Kate Masur

Oct. 17, 1837: Petition to Repeal Black Codes in Ohio The first general convention of African American Ohioans met in Columbus and pledged to continue raising their voices in order to repeal the Black Codes.

#tdih 1837

Colored Convention @ccp-org.bsky.social attendees wrote a petition to state of Ohio to revoke its racist laws.

They printed it in a newspaper so it could be cut out and pasted onto larger pages that people could sign.

#PeoplesHistory #Organizing

Read ⬇️by @katemasur.bsky.social

Opinion | The Constitution Doesn’t Belong to Trump or the Supreme Court

"The combination of Mr. Trump’s authoritarian moves and the Supreme Court’s authorization of them has produced, for many, a deepening despair. But here is the essential fact: The Constitution’s meaning is not the Supreme Court’s alone to define. It belongs to 'we the people.' "

And for a (fantastic) read on the "lessons of history" and the constitutional threat of Trump's executive order on birthright citizenship, see this amicus brief from @marthasjones.bsky.social and @katemasur.bsky.social:
www.brennancenter.org/media/13981/...

BREAKING! 1st Cir. blocks Trump's attempt to end birthright citizenship. Strong, clear close:

Announcing the Winner of the 2024 George and Ann Richards Prize - George and Ann Richards Civil War Era Center Guy Emerson Mount has won the $1,000 George and Ann Richards Prize for the best article published in The Journal of the Civil War Era in 2024. The article, “Shall I Go? Black Colonization in the Pacif...

Congratulations to Guy Emerson Mount, winner of the George and Ann Richards Prize for the best article published in @jcwe.bsky.social in 2024!

Learn more: richardscenter.la.psu.edu/news/announc...

Congratulations to Dr. Mount!

Introducing “The Refounding” from the 14th Amendment Center for Law and Democracy Far too many Americans still do not know about the promise and potential power of the 14th Amendment, or its role in transforming America

We’re proud to launch The Refounding, the 14th Amendment Center’s new newsletter! Stay connected with legal updates, scholarship & events that illuminate the past, present & future of the 14th Amendment. Read the first installment written by our founder @sifill.bsky.social medium.com/@TheRefoundi...

Have you registered for the free webinar on birthright citizenship yet? It’s time to learn what’s at stake. We cannot protect it if we don’t understand it.
howard.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Have you registered for the free webinar on birthright citizenship yet? It’s time to learn what’s at stake. We cannot protect it if we don’t understand it.
howard.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

In today's Muster, JCWE Book Review Editor Megan Bever has a conversation with Shae Smith Cox about her book, The Fabric of the Civil War Society www.journalofthecivilwarera.org/2025/08/conv...

Muster is looking for new contributors! We want to include a wide range of voices from many different of perspectives. Please share the following call widely. www.journalofthecivilwarera.org/2025/08/call...

It's not just Pirro's office. The federal government has been bleeding qualified career attorneys throughout the DOJ and elsewhere. They are simply not equipped to handle it if everyone who is targeted by their illegal power grabs were to push back and take them to court.

Collaborating with the Park Service – AHA When the National Park Service moved to incorporate Reconstruction into its historical interpretation, it was with the help of academic historians.

In our continuing #AHAPerspectives series on the historical work of NPS, @katemasur.bsky.social and Greg Downs write about their work advocating for NPS to include Reconstruction in its interpretation.

Collaborating with the Park Service – AHA When the National Park Service moved to incorporate Reconstruction into its historical interpretation, it was with the help of academic historians.

Historians @katemasur.bsky.social and Greg Downs write about their collaboration with the National Park Service to help establish Reconstruction Era National Historical Park. All of this good work is now under threat from the Trump administration. #NationalParks
www.historians.org/perspectives...

Between this and the news that Vought has stopped the NIH from issuing any more grants this year — (illegally) refusing to spend money that Congress has allocated — we're getting a glimpse of what could be a really ugly future for higher ed and science / technology in the US. And it's coming fast.

Birthright Citizenship Under the U.S. Constitution The 14th Amendment has long been understood to grant American citizenship to anyone born on U.S. soil.

Everything you need to know about birthright citizenship as advocates continue to fight (successfully) against the administration's attempts to undermine it, courtesy of my @brennancenter.org team:

www.brennancenter.org/our-work/res...

@sam-breidbart.bsky.social

Having shaken down Columbia, Trump reportedly now wants to "settle" w Northwestern & other schools. I beg anyone w power at these schools (& I've reached out to a handful of ppl at NWern directly) to read this critical analysis by Columbia law prof. David Pozen:
balkin.blogspot.com/2025/07/regu...

Faculty Support of George Mason’s President Draws Federal Investigation

This is actually a significant & frightening step in the fascist flex.

If you support someone targeted by Trump the DOJ will turn its investigatory muscle against you.

Faculty Support of George Mason’s President Draws Federal Investigation www.nytimes.com/2025/07/28/u...

Congratulations to my student Henry Dickmeyer for this H-net/H-fedhist review of @katemasur.bsky.social and Greg Downs recent article in the Journal of American Constitutional History!

networks.h-net.org/group/discus...

