Month / September 2020

by abritt

Lipstadt Quoted in ‘NBC News’ Article on Knowledge of Holocaust among Gen Z and Millennials

Deborah E. Lipstadt, Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish History and Holocaust Studies and Associated Faculty in the History Department, was recently quoted in the NBC News article “Survey finds ‘shocking’ lack of Holocaust knowledge among millennials and Gen Z.” Read an excerpt quoting Lipstadt below along with the full piece.

“There is no doubt that Holocaust denial is a form of anti-Semitism,” said Deborah Lipstadt, a professor of modern Jewish history and Holocaust studies at Emory University in Atlanta. “And when we fail to actively remember the facts of what happened, we risk a situation where prejudice and anti-Semitism will encroach on those facts.”

by abritt

Polly J. Price Comments on CT Governor’s COVID-19 Mask Order Mandating Fines

Dr. Polly J. Price, Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Law, Professor of Global Health, and Associated Faculty in the History Department, was recently quoted in the NBC News article, “Connecticut puts some teeth in mask mandate, will start issuing $100 fines.” The article discusses an executive order by the Connecticut governor to fine residents who aren’t wearing a mask. Read an excerpt with Price’s comments below along with the full piece.

Polly Price, a professor of law and public health at Emory University in Atlanta, said fines could be effective for some people “on the same theory that speeding tickets discourage speeding and traffic fines encourage seat belt usage and other traffic safety issues.”

“So, it may be that just the possibility of a fine may nudge more people to comply than would otherwise,” she said.

But Price said she was dubious about whether handing out fines was “a good use of police time.” She said what might be more effective is adapting the “no shoes, no shirt, no service” concept currently in place for many stores and other indoor venues to include masks.

by abritt

Anderson Quoted in ‘Forbes’ Article about Film on Stacy Abrams and Voting Rights

Dr. Carol Anderson, Charles Howard Candler Professor of African American Studies and Associated Faculty in the History Department, was quoted in the Forbes article, “‘All In: The Fight For Democracy’ Examines The History Of Voter Suppression In The United States.” The article discusses the recently-released documentary film All In: The Fight for Democracy, which centers on Stacy Abrams, voting rights, and voter suppression. Read the excerpt below along with the full piece.

“We can’t understand where we are today without looking back. We saw in Reconstruction a moment of possibility, where African-Americans were being elected to the Senate 20 years after slavery was abolished. It was a moment of possibility and change. But America found a way to quash that optimism, and there was the rise of white terror and Ku Klux Klan violence,” says Professor of African American Studies at Emory University, Carol Anderson, one of the most memorable voices in the film. “Later, we see another moment of hope, with the passage of the Voting Rights Act, but then we see the clamp-down after Obama’s election and the rise of voter ID and exact match laws, voter purging, and a number of other insidious tactics.”

by abritt

New Season of “Buried Truths” Podcast, Focused on the Killing of Ahmaud Arbery, to Launch

On Sept. 16 the third season of the “Buried Truths” podcast will launch. The season centers on the shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery, an unarmed 25-year-old Black man pursued in February by three armed white men near the coastal city of Brunswick. The seven-episode series is based on research by students and professor Hank Klibanoff, a Pulitzer-prize winning journalist, director and co-teacher of the Georgia Civil Rights Cold Cases Project, and the James M. Cox Jr. Professor of Journalism. Read the Emory News Center’s recent article featuring the upcoming season: “Podcast based on Emory class focuses new season on Ahmaud Arbery killing.”

by abritt

Miller and Payne Featured in Article on Innovative Approaches to Remote Instruction

The Emory News Center recently featured two History Department faculty members in an article on how instructors across campus have adapted in-person classes to virtual environments owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. Titled “Professors become students to prepare dynamic remote instruction,” the article features Dr. Judith A. Miller and Dr. Matthew J. Payne. Read about their innovative approaches to remote teaching and learning here.

by abritt

Anderson Discusses Voting Rights and Voter Suppression in ‘AJC’ and on ‘Utah Public Radio’

Dr. Carol Anderson, Charles Howard Candler Professor of African American Studies and Associated Faculty in the History Department, was recently featured on Utah Public Radio and in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Anderson was a guest on Access Utah in advance of speaking at the the Voting Rights Symposium at Utah State University on September 17. Anderson was also a prominent contributor to the recent AJC opinion piece, “Trench warfare over the right to vote has arrived in Georgia.” Read an excerpt from the AJC piece below along with the full article here.

“Voter fraud is rare. And Georgia voters faced widespread administrative failures during this primary. Documented failures. What we really need to be having is a conversation about providing reassurance, calm and clarity,” Anderson said.

– Carol Anderson, “Trench warfare over the right to vote has arrived in Georgia.”
by abritt

Emory Acquires Personal Papers of Kathleen Cleaver

Emory has recently acquired the personal papers of Kathleen Cleaver, the Black Panther Party member, activist, and longtime faculty member at the Emory University School of Law. The archive will be housed at the Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library. Dr. Carol Anderson described the acquisition as “incredible” and anticipated that “We will learn so much from Kathleen Cleaver’s papers.” Cleaver’s archive, Anderson continued, “will help us understand the role of women in a movement and movement-building and in international freedom struggles.” Cleaver’s was one of the last major collections secured by the late Pellom McDaniels III, curator of African American collections at the Rose Library. Read more about Cleaver and the collection via the Emory News Center and the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education.

by abritt

Anderson Pens Op-Ed for ‘The Boston Globe’

Dr. Carol Anderson, Charles Howard Candler Professor of African American Studies and Associated Faculty in the History Department, recently published an opinion piece in The Boston Globe. Titled “The Supreme Court’s starring role in democracy’s demise,” the article critiques the Supreme Court’s lack of action to protect Black Americans’ voting rights in the midst of increasing disenfranchisement due to voter suppression tactics and the COVID-19 pandemic. Read an excerpt below along with the full article here.

“In a series of recent decisions imperiling voters’ access to the ballot box, the Supreme Court acted as if COVID-19 barely existed and the laws Republicans passed for absentee ballots were actually about election security and not outright disfranchisement. The first instance was the stunning decision in April that forced Wisconsin voters, in the middle of a pandemic, to make a Hobson’s choice between the right to vote or their own safety. In an unsigned decision by the five conservative justices, COVID-19 was barely mentioned, only that the tens of thousands of requested absentee ballots, which had not yet even arrived in the homes of voters by that night, still had to be postmarked by the next day to count. The result was that many in Wisconsin stood in line, risked their health to vote, and paid the horrible price by contracting the virus.“

– Carol Anderson, “The Supreme Court’s starring role in democracy’s demise,” The Boston Globe
by abritt

Suddler to Moderate Decatur Book Festival Panel

Assistant Professor Carl Suddler will moderate the panel “Crime Fiction Down South” at the upcoming Decatur Book Festival. The panelists include award-winning novelists Tom Mullen, Attica Locke and S.A. Cosby, whose hard-hitting crime fiction is set in Georgia, Texas, and Virginia (respectively). These authors will discuss crime fiction along with Suddler and Emory graduate student Kareem Joseph. The free and online event is Monday, Sept. 14, 6:30 p.m. Register for this event here. 

by abritt

Upcoming Event Series: Conversations on Racism, Injustice, and Incarceration in the U.S.

Join us this semester for a series titled “Conversations on Racism, Injustice, and Incarceration in the U.S.” These conversations are part of the seminar “HIST 488RW: Mass Incarceration Beyond the New Jim Crow,” taught by Assistant Professor of History Carl Suddler. To register and receive the Zoom link, please email Becky Herring (becky [dot] herring [at] emory [dot] edu).