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Dr. Zara Anishanslin

@drzara.bsky.social

Historian with a Thing for Things Creator/Co-host Thing4Things Podcast Author THE PAINTER’S FIRE (July 1, 2025)

543 Followers  |  525 Following  |  68 Posts  |  Joined: 01.02.2025
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Posts by Dr. Zara Anishanslin (@drzara.bsky.social)

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What Democracy Does . . . And Does Not Do | Journal of Democracy People are losing faith in democracy’s ability to deliver social progress. But are democracies better than autocracies at promoting economic growth, alleviating poverty, and creating healthier…

People are losing faith in democracy’s ability to deliver social progress. But are democracies better than autocracies at promoting economic growth, alleviating poverty, and creating healthier, more educated, and more peaceful societies? On all counts, the answer is yes.

23.11.2025 18:54 — 👍 4    🔁 4    💬 0    📌 0
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Ken Burns Finally Puts Native People Back In the American Revolution Story — And It Matters Opinion. Ken Burns, the award-winning filmmaker whose work has defined how Americans understand the Civil War, baseball, jazz, and the Vietnam War, is back this week on PBS with a new six-part documen...

nativenewsonline.net/opinion/ken-...

24.11.2025 14:54 — 👍 41    🔁 10    💬 2    📌 0
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What the Deported Venezuelans Went Through in El Salvador Forty men sent to El Salvador by the Trump administration have shared disturbing accounts of abuse by a regime that America paid to imprison them.

Earlier this year, the United States deported 252 Venezuelans to El Salvador and paid its government to imprison them. Now two human-rights organizations have found that all of those men were physically abused, Conor Friedersdorf writes:

24.11.2025 14:01 — 👍 127    🔁 84    💬 5    📌 4

Yn a free society, universitye-level studye of the artes and humanityes sholde not be avaylable onlye to the wealthye and privileged.

20.11.2025 00:11 — 👍 556    🔁 118    💬 10    📌 1
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U.S. Coast Guard will no longer classify swastikas, nooses as hate symbols The military service, which falls under the Department of Homeland Security, has drafted a new policy that classifies such items “potentially divisive.”

“We don’t deserve the trust of the nation if we’re unclear about the divisiveness of swastikas,” the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity due to a fear of reprisal.

www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

20.11.2025 20:09 — 👍 1966    🔁 758    💬 111    📌 67

Cast your mind back a few presidents and remind yourself how INSANE this question is.

20.11.2025 20:57 — 👍 240    🔁 49    💬 10    📌 0
Ken Burns' The American Revolution Watch Party Watch the premiere of Ken Burns' The American Revolution on PBS with historians Liz Covart, Jason Herbert, and Michael Hattem.

Ken Burns’ new documentary about the American Revolution premieres on Sunday at 8pm Eastern, and @herberthistory.bsky.social, @michaelhattem.bsky.social, & I are hosting a watch party!

It’s free to join and you can chat with and ask us questions throughout the premiere.

10.11.2025 19:43 — 👍 98    🔁 33    💬 3    📌 1
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Episode 423: Zara Anishanslin, The Forgotten Artists of the American Revolution Zara Anishanslin joins us to uncover the hidden world of artists, artisans, and makers who painted, stitched, and crafted the Revolution into being.

Think all Rev War artists were elite white men?

Meet Prince Demah: Black, enslaved, trained in London, and a Patriot.

🎧 His story challenges the canon. Hear more on Ben Franklin’s World w/ @drzara.bsky.social

#ArtHistory #RevWar #Revolution250 #USHistory #History

05.11.2025 20:25 — 👍 2    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 1
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Revolutionary art wasn’t all Trumbull and Copley.
🎨 Some artists were enslaved. Some were women.
In Ep. 423, @drzara.bsky.social shares the story of Prince Demah—painter, patriot, and genius.
🎧 benfranklinsworld.com/423
#ArtHistory #AmericanRevolution

04.11.2025 17:36 — 👍 4    🔁 3    💬 0    📌 0
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Episode 423: Zara Anishanslin, The Forgotten Artists of the American Revolution Zara Anishanslin joins us to uncover the hidden world of artists, artisans, and makers who painted, stitched, and crafted the Revolution into being.

