Ashleigh Lawrence-Sanders

YouTube video by Zohran Mamdani for NYC My Message to Muslim New Yorkers — and Everyone Who Calls This City Home.

The dream of every Muslim is simply to be treated the same as any other New Yorker.

And yet, for too long, we have been told to ask for less than that, and endure hatred and bigotry in the shadows.

No more.

When there is no real “Willie Horton” to use so you just have AI create your own updated version of that racist ad….

A picture of Quintard Taylor.

Just got word from WHA that the great historian Quintard Taylor has passed away. His book, In Search of the Racial Frontier: African Americans in the American West was such a huge inspiration in my own work on the region. Also first Black president of WHA. A legend who will be missed.

The assumption that generative AI could be a "valuable partner" is unevidenced and the example activity is critical thinking work that could better be done in the absence of AI. It's thinking of something you COULD do with AI. Rather than what students SHOULD do to learn.

🗃️ Submission to “Student AI use is inevitable so let’s lean into it” BY HISTORIANS is confounding. Thought we all knew about contingency: nothing is inevitable, the past, present, or future. AI is not a foregone conclusion. As present day historical actors, we can make choices, incl not using AI.

🗃️ Some really great research by @chasewoodruff.bsky.social, especially in consulting with @romeoguzman.bsky.social to contextualize Evans’ narrative.

10/10 no notes, only to say most salient point is that legality is not fixed, rather, it reflects politics & social values of historical moment.

🗃️None of this is surprising, but of course when my congressman Gabe Evans learned the truth he just ignored it rather than address his own hypocrisy. Also a lot for historians to chew on about leveraging of identity and the “right” immigration history/narrative.

A lot of Cuomo’s embarassing missteps here make more sense when you realize he’s never had to actually run in a competitive campaign ever. The party establishment lined up behind him to push him as nominee for AG in 2006. In 2010 he ran in a ridiculous unopposed Democratic primary for Governor.

🗃️This is a very good critical thread about AFT’s embrace of AI and Weingarten’s empty defense. These critiques also apply to higher ed as well!

Screenshot of Slate article. SOUNDS BEAUTIFUL, PERHAPS EVEN ALLURING HISTORY Government Recognition of Juneteenth Is Not Enough. What, to the Black American, is your federal holiday? BY NNEKA D. DENNIE JUNE 17, 2021 • 3:29 PM Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) holds a bill enrollment signing ceremony for the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act as members of the Congressional Black Caucus hold the bill on June 17, 2021 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. Joshua Roberts/Getty Images

"What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July?" This is the question that formerly enslaved abolitionist Frederick Douglass posed in a July 1852 speech that would later become one of his most famous works. Douglass's remarks described how Independence Day, to the enslaved, was not a celebration of liberty from tyranny, but a stark reminder of their continued bondage. He explained that for the enslaved American, the 4th of July is "a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciation of tyrants, brass fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery."

Given the ways that Dr. King's lifework and MLK Day have been distorted, it seems valid to fear that making Juneteenth a federal holiday has the potential to diminish its significance, instead of generating further inquiry into the history of American slavery and emancipation. The context of the passage of this legislation gives advocates for honest discussion of Black history little reason to hope. The vote to make Juneteenth a federal holiday occurred alongside state-level attempts to ban discussions of so-called "critical race theory" in classrooms. At last count, 21 states have introduced bills to ban critical race theory and related topics from being taught in K-12 schools and college classrooms. Meanwhile, as Republican state legislatures pursue voter suppression laws, the 2021 For the People Act-an attempt to protect voting rights for all citizens by establishing automatic voter registration for federal elections, banning partisan gerrymandering, and more-faces an uncertain road to passage in the Senate.

Passing a bill that would make Juneteenth a federal holiday, in this historical context, is, as Douglass stated of 4th of July celebrations almost 170 years ago, "mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy— a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages." Voting in favor of this bill allows politicians to deny allegations of racism, even as they actively oppose measures that seek to redress racial harm, such as reparations, police abolition, and more. We cannot accept empty symbolism in exchange for our rights. Any attempt to commemorate the end of slavery must be accompanied by tangible changes that seek to undo its effects.

