Category / Public Humanities

by abritt

Erica Bruchko (PhD, ’16) Helps to Archive Generations of Black Emory Students’ Calls for Change

In August of 2020 Emory University President Gregory L. Fenves asked Dean Yolanda Cooper, the University Librarian, to research and make available online calls for change from past and present generations of Black Emory students. Dr. Erica Bruchko, a 2016 alumna of the History Department’s graduate program and librarian for African American Studies and United States history at Emory Libraries, is working to advance this project. Bruchko has published three articles so far with collaborators Jina DuVernay, collection development archivist for African American collections, Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library, and Maureen McGavin, writer, Emory Libraries. Read about the work of generations of Black leaders and anti-racism at Emory in the first three articles to emerge from the initiative:

by abritt

Suddler Edits Special Edition of ‘The American Historian’: “History for Black Lives”

Dr. Carl Suddler, Assistant Professor, edited the September issue of The American Historian. The volume features seven articles on “History for Black Lives” contextualize the nationwide protests that occurred in the wake of the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and others. The special issue is open for a limited time to the general public, regardless of OAH membership, here.

by abritt

Suddler Quoted in ‘Washington Post’ Article on Potential Return of NBA

Assistant Professor of History Carl Suddler was recently quoted in a Washington Post article by columnist Jerry Brewer on what the resumption of NBA play might mean for Black athlete activism and the anti-racist movement broadly. Suddler is the author of Presumed Criminal: Black Youth and the Justice System in Postwar New York (NYU Press, 2019). Read Brewer’s article here: “In the fight for equality, the NBA can be a symbol and an inspiration — not a distraction.”

by abritt

Anderson Discusses GA’s Primary Voting Issues on ‘All Things Considered’

NPR’s Ari Shapiro recently interviewed Dr. Carol Anderson, Charles Howard Candler Professor of African American Studies and Associated Faculty in the History Department, on All Things Considered. Anderson, whose most recent book is One Person, No Vote: How Voter Suppression is Destroying Our Democracy (Bloomsbury, 2018), discusses the problems that Georgia voters faced during this past Tuesday’s primary. Listen to the piece: “The Reasons Behind Voting Issues in Georgia.”

by abritt

Suddler Invited to Contribute to Association of American Medical Colleges Roundtable on Racial Inequities and Medicine

The Association of American Medical Colleges invited leaders and learners in academic medicine to share their thoughts on recent events, the complicity of medicine in perpetuating inequities, and the role of students, physicians, and academic medical institutions in helping to heal the nation. Read Prof. Carl Suddler’s contribution, “Investing in health care, divesting from law enforcement” (scroll down, 10th entry).

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by abritt

Dr. Polly J. Price, Associated Faculty in History, Discusses Jurisdiction and COVID-19 on CNN

Dr. Polly J. Price is the Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Law, Professor of Global Health, and Associated Faculty in the History Department. Price recently contributed to a CNN segment with host Michael A. Smerconish about jurisdiction in the context of stay-at-home orders and social distancing measures intended to curb the spread of COVID-19. View the segment here: “Why is there no national lockdown?”

Price is a public health law scholar as well as a legal historian and citizenship and immigration law expert. Her current book project, Plagues in the Nation (forthcoming from Beacon Press), examines how epidemics have shaped US law and continue to pose challenges for disease control in democratic societies. In recent weeks Price has also authored two pieces for The Atlantic: “A Coronavirus Quarantine in America Could Be a Giant Legal Mess” and “How a Fragmented Country Fights a Pandemic.”

by abritt

Carol Anderson on COVID-19 and Voter Suppression in ‘Time’

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Dr. Carol Anderson, Charles Howard Candler Professor of African American Studies and Associated Faculty in the History Department, has written an article in Time titled  “Republicans Could Use the Coronavirus to Suppress Votes Across the Country. This Week We Got a Preview.” Anderson’s piece examines how stay-at-home orders prompted by COVID-19 could lead to the disenfranchisement of voters in primary elections and may portend the same for the general election in November. Anderson is the author, most recently, of One Person, No Vote: How Voter Suppression is Destroying Our Democracy, which was published by Bloomsbury and a finalist for the PEN/Galbraith Award in Non-fiction and a National Book Award Longlist finalist in Non-fiction.

 

 

by abritt

Dr. Judith A. Miller and Student Natalia Thomas Describe “Fake News” Course on GPB’s ‘On Second Thought’

Dr. Judith A. Miller and first-year student Natalia Thomas were recently interviewed on the Georgia Public Broadcasting show On Second Thought about Miller’s first-year seminar “Fake News.” Speaking to host Virginia Prescott, Miller describes how, as a historian of 18th and 19th century France, she ended up teaching a course with a substantial focus on contemporary U.S. history. Thomas, a first-year student in the course, describes the impact “Fake News” has already had on students: “‘I used to just take what I read at face value,” she explained. “I’ve learned to be more cautious about what I’m consuming, and make sure to check multiple news sources and see what they’re saying about certain issues.”‘ Read the article summary of the conversation and listen to the full interview: “Emory University’s ‘Fake News’ Course Helps Students Tease Fact From Fiction.”

by abritt

Alison Collis Greene Discusses Book ‘No Depression in Heaven’ on ‘Monthly Review’ Podcast

Dr. Alison Collis Greene recently discussed her book No Depression in Heaven: The Great Depression, the New Deal, and the Transformation of Religion in the Delta (Oxford University Press, 2015) on the Monthly Review podcast Money on the Left. Greene is Associate Professor in the Candler School of Theology and Associated Faculty in the History Department. Read the summary of the episode below and find both the audio and transcript at “No Depression in Heaven with Alison Collis Greene.”

In this episode of Money on the Left, we speak with historian Alison Collis Greene about her book No Depression in Heaven with an eye toward contemporary debates around the Green New Deal. Subtitled The Great Depression, the New Deal, and the Transformation of Religion in the Delta, Greene’s book critiques what she calls the “myth of the redemptive depression” which, particularly in the American south, eroded the legacy of the original New Deal by affirming regressive fantasies of self-help and individualism. 

Many on the left today see the “New Deal” framing of contemporary social and ecological politics as a concession to liberal nostalgia. However, No Depression in Heaven reminds us that right-wing and religious dismissals of the New Deal played a key part in rolling back government provisioning under neoliberalism. From our perspective, then, the original New Deal remains a crucial rhetorical battleground for the future of American political economy.