Maggie Blackhawk

Colorado State Capitol Memorial - Sand Creek Massacre Foundation Descendants of the massacre are leading the effort to install a bronze memorial at the Colorado State Capitol honoring the victims & tribal resilience.

Please consider donating to the new Sand Creek monument for the Colorado statehouse, memorializing the massacre of over 200 Cheyennes and Arapahoes in 1864. The project is guided by descendants of the effected Indigenous communities.

www.sandcreekmassacrefoundation.org/memorial

Muscogee Nation court rules descendants of enslaved people are entitled to citizenship The Muscogee Nation Supreme Court has ruled in favor of two descendants of former slaves held by the tribe.

This is huge.
apnews.com/article/musc...

John Gast's "American Progress"--now on the official account of the Department of Homeland Security. Constitutionalism is more than text, especially in domains like expansion, dispossession, and borders (where there isn't much text)--it is also ideas about "nature," values, principles, and ideology.

Same. So very much, same.

Thanks very much, Rob, and I know I still owe you an email. Any chance you will make it to ASLH this year?

Many thanks!!

Deal Report Category: Non-fiction: History July 18, 2025 AMERICAN COLONIALISM By Maggie Blackhawk Imprint: Liveright Professor of law at New York University and codirector of the NYU-Yale American Indian Sovereignty Project Maggie Blackhawk's AMERICAN COLONIALISM: A NATIONAL BIOGRAPHY, unearthing a largely overlooked history of how the United States became the nation it is today, with all of its triumphs and tribulations; exploring the development of key institutions—such as the bureaucracy, the Supreme Court, the presidency, and the concept of citizenship—through the unexamined lens of territorial expansion, dispossession, and colonization; and seeking to bridge the gap between constitutional history and the history of the American West, to Maria Goldverg at Liveright, in a good deal, at auction, for publication in September 2027, by Christopher Rogers at Dunow, Carlson & Lerner (world).

Some news, as they say. (I am especially looking forward to working with Maria Goldverg during this final stretch, who seems like an absolute gem.)

Trump threatens Washington stadium deal unless NFL team readopts Redskins name U.S. President Donald Trump threatened on Sunday to interfere with a deal to build a new football stadium in Washington, D.C., unless the local NFL team, now known as the Commanders, changes its name back to Redskins.

As a scholar, I hold complicated views on the preservation of historical markers and archives. I tend to be far more speech protective than folks expect me to be.

But mascots are, well, mascots. Why put this word on your children's clothes or raise them to cheer it?
www.reuters.com/sports/trump...

The case of Native Americans lays bare Vance's theory of citizenship. He says real "Americans" have North American ancestry, even if their ancestors opposed the U.S. But his Administration also argues that "Indians" were rightly denied citizenship-and uses that to deny citizenship from others today.

A durant is a nineteenth century textile? Perhaps reach out to Laura Edwards?

Legal historian traces history of ‘marital privilege’ in American law | Penn Today Penn Carey Law’s Serena Mayeri’s new book highlights how legal battles against ‘marital supremacy’ advanced equality and the challenges that remain.

It's publication day for "Marital Privilege," by my phenomenal Penn Carey Law colleague @serenamayeri.bsky.social! If you are interested in marriage, non-marital intimate relationships, family law, inequality, 20th c. legal history, law & social movements -- this book is a must-read! #LegalHistory

What looks like an amazing book by a brilliant Indigenous scholar is on sale through the link below (and blurbed by the greats @hiokinai.bsky.social Hi'i Hobart and @brdemuth.bsky.social Bathsheba Demuth). Arctic governance and colonial administration are the most fascinating topics!

Ken Burns on how the American Revolution "turned the world upside down" Filmmaker Ken Burns says the American Revolution created a "new thing called a citizen."

Ken Burns releases a new documentary on the American Revolution this coming November. He recently sat down for an interview with John Dickerson from CBS News, and I was grateful for his recognition of my work.
www.cbsnews.com/news/ken-bur...