The Militia Act of 1903 in Historical Context - The Journal of the Civil War Era Recent events have turned public attention to the previously obscure Militia Act of 1903 and the even more obscure historians and political scientists interested in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century ...

Starting a project on historical understandings of invasion, rebellion, and executing the laws. Short version. No president during the 18th or 19th century would have federalized state militia to deal with sporadic violence during a political protest.
www.journalofthecivilwarera.org/2025/07/the-...

Andrew Donnelly, Confederate Sympathies, and the History of Same-Sex Romance during the Civil War Era - The Journal of the Civil War Era In today’s Muster, associate editor Robert Bland is joined by Andrew Donnelly to discuss his new book Confederate Sympathies: Same-Sex Romance, Disunion, and Reunion in the Civil War Era. Professor Do...

In today's Muster, Andrew Donnelly discusses his new book, Confederate Sympathies: Same-Sex Romance, Disunion, and Reunion in the Civil War Era www.journalofthecivilwarera.org/2025/06/andr...

Conversation with June 2025 Special Issue Editors Joan E. Cashin and Alaina E. Roberts - The Journal of the Civil War Era In today’s Muster, Associate Editor Robert Bland discusses the JCWE’s June special issue on material culture with guest editors Joan E. Cashin and Alaina E. Roberts. Dr. Cashin is a professor of histo...

In today's Muster, Joan Cashin and Alaina Roberts discuss their special issue of the JCWE on Material Culture during the Civil War era www.journalofthecivilwarera.org/2025/07/conv...

The Militia Act of 1903 in Historical Context - The Journal of the Civil War Era Recent events have turned public attention to the previously obscure Militia Act of 1903 and the even more obscure historians and political scientists interested in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century ...

In today's Muster, Law Professor Mark Graber discusses the historical context for the Militia Act of 1903 www.journalofthecivilwarera.org/2025/07/the-...

A Fire Bell in the Past Many new states entered the United States around 200 years ago, but only Missouri almost killed the nation it was trying to join. When the House of Represent...

40% off these wonderful volumes to round out your summer history reading list.

"A Firebell in the Past: The MIssouri Crisis at 200,"
Vols. I and II.

Use code SUMMER40
@umissouripress.bsky.social

upress.missouri.edu/978082622249...
upress.missouri.edu/978082622231...

A Fire Bell in the Past Many new states entered the United States around 200 years ago, but only Missouri almost killed the nation it was trying to join. When the House of Represent...

Chapters by
@bobbylee.bsky.social
@dwaldstreicher.bsky.social
@katemasur.bsky.social
@nic-wood.bsky.social
@zachdowdle.bsky.social
‪and others

black text on white background reads: INTERESTS OF AMICI CURIAE Amici curiae listed in the Appendix are historians and professors of legal history who specialize in race, politics, culture, and law in the nineteenth-century United States. They have extensively researched and written about the Civil War, the end of slavery, and Reconstruction. Amici submit this brief to provide the Court with an accurate account of the historical context surrounding the passage and early implementation of the Fourteenth Amendment. That account disproves Petitioner’s claim that Grutter v. Bollinger, 539 U.S. 306 (2003), is at odds with the Fourteenth Amendment’s “original meaning.” Pet. Br. 50. To the contrary, the Reconstruction Framers recognized that there exists an important distinction between, on the one hand, racial designations that denigrate and harm, and, on the other hand, raceconscious laws that ameliorate discrimination and advance equality of opportunity. The Framers wrote, and the ratifying public understood, the Fourteenth

"A faithful account of 14th Amendment’s history demonstrates that the Reconstruction Congress supported race-conscious programs . . ." -- brief by
@rachelshelden.bsky.social, @hngreen.bsky.social, @stephenwest.bsky.social, @katemasur.bsky.social, & more.

Read www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/20...

Historians’ Amicus Brief in New Hampshire Indonesian Community Support et al. v. Trump Two U.S. historians and professors of legal history represented by Kendall Brill & Kelly LLP have filed a brief challenging an executive order undermining birthright citizenship.

For more on why Trump’s executive order is unconstitutional, check out this brief (filed in the First Circuit) by historians @katemasur.bsky.social and @marthasjones.bsky.social on the broad guarantee of birthright citizenship under the 14th Amendment. www.brennancenter.org/our-work/res...

Glad to see Ezekiel Kweku going deep on birthright at the @nytimes.com. Still, a correction. Emancipation did not bring on the need for a 14th A. Instead, the refusal of lawmakers for decades before to credit FREE Black Americans as citizens demanded that birthright be constitutionalized.

Read @marthasjones.bsky.social and @katemasur.bsky.social's brief, making exactly this point:

www.brennancenter.org/our-work/res...

History Teaches . . . A Birthright Won in Struggle Historians on How the Right Was Won-and How Wrong was SCOTUS

Historians at work - birthright citizenship - it’s history ! And traditions!! And scotus’ decision on process not merits exacts its own violence to civil rts (h/t Dr. Martha Jones @katemasur.bsky.social )
open.substack.com/pub/feliciak...