Lesser Research Collective Publishes Article in ‘Health Education & Behavior’

Dr. Jeffrey Lesser, Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor and Director of the Halle Institute for Global Learning, has published an article in the journal Health Education & Behavior with other members of the Lesser Research Collective, including Emory’s Emily S. Pingel, MPH (Sociology) and Alexandra Llovet. Read the abstract below along with the full article: “Committing to Continuity: Primary Care Practices During COVID-19 in an Urban Brazilian Neighborhood.”

“Decreased engagement in preventive services, including vaccination, during the COVID-19 pandemic represents a grave threat to global health. We use the case of the Bom Retiro Public Health Clinic in São Paulo, Brazil, to underscore how continuity of care is not only feasible, but a crucial part of health as a human right. The long-standing relationship between the clinic and neighborhood residents has facilitated ongoing management of physical and mental health conditions. Furthermore, we demonstrate how the clinic’s history of confronting infectious diseases has equipped it to adapt preventive services to meet patients’ needs during the pandemic. Our academic–community partnership used a multidisciplinary approach, relying on analysis of historical data, ethnographic data, and direct clinical experience. We identify specific prevention strategies alongside areas for improvement. We conclude that the clinic serves as a model for continuity of care in urban settings during a pandemic.“

Candido and Jones to Discuss ‘African Women in the Atlantic World’ via #Slaveryarchive Book Club

Join the #Slaveryarchive Book Club on Wednesday, January 6, 2021, 5pm EST for a conversation with Dr. Mariana P. Candido, Associate Professor of History, and Adam Jones (University of Leipzig) about their book African Women in the Atlantic World: Property, Vulnerability & Mobility, 1660-1880 (Cambridge UP, 2019). Register at: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJMof-moqDorEtPFVs8cN9LnBF2u6J2z2GQm.

Eckert’s ‘West Germany and the Iron Curtain’ Wins Hans Rosenberg Book Prize

Congratulations to Dr. Astrid M. Eckert, whose book West Germany and the Iron Curtain: Environment, Economy, and Culture in the Borderlands (Oxford, 2019) has won the 2019 Hans Rosenberg Book Prize of the Central European History Society. The prize is awarded to the best book in the field published by a North American resident in 2019. The committee’s appreciation for the book begins with the following praise: “Like a landscape, this book opens the eye and expands the horizon with every chapter, offering new vantage points, unexpected turns, and hidden depths.” The Rosenberg Prize is the third awarded to Eckert’s West Germany and the Iron Curtain, following the 2020 DAAD/GSA Book Prize and the 2020 Smith Award by the European History Section of the Southern Historical Association.

Dr. Walter C. Rucker, “The Long Hauler,” Featured in Emory News Centers’ Stories of Resolve and Resilience

Dr. Walter C. Rucker, Professor of History, was recently featured in the Emory News Center’s series on stories of resilience and resolve in the face of COVID-19. Rucker describes his experience contracting COVID-19 last year and the lingering effects of the illness. He also discusses how he and his students, some of whose families have also been hit by the illness, have continued to forge a learning community. Watch the interview below and read similar stories from around Emory’s campus: “Our Stories of Resolve and Resilience.”

LaChance Interviewed by ‘Le Devoir’ on Trump’s Embrace of Death Penalty

Dr. Daniel LaChance, Associate Professor and Winship Distinguished Research Professor in History, 2020-23, gave an interview to the Quebec newspaper Le Devoir on the Trump administration’s last-minute push to carry out executions in its final months. LaChance is a legal scholar working at the intersection of American legal and cultural history, criminology, and literary studies. His first book is Executing Freedom: The Cultural Life of Capital Punishment in the United States (University of Chicago Press, 2016). Read an excerpt below along with the full article.

“The Trump administration enthusiastically embraced the death penalty, summarizes Historian Daniel LaChance, who teaches at Emory University Atlanta, Georgia, in an interview with Le Devoir. ‘In this respect, you can even say that Donald Trump is the deadliest president since the nineteenth century. His provocative support for the death penalty was a key part of his Make America Great Again platform.’ And obviously, he intends to take his project to the end.”

