Current Events that Relate to History
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RetrievalJack London, Jack Johnson, and the Fight of the Century
In the 1910 World Heavyweight Championship, London cheered on Jim Jeffries as he faced off with Jack Johnson, the first Black heavyweight champion.The Public Domain Review -
CommentThis Is America
Donald Trump’s authoritarian second term has led critics to describe him as a fascist in the mold of Adolf Hitler.Jacobin -
NewsTheir Jobs Vanished. These Historians Want to Ensure Their Stories Don’t.
An oral history project to document the stories of federal workforce cuts is open to all feds and contractors — even DOGE and Musk.Washington Post -
LongreadRegime Change in the West?
Where amid this turmoil does neoliberalism stand? In emergency conditions it has been forced to take measures.London Review of Books -
CommentAmerican Conservatism's Home Grown Defenses of Apartheid
A long and ugly history.Liberal Currents -
Q&AThe Future Happens in Oakland First. That’s a Cautionary Tale for Global Cities
International trade boomed with the city’s early adoption of technological and economic changes, but Black neighborhoods became ‘sacrifice zones.’The Guardian -
exhibitSocial Safety Net
How Americans through the years have approached the thorny questions of identifying who the government is obliged to help and how such assistance should be funded and distributed.
From the HNN Archive
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What Is the Role of the Historian?
Rethinking the job of history — and the American Historical Association — after the veto of the Gaza “scholasticide” resolution. -
“A Party for the White Man”
The scene at the 1964 Republican National Convention, when Barry Goldwater was nominated and black Republicans’ worst fears about their party were confirmed. -
Indifferent to the Fate of Freedom Elsewhere
Jimmy Carter is known for his defense of human rights worldwide. But in 1979, he threatened to deport thousands of Iranian student protesters. -
Ohio’s Little-Known Fascist Member of Congress
How a local prosecutor protected white supremacists and went on to a career in Washington, DC. -
When Good Housekeeping Meant Getting Vaccinated Against Polio
The pages of 1950s lifestyle magazines offer a glimpse of a time when childhood vaccines were anything but controversial. -
The Forebears of JD Vance and the New Right
Revisiting the Agrarian-Distributists and their fabrication of an American past. -
The Burned-Over District
The Northeast caught fire this fall, in a way that recalls its past. History has some lessons about how to manage the region’s fire seasons to come. -
Who Built the Panama Canal?
Finding testimony from the Afro-Caribbean workers who changed the Americas forever.