaos in the chain of command created by the near assassination of President Reagan in 1981.
  • Fearing a Fear of Germs

    Heather Murray | Oct 2, 2020

    During the HIV/AIDS epidemic the surgical mask was a sign of homophobia; COVID-19 may transform it into a gesture of communal solidarity.
  • Graduate Worker Organizing

    Alan Parkes | Oct 1, 2020

    The University of Wisconsin-Madison's Teaching Assistant Association established a precedent for graduate worker organizing that remains vibrant 50 years on.
  • On the Peaceful Transfer of Power

    Sara Georgini | Sep 29, 2020

    Historians can read plenty of pointed lessons in the presidential election of 1800, a surprisingly uncivil brawl between two aging revolutionaries.
  • Looking Out for Each Other

    Leah Valtin-Erwin | Sep 2, 2020

    COVID-19 is just the most recent crisis to throw the grocery store employee onto the frontlines of rapid and disorienting change.
  • Setting the Lost Cause on Fire

    Karen L. Cox | Aug 6, 2020

    Protesters burned the United Daughters of the Confederacy's headquarters in Richmond, Virginia, because it functions as a monument to white supremacy and the Lost Cause.
  • A Monument to Black Resistance and Strength

    Chris Myers Asch and George Derek Musgrove | Aug 5, 2020

    The Washington, DC, Emancipation Memorial's complex history complicates discussions of its possible removal.

    •  

    More Articles