Maggie Blackhawk

Thanks so very much for the kind words! It means quite a bit.

Cover of Allison Powers’ magnificent book, Arbitrating Empire

New book alert, absolute must-read for anyone interested in the history of US empire and international law:
Allison Powers, Arbitrating Empire: United States Expansion and the Transformation of International Law

global.oup.com/academic/pro...

This evening at 5 pm—live cast on Zoom and @nyu.edu—the revolution that never ended, with Ken Burns.

At #ASLH where @tannerallread.bsky.social Tanner Allread accepts the Kathryn T. Preyer Award!

Blum of Students For Fair Admissions (SFFA) is targeting the Kamehameha Schools-privately run schools founded by descendants of King Kamehameha in 1887 (before the overthrow and annexation of the Kingdom by the U.S.) Refusing all federal funds, the schools aim to preserve Native Hawai'ian culture./1

Again, your mostly non-profit mostly uni press humanities publishers are not the thing making a wreckage of scholarly publishing. Paying for their work is a good thing, and we should keep doing that.

Our constitutional culture (and our courts) will need recognize efforts by governments overthrown by the United States to resist that illegal annexation. The schools aim to preserve their nation by teaching the language and culture to their citizens. Resistance to colonialism is not discrimination.

This School Has Taught Native Hawaiians Since 1887. Is That Discrimination?

The argument is that, because the school uses contracts (again, private school and does not receive federal funds) the U.S. may enforce its own vision of how best to preserve Native Hawai'ian language and culture (after overthrowing their government): www.nytimes.com/2025/10/21/u...

The lawsuit is "creative" in that the plaintiffs represented by SFFA haven't been denied admission to the school--they haven't even applied because of the "humiliation" of applying. The actual claim is brought as a violation not of 1983 or Title VI, but 1981/2 mma.prnewswire.com/media/280100...

Blum of Students For Fair Admissions (SFFA) is targeting the Kamehameha Schools-privately run schools founded by descendants of King Kamehameha in 1887 (before the overthrow and annexation of the Kingdom by the U.S.) Refusing all federal funds, the schools aim to preserve Native Hawai'ian culture./1

Just a reminder that "en banc" review in the Ninth Circuit is ... unique.

The full court (29 active judges, currently with a 16-13 D-R split) votes on whether or not to rehear a case en banc.

If so, then *10* judges are randomly drawn to sit with Chief Judge Murguia as the "en banc" court.

Judge Graber is a brilliant and thoughtful jurist. As the first woman to serve on the Oregon Supreme Court, she holds deeply informed views on federalism. I'm also wildly biased, but she is the most beautiful writer (a skill she often restrains because she believes strongly in judicial moderation).

Guest Speaker: Rebecca Nagle As part of Celebrate Indigenous History, The Henry Ford will welcome guest speaker Rebecca Nagle to present "We're Still Here: Fighting Indigenous Erasure in the Media" on November 8. This event is…

I’ll be speaking at The Henry Ford Theater on November 8 to present "We're Still Here: Fighting Indigenous Erasure in the Media.” Register and get tickets:

What an honor and absolute pleasure it was to spend the week at the Carl Albert Congressional Research and Study Center and with the Rothbaum/Jankowsky Family! It was also a delight to present new material from the book project on colonial administration.

We hope everyone enjoyed our 22nd Rothbaum Lecture Series in Representative Government. Our speaker this year was Professor @maggieblackhawk.bsky.social from NYU Law. Her talk was titled "Colonial Administration: Empire, Civilization, and the Making of Political Science"

'Hannah Arendt: Facing Tyranny' wins the @historians.org
John E. O’Connor Film Award for outstanding interpretations of history through film.

It was an honour to work and appear on this beautifully edited, timely, documentary.

www.pbs.org/wnet/america...

Looking forward to the half-dozen or so lectures and talks that @maggieblackhawk.bsky.social will be delivering here at OU this week! An embarrassment of riches for us Sooners!

You are very generous! I hope to get to say hello!

Happy Indigenous Peoples Day!

Cover of The Rediscovery of America for Young People, by Ned Blackhawk, adapted by Rebecca Stefoff, with a multicolored illustration of Indigenous Americans against a parchment-colored background.

Adapting Ned Blackhawk's National Book Award winner for young readers has been both an honor and a pleasure. I learned a lot while writing the adaptation, and I am looking forward to sharing this book with the world in Fall 2026.

How Native Nations Shaped the Revolution The Founders were inspired—and threatened—by the independence and self-governance of nations like the Iroquois Confederacy.

New essay in the Atlantic today: How Native Nations Shaped the Revolution by Ned Blackhawk (with many lessons on how we ended up where we are as a nation, and a gift link) www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...

Fascinating and uncomfortable article. Well worth reading.

This is true of most commonly used history textbooks, including the unironically titled: "Give Me Liberty!" wwnorton.com/books/978132...

"The Declaration of Independence opened the world to democratic possibility, sparking a wave of revolutions, yet it also marked the narrowing of political possibilities within the nascent United States."

"The colonists sought not just territory, but unchallenged dominion. To achieve this, they needed to erase the legitimacy of Native governance and justify dispossession. It was precisely because Natives mirrored the colonists’ own ideals (autonomy, law, liberty) that they had to be cast as savages."

How Native Nations Shaped the Revolution The Founders were inspired—and threatened—by the independence and self-governance of nations like the Iroquois Confederacy.

New essay in the Atlantic today: How Native Nations Shaped the Revolution by Ned Blackhawk (with many lessons on how we ended up where we are as a nation, and a gift link) www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...

Concur in full. I had the opportunity to do a similar program with Maggie and Ned, and it was an incredible experience. I'd recommend it especially to people who are looking for ways to better incorporate Native peoples and histories into their teaching and research.

Opinion | How to Save the American Experiment

Political violence, post-pandemic one-party rule, vast economic inequality, and immigration backlash? The 2020s are the 1920s all over again--and that may show us a way out. Adapted from my book, to be published next week. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/06/o...

Anyone would be very lucky to have Nathaniel Donahue in their workshops! His project on corvee labor and U.S. state building is fascinating, and worth a read even in these trying times.

Thanks so much, Mary! Deadline 10/10 to apply for the free seminar for junior faculty and grad students on Native peoples and the Constitution.