Category: American History

April 15, 2009

New Biography of Fred Friendly

We have just published the first-ever biography of legendary television executive Fred Friendly. In his book, Friendlyvision: Fred Friendly and the Rise and Fall of Television Journalism, Ralph Engleman examines Friendly’s immense impact on television news as well as his...

March 16, 2009

Political Manhood by Kevin Murphy Named as a Finalist for the Lambda Awards

The Lambda Literary Foundation named Political Manhood: Red Bloods, Mollycoddles, and the Politics of Progressive Era Reform, by Kevin Murphy as a finalist in the category of LGBT Studies. The winners will be announced on May 28th. In a review...

February 17, 2009

The Power of Nonviolence — A Post by Joseph Kip Kosek

The following post is by Joseph Kip Kosek, author of Acts of Conscience: Christian Nonviolence and Modern American Democracy. The concept of nonviolence seems to have little power today. Barack Obama’s inauguration, followed quickly by Black History Month, inspired many...

January 22, 2009

The End of Black History? — By Robert L. Harris Jr. and Rosalyn Terborg-Penn

Robert L. Harris Jr. and Rosalyn Terborg-Penn are the co-editors of The Columbia Guide to African American History Since 1939 Some pundits have predicted that Barack Obama’s inauguration as the 44th President of the United States spells the end of...

January 21, 2009

Jeffrey Perry on History News Network

On Monday, History News Network published “The Growing Interest in Hubert Harrison,” by Jeffrey Perry, author of Hubert Harrison: The Voice of Harlem Radicalism, 1883-1918. Perry begins the essay discussing Harrison’s relevance at the dawn of the administration of America’s...

December 10, 2008

"The Most Exciting and Eagerly Awaited Title from a Scholarly Press." — Scott McLemee on Hubert Harrison, by Jeffrey Perry

Scott McLemee qualifies this remark somewhat in his Inside Higher Ed article on Hubert Harrison: The Voice of Harlem Radicalism, 1883-1918, admitting that he has been eagerly awaiting this title and he explains why in the article and the accompanying...

November 25, 2008

What the Pilgrims Really Thought About Turkey

Though originally published a few years ago, we thought it appropriate to look again at James McWilliams’s New York Times Op-ed, “They Held Their Noses and Ate.” As is perhaps evident from the title, what we now recognize as the...

November 21, 2008

What Can Be Learned from The Great Depression — A Post by Frederick Douglass Opie.

The following post is from Frederick Douglass Opie, author of Hog and Hominy: Soul Food from Africa to America. After the further unraveling of the global economy in October of 2008, the jobless numbers will be much higher.  In response,...

November 20, 2008

Writing Hubert Harrison — A Post by Jeffrey Perry

The following post is by Jeffrey B. Perry, author of Hubert Harrison: The Voice of Harlem Radicalism, 1883-1918. You can also read his previous post “Who Was Hubert Harrison?”. Hubert Harrison: The Voice of Harlem Radicalism, 1883-1918 is the first...

November 13, 2008

Black Familial Mourning and Local Presidents: An Election Chronicle, by Houston Baker

The following essay is by Houston A. Baker, Distinguished University Professor at Vanderbilt University and author the recently published Betrayal: How Black Intellectuals Have Abandoned the Ideals of the Civil Rights Era. “A week of rest and reflection has sobered...

November 12, 2008

Jerelle Kraus in Richard Nixon's Office

Jerelle Kraus is the former art director at the New York Times and her new book reveals the inner workings of the Times from the creation of the art for the Op-ed section to the decisions by Howell Raines and...

November 11, 2008

Who Was Hubert Harrison?: A Post by Jeffrey B. Perry

The following post is by Jeffrey B. Perry, author of the just-published Hubert Harrison: The Voice of Harlem Radicalism, 1883-1918: Hubert Harrison (1883-1927) is one of the truly important figures of early twentieth-century America. A brilliant writer, orator, educator, critic,...