Museums show us the art that survives.

But what about the art—and artists—we’ve lost?

🎧 In Ep. 423, @drzara.bsky.social reveals the lives of forgotten creators like Prince Demah.
Listen: benfranklinsworld.com/423

💬 Which stories deserve to be remembered?

#AmericanRevolution #History

31.10.2025 20:34 — 👍 2    🔁 2    💬 0    📌 0
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Prince Demah: Enslaved in Massachusetts. Trained in London. Painted portraits. Fought for liberty. Left everything to his mother, Daphny. His life reads like fiction—but it’s true.

🎧 Hear his story: benfranklinsworld.com/423 w/ @drzara.bsky.social

#HiddenHistories #AmericanRevolution

01.11.2025 15:44 — 👍 3    🔁 2    💬 0    📌 0
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REV. BLACK (who was shot in the head with a pepper ball): “If this is what they’re doing to pastors, journalists, teachers, mothers, and the elderly gathered to sing and pray outside ICE facilities… what might they be doing to our neighbors who are behind those walls?”

31.10.2025 02:33 — 👍 32947    🔁 12034    💬 462    📌 416
Marc Lobliner post on X: "Why the hell are we giving food stamps to 40 million people?

Does anyone work anymore?"

Marc Lobliner post on X: "Why the hell are we giving food stamps to 40 million people? Does anyone work anymore?"

SNAP isn't about "people who don't work." It's about people who don't get paid enough to live.

Of the 40 or so million people who rely on food stamps:

* Two-thirds are children, seniors, or disabled

* Most working-age adults who receive SNAP are employed—but in jobs that pay poverty wages

27.10.2025 00:48 — 👍 20661    🔁 7548    💬 795    📌 451
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#ScholarSunday Thread 247 (10/26/25) – Black and White and Read All Over Here it is, my 247th #ScholarSunday thread of great public scholarly writing & work, podcast episodes, new & forthcoming books from the last week. Add more below, share as widely as possible, & enjoy,...

Here it is, my 247th #ScholarSunday thread of great public scholarly writing & work, podcast episodes, new & forthcoming books from the last week. Add more below, share as widely as possible, & enjoy, all! 🗃️

blackwhiteandread.com/scholarsunda...

26.10.2025 12:39 — 👍 46    🔁 25    💬 4    📌 12
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What will surprise you most about Prince Demah?

His London training? His enlistment with Paul Revere’s artillery unit? Or how he honored his mother Daphny in his will?

🎧 Ep. 423 of Ben Franklin’s World w/ @drzara.bsky.social

🔗 benfranklinsworld.com/423

#History #AmericanRevolution

25.10.2025 15:44 — 👍 1    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0

I have been indulging in this for years now and it is 💯 worth the expense

24.10.2025 20:02 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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Ben Franklin's World Ben Franklin's World is an award-winning podcast about early American history hosted by historian Liz Covart, Ph.D. It's for people who love and enjoy history and want to know more about the people, p...

Ben Franklin's World has a weekly newsletter, History Behind the Headlines. Each week, @lizcovart.bsky.social takes a historical lens to the origins of a topic in the news.

This week, learn more about the White House. Read the issue and subscribe: ben-franklins-world.kit.com/profile

24.10.2025 15:06 — 👍 5    🔁 2    💬 1    📌 0
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Revolutionary art wasn’t all Trumbull and Copley.
🎨 Some artists were enslaved. Some were women.
In Ep. 423, @drzara.bsky.social shares the story of Prince Demah—painter, patriot, and genius.
🎧 benfranklinsworld.com/423
#ArtHistory #AmericanRevolution

23.10.2025 00:21 — 👍 7    🔁 3    💬 0    📌 0
Post image

What will surprise you most about Prince Demah?

His London training? His enlistment with Paul Revere’s artillery unit? Or how he honored his mother Daphny in his will?