This is the United States that I celebrate. The country that my ancestors have shaped fundamentally and constitutionally over decades. We, too, are America./end

The U.S., despite its flaws, was founded on the principles of equal dignity for all and for self-government by consent. Our government, like all governments was founded by imperfect men. Over time, many, including my ancestors, have fought and died to force the US to live up to its principles./3

Consequences have flowed across history from degrading the humanity and dignity of others: violence, dispossession, colonialism, enslavement, and genocide. One thing I have learned from studying these histories is that violence begets violence--and it never leads to liberation./2

Ann Coulter commenting that "We (meaning the U.S., presumably) did not kill enough Indians."

I rarely comment on these things, but these are unusual times. 249 years ago the Declaration called Natives "Merciless Indian Savages.," and the Constitution excluded us from protection while enabling our dispossession. We remember this history not to cause harm, but to grasp the consequences./1

2025 Lecture - Maggie Blackhawk The University of Oklahoma

More information here: www.ou.edu/carlalbertce...

The lectures in Norman @ou.edu are free and open to the public. I very much hope to see old and new friends there.

2025 Rothbaum Distinguished Lecture in Representative Government Colonial Administration: Empire, Civilization, and the Making of Political Science Tuesday, October 14 | The Blueprint for American Empire: Indians, Civilization, and American Political Development Wednesday, October 15 | The Science of American Empire: Colonial Administration and the Science of Government Thursday, October 16 | The Erasure of American Empire: The Cold War and the “Boomerang” of Empire Lectures are 3:30 - 5:00 p.m. in the Mary Eddy and Fred Jones Auditorium of the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, 555 Elm Ave., Norman, Oklahoma. The lectures are free and open to the public. For more information or accommodations, contact the Carl Albert Center at (405) 325-6372 or carlalbertcenter@ou.edu.

Honored to present the Rothbaum Lectures in Representative Government this fall. Excited also to share new research on "colonial administration"--a field that formed a pillar of American political science, history, and sociology at their founding--and to explore the "boomerang" of empire today.

The Black Hills (Paha Sapa) are stolen, as held by the Supreme Court in 1980. The Court denied the Lakota redress of returning the lands, instead awarding the Nation about a billion dollars. The Lakota, understandably, have refused the funds. They want their relative to come home to their care.

Carving out (forgive me) reality from US history fundamentally harms us all. Borglum, who carved Mount Rushmore into the sacred Black Hills, wasn't "an accomplished sculptor." He had tried and failed to carve confederates into Stone Mountain, GA, (while in the KKK)/1
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

On Thursday, @maggieblackhawk.bsky.social will deliver the keynote, The Constitution of American Colonialism, followed by a welcome reception at The Spy Museum. The event sold out, but sign up now for the waitlist!

#SHAFR2025 is only three weeks away! We thought we’d highlight some of the programming co-chairs @drjsarkar.bsky.social and Aileen Teague dreamed up!

I very much look forward to reading!

A vital and persuasive historians’ brief on birthright citizenship by the great @marthasjones.bsky.social and @katemasur.bsky.social My only quibble is that Congress was not indifferent to the Absalom Jones petition—it regulated the international slave trade (as petitioners requested) months later.

Native American plaintiffs have asked the entire 8th Circuit to review & overturn a 3-judge panel decision holding that the Voting Rights Act does not provide a private right of action for voters (i.e., only the federal government can enforce to VRA).

drive.google.com/file/d/1A8Pg...

Second, we are all harmed by a constitutional order that sees only rights violations and not the distribution of power among peoples as a constitutional problem. Governing others through force and taking lands unlawfully is a constitutional problem that demands distinctive constitutional redress.

This outcome is doubly tragic: first, the Western Apache will experience fundamental devastation that escapes words. I wish this case had been framed differently and, ultimately, that the Court were more open to bringing Native lands under the auspices of Native governments.

Full dissent available here: www.supremecourt.gov/orders/court...

Justice Gorsuch writes a passionate dissent that glosses over these differences, but is notably joined by Justice Thomas (a fair indicator that the rights and religious freedom frame is more appealing than empowering Native nations to govern). The coalition was large, but notably not Native-led.