Some words (by me) for Juneteenth that are 4 years old but still ring true. Check out the full article at slate.com/news-and-pol...

🗃️ I read the article and agree with @kawulf.bsky.social. I would add a few points in support:

This article is premised on a basic misunderstanding of the historical research process. It’s important to note that, as far as I can tell, the author of the article is not a professional historian, i.e.

Delano strike march with several flags: US, Mexican, UFW, la Virgen.

Historian to historian:

1) Clarification: Is the “foreign flag” in OP in reference to the Mexican flag?

2) Image you posted of UFW march doesn’t capture well that there’s also a Mexican flag in front of UFW flag (which includes Aztec eagle). Below is image that shows this.

3) Lastly,

🗃️Perhaps a reminder is needed that historians write about events (like protest) after the fact, and perhaps we should leave advising to those who have more experience and buy-in while events are on-going.

Just having Another normal one here in CO 🙃

I am glad to be able to be in conversation about the book and lessons for today at Busboys and Poets later this month. The book discusses many individuals and communities who chose remembrance as their politics in a landscape defined by lies, myths, and intentional forgetting. Come out if you can!

RU Always ♥️🖤

All are welcome at the Rutgers History Department's 47th annual Warren Susman Graduate Conference. Note that Dr. Ashleigh Lawrence-Sanders (RU PhD) will deliver the keynote address. #Rutgers

you know the drill:

go.bsky.app/2Fq4P6e

My book Freedom Enterprise can be pre-ordered for 40% off using the code PENN-BHM2025 during the month of February. www.pennpress.org/978151282742...

The book tells the story of southern migrants who built a thriving Black-owned business community in Detroit during the Great Migration.

Feb. 23, 1868: W. E. B. Du Bois Born W. E. B. Du Bois, sociologist, historian, Pan-Africanist, author, and editor, was one of the most important scholars of the 20th century.

Born #tdih 1868: William Edward Burghardt (W. E. B.) Du Bois, one of most important scholars of 20th century.

Sociologist, historian, Pan-Africanist, author, editor; co-founder of NAACP, leader of Niagara Movement, & editor of NAACP’s The Crisis Magazine. 🧵
www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/we...

This!

ASALH - The Founders of Black History Month | About Black History Month Learn about Black history by exploring your local community, reading books by Black authors, and visiting Black or African-American history museums.Explore a

#They can’t take away what they didn’t give.

asalh.org/about-us/abo...

Not sure I even want to ask who did this 🙄🙄🙄

I’m an NSF panel reviewer that was scheduled to meet today. Just got notice that all NSF panels were canceled today. I reviewed some innovative proposals in support of students. Devastating if these scholars don’t get to do this work. For the love of science & students I hope this is just a delay.💔

Trying to draw the line, if one exists between this and the joint DEA/ICE operation that just happened north of Denver here. It's been touted by a lot of right-wing news sites as targeting a Venezuelan gang, but local news is now reporting that there may not be any drug or weapon charges at all!

Business Meeting Resolution Update - AHA Update as of January 17, 2025: The AHA Council deplores any intentional destruction of Palestinian educational institutions, libraries, universities, and archives in Gaza. The Council considers the “R...

Stunning cowardice by the AHA Council. For shame. "The Council considers the Resolution to Oppose Scholasticide in Gaza ... to contravene the Association’s Constitution and Bylaws because it lies outside the scope of the Association’s mission and purpose." 🗃️
www.historians.org/news/busines...

They were very supportive yes as were other audience members. I am fine. I answered him very directly but yes I’m still angry and annoyed that racist trolls are allowed to show up and disrupt. I actually almost laughed because the comment was so ridiculous.

Thinking still this morning of the SCV member who decided to attend our AHA panel and specifically question me (the only Black member of the panel): “if you believe in desegregation so much, why do these Black colleges exist??” (A paraphrase, but it was that cartoonishly racist, yes) 🗃️

A week later, however, I am still very annoyed and angry by his presence there altogether. I believe in open questioning and academic freedom, but there are settled questions like: “was Jim Crow segregation a bad thing” that I don’t think have a place in a conference setting.