🎧 Ep. 423 of Ben Franklin’s World w/ @drzara.bsky.social

🔗 benfranklinsworld.com/423

#History #AmericanRevolution

21.10.2025 19:41 — 👍 5    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 1
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Episode 423: Zara Anishanslin, The Forgotten Artists of the American Revolution Zara Anishanslin joins us to uncover the hidden world of artists, artisans, and makers who painted, stitched, and crafted the Revolution into being.

Think all Rev War artists were elite white men?

Meet Prince Demah: Black, enslaved, trained in London, and a Patriot.

🎧 His story challenges the canon. Hear more on Ben Franklin’s World w/ @drzara.bsky.social

#ArtHistory #RevWar #Revolution250 #USHistory #History

22.10.2025 17:11 — 👍 5    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0
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Episode 423: Zara Anishanslin, The Forgotten Artists of the American Revolution Zara Anishanslin joins us to uncover the hidden world of artists, artisans, and makers who painted, stitched, and crafted the Revolution into being.

Museums show us the art that survives.

But what about the art—and artists—we’ve lost?

🎧 In Ep. 423, @drzara.bsky.social reveals the lives of forgotten creators like Prince Demah.
Listen: benfranklinsworld.com/423

💬 Which stories deserve to be remembered?

#AmericanRevolution #History

21.10.2025 13:43 — 👍 3    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0
Post image

Prince Demah: Enslaved in Massachusetts. Trained in London. Painted portraits. Fought for liberty. Left everything to his mother, Daphny. His life reads like fiction—but it’s true.

🎧 Hear his story: benfranklinsworld.com/423 w/ @drzara.bsky.social

#HiddenHistories #AmericanRevolution

21.10.2025 15:42 — 👍 2    🔁 2    💬 0    📌 0
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Municipal, state officials mobilize to welcome hundreds of storm evacuees to Anchorage | Alaska Beacon Alaska has requested a federal disaster declaration; in the meantime, the state is bearing the cost of aid, response and cleanup.

A big question now is: why isn't FEMA in western Alaska?

Because they have not been deployed.

Gov. Dunleavy has requested a federal disaster declaration, and Alaska is waiting to hear back.

In the meantime, it's all local, tribal and state led relief efforts.

alaskabeacon.com/2025/10/17/m...

18.10.2025 17:29 — 👍 162    🔁 88    💬 8    📌 10

ICYMI, I wrote this about why we need humanities majors now, more than ever, and how they succeed.

Maybe even pass it on to students whose One Relative at the Thanksgiving table condescendingly asks "what are you going to do with THAT degree?" Here are some talking points—and data!—to refute them.

16.10.2025 16:17 — 👍 125    🔁 57    💬 3    📌 1
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Speaker Johnson: "People’s faith in the government is at an all time low"

Republicans control all 3 branches of the government.

12.10.2025 18:00 — 👍 3905    🔁 1140    💬 296    📌 91
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One Year After Klamath Dam Removal, 'There's Just Fish Jumping All Over the Place': Scientists Describe Improvements to Water Quality and Wildlife

Hanging onto every bit of good news

The river has come alive in the Klamath with wild Chinook salmon. The wider ecosystem is healing.

This most powerful story of Indigenous-led #rewilding after the largest dam removal in US history keeps getting better.

lostcoastoutpost.com/2025/oct/9/o...

10.10.2025 02:32 — 👍 857    🔁 341    💬 11    📌 15

Again, Trump has crossed a Red Line no president has ever crossed: personally ordering the criminal prosecution of an American he doesn't like despite DOJ not finding evidence of any crime.

If Trump can do this to the powerful, he can do it to you. That's not freedom, and its not America.

09.10.2025 22:51 — 👍 889    🔁 229    💬 22    📌 5

This is the lesson of 2025

09.10.2025 00:50 — 👍 5951    🔁 1277    💬 45    📌 11

Today is a day when arts degrees are worthless, but the product of those degrees is so valuable it would kill an entire industry if they were made to pay for it.

08.10.2025 10:29 — 👍 27048    🔁 10280    💬 424    📌 184