Tag Archive

human rights

Project Showcase: A Liberian Journey

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On Monday, March 21, 2016 President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia officially launched A Liberian Journey: History, Memory, and the Making of a Nation, a new digital public history project that is the product of a multi-year, multi-institutional collaboration. This effort marks the beginning of a recollection of Liberia’s lost history and represents a very important step in reawakening the Liberian national consciousness. Read More

Hardball history: Knowing the people's history requires being on their side

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On May 30, 1995, wearing an orange construction helmet, I stood behind a makeshift barricade on E. 13th Street in New York City. Hundreds of squatters faced off against larger numbers of riot police who were armed with a tank and supported by snipers on the surrounding buildings. Read More

Hardball history: Choosing sides

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Hardball history that places historians at the center of politics, advocacy, and activism can be a difficult journey, but it can also be inspiring. My introduction to public history coincided with the 2006 unveiling of a controversial downtown revitalization plan in the city of El Paso, Texas. Read More

History without vision: A struggle over art at the City Museum of New York

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Muralist and activist Mike Alewitz has finished his tribute to the labor and social justice movements, an imposing four-panel painting titled The City at the Crossroads of History–but the museum it was commissioned for doesn’t want it.

The Puffin Foundation, a grant maker that frequently supports politically left artists, engaged Alewitz to create the mural for a new gallery at the Museum of the City of New York. Read More

Public history resources on Ferguson

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How should public historians address Officer Darren Wilson’s killing of Michael Brown, the grand jury’s decision, and protests in Ferguson and across the country? This is a vital question many of us are discussing on Twitter, Facebook, and in person. The discussion has broadened recently to include the grand jury decision not to indict Officer Daniel Pantaleo in the July chokehold death of Eric Garner, and the Justice Department’s citation of the Cleveland Police Department for civil rights abuses.  Read More

Revealing slavery’s legacy at a public university in the South (Part 2)

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Continued from Part 1.

As well as trying to convey a sense of these enslaved workers as people, the team of graduate students working on the “Slavery at South Carolina College” website also sought to connect this history to the physical landscape. Read More

Revealing slavery’s legacy at a public university in the South (Part 1)

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Written on the landscape of the University of South Carolina is an untold yet well-documented story of slavery. Enslaved people constructed the buildings of the university’s antebellum predecessor, South Carolina College, attended to the wants of white students and faculty, and performed countless tasks essential to running the college. Read More