Price Quoted in ‘The Atlantic’ Article on Quarantine Practices and Pressures

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 an article in The Atlantic titled “The Real Reason Americans Aren’t Quarantining.” The piece examines how many residents of the U.S. are not able to quarantine in the midst of COVID-19 because of economic and labor pressures. Read an excerpt from the piece below along with the full article.

Conflicts over remote work and leave are the most common type of COVID-19 employment litigation in the U.S., according to a database compiled by the law firm Fisher Phillips. “We don’t really pay people to stay at home to quarantine,” Polly Price, a global-health professor at Emory University, says. But that’s exactly the problem: In a study in Israel, people were more likely to quarantine after exposure to COVID-19 if they were paid during their isolation.

Suddler Participates in Schomburg Center’s Conversations in Black Freedom Studies Series

Dr. Carl Suddler, Assistant Professor of History, recently participated in conversation hosted by the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Titled “Resisting Carceral Cities: Prisons, Police & Punishment in Perspective,” the event centered on the rise of prisons and police and resistance to them in historical perspective. Suddler was joined by Garrett Felber (The University of Mississippi), author of Those Who Know Don’t Say: The Nation of Islam, the Black Freedom Movement and the Carceral State (UNC Press, 2020), and Kelly Lytle Hernandez (UCLA), author of City of Inmates: Conquest, Rebellion, and the Rise of Human Caging in Los Angeles, 1771–1965 (UNC Press, 2017). Suddler is the author of Presumed Criminal: Black Youth and the Justice System in Postwar New York (New York University Press, 2019). Read more about the event here.

Anderson Quoted in ‘WaPo’ Article on Black Voters’ Responses to Trump’s Baseless Fraud Claims

Dr. Carol Anderson was recently quoted in a Washington Post article titled “Anger builds in Black community over Trump’s claims of voter fraud in big cities.” The piece analyzes how Black voters have responded to Donald Trump’s accusations of voter fraud in cities with high populations of Black residents, such as Philadelphia, Detroit, Atlanta, and Milwaukee. Anderson is Charles Howard Candler Professor of African American Studies and Associated Faculty in the History Department. Read an excerpt from the article quoting Anderson below along with the full piece.

“It’s as vile now as it was during Reconstruction, when Democrats believed that Republicans were illegitimate and that Black voters had no right to be voting, and they did all of these terrorist activities to block African Americans from voting,” said Carol Anderson, professor of African American studies at Emory University. “It’s a very narrow, slippery slope, from saying ‘illegal votes’ to ‘illegal voters,’ so this attack on Black voters is real.”

Lipstadt Condemns Yad Vashem Nomination in ‘The New York Times’

Deborah E. Lipstadt, Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish History and Holocaust Studies and associated faculty in the History Department, was recently quoted in an article in The New York Times titled “Israel’s Pick to Head Holocaust Memorial Stirs International Uproar.” In the piece, Lipstadt condemns the nomination of Effie Eitam, a retired general and far-right politician, to head Irael’s official Holocaust memorial, the Yad Vashem. Read an excerpt of the piece below along with the full article.

“This is more than a colossal mistake — it’s a tragedy,” said Deborah E. Lipstadt, a professor of modern Jewish history and Holocaust studies at Emory University in Atlanta who has written several books on the subject. “Appointing Eitam to this position would be a blot on Yad Vashem’s reputation and Yad Vashem’s record.”

Crespino Comments on Georgia Runoff Election

Dr. Joseph Crespino, Jimmy Carter Professor of History and Department Chair, recently commented on the upcoming Georgia runoff election with two U.S. senate seats at stake. The article, “In battle for the Senate, Georgia organizers fight to mobilize voters of color,” was published by Candice Norwood of PBS News Hour. Read the excerpt below along with the full piece here.

“If Democrats win both seats, they would take control of the Senate and give Biden a friendly Congress that will allow him to enact his policy agenda. But Democratic candidates in particular face more challenges turning out voters for runoff races due to socioeconomic factors as well as voting access, said Joseph Crespino, a professor of political and cultural history at Emory University.“