David Blight

With Akhil Amar, I just helped direct this extraordinary teacher seminar on the history of the Constitution in Philly at National Constitution Center, generously sponsored by the Sandra Day O'Connor Institute and OAH. Our comrades, the teachers, were magnificent in knowledge and dedication! Bravo!

Trump's lawyers, bound by vows of loyalty to their profoundly ignorant leader, are constitutionally cherry-picking their way to autocracy. They are patient; we citizens should not be!

Birthright citizenship: as old in England as Sir Edward Coke's 1608 opinion in "Calvin's Case," and at least as early as the Prudence Crandall case before Connecticut Supreme Court in 1834. The principle: when a government expects "obedience" it must provide "protection."

Trump's sense of triumph yesterday over SCOTUS decision on nation-wide injunctions derives from steady impulse against birthright citizenship. NO Mr. Trump, the Civil War did not end in 1969 and section 1 of the 14th is not intended only for children of slaves. We cannot allow ignorance to win!!!

An 800% increase in the ICE finding in the new budget bill out of House and now before the Senate? God help us. Trump wants confrontation; peacefully, without burning cars, people should give it to him.

When barbarians enter your land and territory, do not plan to negotiate. Build your defenses and get ready to drive them out. At universities and all over American education we need to prepare, as William James said, for "the moral equivalent of War."

Published this piece on the origins of Memorial Day in Charleston in 1865 fourteen years ago in the NY Times. And see Drew Faust's piece in today's Times. We do indeed need to "stand up!" DB

www.nytimes.com/2011/05/30/o...

Trump DISTURBING ABUSE Comes Back to HAUNT HIM YouTube video by Legal AF

I have now been on the Meidas Touch Podcasts at least three times of late. Here is on of them. DB

www.youtube.com/watch?app=de...

Trump: rude, cruel, pitiful, a really bad White House reality show, with international leaders such as the president of South Africa. Trump should be suspended from school by his junior high dean.

National Park Service Directed to Implement Trump's Executive Order, 'Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History' When President Trump issued his March 27, Executive Order, titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” it left us with questions as to when and how it would be implemented.

National Park Service Directed to Implement Trump's Executive Order, 'Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History' #NationalParks 🗃️ open.substack.com/pub/kevinmle...

MSU Commencements | College of Social Science | Spring 2025 | Season 2025 | Episode 14 College of Social Science | Spring 2025

Here is the video of my commencement address at Michigan State on May 3. Move about 20 minutes into the video. I called it "History Comes for You Too."

video.wkar.org/video/colleg...

☕️☕️ This was the first commencement speech I ever heard. I have been in… | Zenell Brown | 10 comments ☕️☕️ This was the first commencement speech I ever heard. I have been in attndance for many, but this is the first time I have really been present. “ I will have nothing that others cannot have i...

I gave the commencement address at Michigan State last Saturday for the social science grads and families. 12,000 people in the Breslin Center. I'll put up video as soon as I get it. My subject was Trumpist attacks on higher ed and on history.
www.linkedin.com/posts/zenell...

"In a dark time, the eye begins to see."
- Theodore Roethke

Disagree. Chris Murphy has certainly found his voice. Bernie and AOC and many more. Keep your eyes open.

Did anyone in the press corps offer her any education? The Trump cabinet as a group may be earning a special place in a large corner of hell.

On Saturday, May 3, at 9 am, in the Breslin Center, I am delivering the commencement address to all the Arts and Science graduates at my alma mater, Michigan State University. Trepidation! "History Never Takes a Day Off" is title. It is not a light springtime message. I'll report how it goes.

HISTORIANS: Organize and Fight Back! see appeal from OAH.

mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#se...

Trump may yet unify teachers, academics, and all involved in education, museums, historic sites. This is as William James put it, our "moral equivalent of war? Mobilization requires solidarity beyond righteousness, beyond individualism, beyond our singular zones of interest.

Harvard stepped up and told Trump's people no! Now the fight really begins. Ignorant bullies can be tripped up and then thrown down. But remember, despots do not stop when embarrassed; they attack more.

Harvard says no to Trump.

Harvard rejects Trump administration’s demands with federal funding at risk The university’s response comes after the government announced a federal review of nearly $9 billion in funding to Harvard and its affiliates.

Plenty of complaints about Harvard over the years, but a proud Harvard alum today.
wapo.st/4cH9vy3

“Neither Harvard nor any other private university can allow itself to be taken over by the federal government,” Harvard attorneys wrote to federal officials. “Accordingly, Harvard will not accept the government’s terms.”

If you’ve never given to Harvard, GIVE NOW!

search.app/M76p3GzTmMuc...

Lame debate about whether we are in a constitutional crisis. Trump is defying a Supreme Court order. No more evidence is necessary. The scene at White House today with the president of El Salvador was obscene. It appears the law cannot or will not contain Trump and his minions.

Teachers and historians and museum curators of all kinds: plan a lecture/panel at your local public library, a school, a church, a union hall, or any civic space and DEFEND HISTORY AND LIBRARIES FROM TRUMPIST DENIGRATION. LET'S FIGHT BACK!

Yes our plenary in Chicago where almost 1800 historians gathered was all about the current assaults on historians and museums. CNN would have done well to cover it as would lots of other media.

Saturday and Sunday Highlights at OAH 2025 On the final full day of the conference, Chicago’s clouds blocked the sun, but that did not dampen the mood at the Sheraton Grand as attendees gathered for the final full day of conference activities....

This has a short summary of my presidential address, "Historians' Voices in Times of Peril." I will put up the full video of speech as soon as I have it. DB

www.processhistory.org/saturday-and....

A week from today, April 3, the Organization of American Historians annual meeting convenes in Chicago. We are working to make it not only a scholars' convention, but a collective rally in defense of history against the threats to what we practice, including executive order of March 27,

Today's executive order by Trump purporting to "restore sanity" to American history is nothing less than a declaration of war on historians and the Smithsonian from top to bottom. Their assumption is that we are too weak and divided to fight back. We need our own declaration and plan to fight.

If we cannot save libraries from Trumpist we may not be able to save anything. First come lies and the destruction of truth and access to it. Then come atrocities.

Librarians, now is not the time to be quiet! #libsky #booksky #edusky