Matt Robertshaw

"Colour prejudice—the most ferocious and inept of all—is an error that the past generation was fed as mother's milk... The new generation... is getting rid of it little by little and without effort. And one can hope that by the end of this century, racial prejudice will be a thing of the past."

Black Republic of Letters: Negrophobia Benito Sylvain tackles racism in the press

A Haitian in Paris in 1890, Benito Sylvain, tackles racism in the press.

#HaitianSky #History #Paris #YesterdaysNews

"Vegetarians, as their name implies, eat nothing but vegetables. They claim that, on the day when the entire universe stops eating meat, perfect happiness will reign on the earth—so much will manners be softened by the unique consumption of easily digestible foods!"

Highlights:
• Editorial regarding Vodou in Haiti 🇭🇹
• War and peace in Dahomey 🇧🇯
• Thoughts on vegetarians 🥗
• Dumas fils plays a prank 🎭
• Electric lighting 💡
• More thoughts on the anti-slavery congress ⛓️
• A pianist with a broken leg 🦵
• US tariff fears 💰
• US imperialism in Haiti 🇺🇸

Black Republic of Letters: Year 1, Issue 7 – 7 October 1890

The 7th issue of La Fraternité (🇭🇹🗞️🇫🇷) is now available. Peruse the news from 7 October 1890.

See highlights below.

#HaitianSky #FrenchHistory #Paris1890 #YesterdaysNews

This is shattering. The Oloffson wasn't just a hotel. Not even just a landmark or historic site. It was a spiritual home for thousands of people over the years, Haitian and foreigner, including me.

Your Brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of Cognitive Debt when Using an AI Assistant for Essay Writing Task This study explores the neural and behavioral consequences of LLM-assisted essay writing. Participants were divided into three groups: LLM, Search Engine, and Brain-only (no tools). Each completed thr...

Wow. It really does make you more stupid. arxiv.org/abs/2506.08872

I have two words for you (since 2008).

🗃️ 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.

#NoKings!*

*in the US; we don't mind having a constitutional monarch here.

You know people or follow them online for years and then suddenly one day it's all they want to talk about.

*white people.

It makes a few people really rich.

The whole thing relies on the unfaltering confidence of its adherents.

Is crypto a cult? It seems a bit culty.

I couldn't find a list of countries that were members of the League of Nations Council so I spent three hours in the LON digital archive and made this.

(I used the modern flags because they exist as emojis)

#leagueofnations #multilateralism #unitednations

Maybe it should have air quotes around "permanent" members.

I couldn't find a list of countries that were members of the League of Nations Council so I spent three hours in the LON digital archive and made this.

(I used the modern flags because they exist as emojis)

#leagueofnations #multilateralism #unitednations

I am so deeply uninterested in AI. Just think of all the 🤩 stories that aren't being covered by journalists, the worthy projects that aren't being funded, the institutional challenges that aren't being addressed by uni administrators — bc their 👀 are all focused on this dumb product nobody asked for

"Is he strong? Listen bud,
He's got radioactive blood."

(So, no.)

Accusing South Africa of a white genocide while simultaneously taking HIV testing, treatment and prevention programs away from millions of people in Africa is peak Trump.

Thank you, Alyssa! Yeah my defence was on 20 Jan so it got a bit buried in the news cycle…! Thanks for reading, and for your ongoing support for me and so many others. 🇭🇹❤️

She's the daughter of Haiti's former PM, Smarck Michel.

Canada's new Minister of Health, Marjorie Michel, is #Haitian -Canadian.

Why are politicians and real-estate agents the only people who plaster their faces all over town?

Wikipedia > ChatGPT

Folks! My dissertation is now available via my university's database. yorkspace.library.yorku.ca/items/f7f47b...

This is actually the logo of the special forces of the Russian military intelligence agency.

Wouldn't be surprised if David from Survivor gets a cabinet post after that performance.

Five of the top ten biggest refugee crises in history are currently still active (Ukraine, Venezuela, Syria, Yemen, Sudan).