Mollie Barnes

A staircase in a small, decorative arts museum tells a harrowing story of terror, abuse and enslavement The staircase was originally acquired due to its craftsmanship. Only later did scholars realize that it was where Harriet Jacobs suffered abuse at the hands of her enslaver.

Here's our love letter to museums, archives, and libraries for their steadfast missions to preserve these artifacts and narratives during turbulent times.
theconversation.com/a-staircase-...

A staircase in a small, decorative arts museum tells a harrowing story of terror, abuse and enslavement The staircase was originally acquired due to its craftsmanship. Only later did scholars realize that it was where Harriet Jacobs suffered abuse at the hands of her enslaver.

In July, Susanna Ashton and I traveled to Salem, NC.

There, we stumbled across a staircase: a crime scene where one of the most powerful heroes in our national story, #harrietjacobs, fought for her life.

doi.org/10.64628/AAI...

thank you for reposting this!

A staircase in a small, decorative arts museum tells a harrowing story of terror, abuse and enslavement The staircase was originally acquired due to its craftsmanship. Only later did scholars realize that it was where Harriet Jacobs suffered abuse at the hands of her enslaver.

I recommend reading this
A staircase in a small, decorative arts museum tells a harrowing story of terror, abuse and enslavement
@us.theconversation.com
Susanna Ashton
@molliebarnes.bsky.social

theconversation.com/a-staircase-...

U.S. Enters War With Iran, Striking Fordo Nuclear Site: Live Updates President Trump announced the United States had struck Fordo, Iran’s heavily fortified nuclear facilities, as well as two other sites.

Breaking News: President Trump said that the U.S. had bombed Fordo, Iran’s heavily fortified nuclear facility, as well as two other sites.

THANK YOU SO MUCH! this looks gorgeous. cannot wait to read with care this afternoon!

Oh, I'd love to read your bibliographic essay! (and cite you!) I'm most interested in the 1866 edition because of Cheney's relief work in those years! I'm eager to learn any thing I can. My university library had reached out to the LOC, and they sent me to your page. Seeing the image is a gift!

I am so happy to see this gorgeous post! My librarian found it for me via the Library of Congress! I am starting a biography of Ednah Dow Cheney, and I haven't been able to find this book! Thank you for your work--and for making it public!

Paper Heroines The lyrical and political power of nineteenth-century women reformers' life-writingPaper Heroines studies the ways women represented their own and one another's lives in their personal…

my book, PAPER HEROINES, is live! launches 02.05.2026!
uscpress.com/Paper-Heroines

After President Trump's inauguration last month, he has steadily signed a slate of executive orders to keep these education promises: combatting critical race theory, DEl, gender ideology extremism, and discrimination in admissions. President Trump has also been focused on eliminating wasteful bureaucracy and harmful programs in the federal government. To that end, today he signed [Executive Order XYZ, entitled "Eliminating the Department of Education,] which has given us a clear and final mission. We are to identify which of the Department's functions, programs, and offices are not mandated by statute, and eliminate them. This reorganization will impact staff, budgets, reporting, and more —and in coming months, we will determine how it can be accomplished with minimal delay and disruption. The President further tasked us with creating a plan to reallocate and reassign functions of the Department of Education that would be more effectively managed by other agencies. This plan will offer Congress a road map toward fulfilling the expectations of the President and the American people. The new vision—which I hope each of you will embrace going forward—can be expressed as four main convictions: Parents are the primary decision makers in their children's education. Students deserve to be protected from physical violence, racial discrimination, medical tyranny, and gender extremism ideology on campus. Postsecondary education should be a path to a well-paying career aligned with workforce needs. Taxpayer-funded education should refocus on meaningful learning: proficiency in math, reading, and core subjects, and patriotism in American history and civics. As we move to reduce the Department's middleman role in education, these four convictions must guide us toward conscientious and pragmatic action. The elimination of bureaucracy should free us, not limit us, in our pursuit of these goals Removing red tape and bureaucratic barriers will empower parents to make th

SCOOP: Now that Linda McMahon is confirmed/sworn in as secretary, Trump will be imminently issuing an executive order eliminating the Department of Education.

I’ve obtained a draft of an email that McMahon will be sending to staff re: the EO and the department’s “final mission”.

Here is a portion:

I'm so thrilled to share this CFP for the upcoming MLA conference in Toronto! Have a project about 19C American women writers and science? Share it with us! margaretfullersociety.org/call-for-pap...

Margaret Fuller’s “Entertainments of the Past Winter,” published in the July 1842 issue of the Dial, relays, “Wherever we went, there was Lyell’s Geology on the table, and many of the suggestions made by these lectures lingered in conversation throughout the winter.” She is referencing Charles Lyell’s Principles of Geology, which made the then relatively new concept of deep time palatable to a wide audience. Lyell aided Fuller’s understanding of how past and present are connected, and helped her to see the long and ongoing processes of nature. We often consider Fuller an early feminist, editor, educator, translator, music critic, and pioneering war correspondent, but we rarely frame her as a woman writer reading and responding to emerging sciences. Yet we know she was among many American women writers studying and responding to natural science. Susan Fenimore Cooper, Emily Dickinson, Fanny Fern, Almira Phelps, Lydia Huntley Sigourney, and Mary Treat are a few examples. MFS invites papers that engage American women writers and science, including but not limited to these topics: • Texts by practicing or aspiring women scientists and science teachers • Responses to new information in emerging natural sciences or medicine • Women’s relationship to nature, health, and medicine • Pediatrics and women observing children’s health and wellness • Growing awareness of climate and human impact • Early environmentalism and conservation efforts • Gardening, foraging, and agriculture • Outdoor fiction and nonfiction • Indigenous and multicultural knowledge(s) • Social ecologies, healthful communities and collaborations • Correspondence and building scientific circles and thinking While we welcome submissions that engage Fuller’s work, submissions need not be limited to work on Fuller. Early career scholars and graduate students are especially welcome to submit. Please send a title and 300-word abstract to Christina Katopodis (katopodis.christina@gmail.com) by March 20, 2025.

Join MFS in Toronto for MLA 2026: “Margaret Fuller and 19C American Women Writers Observing Nature, Engaging Science” @katopodis.bsky.social

Congratulations!

Congressperson John Lewis, whose ‘good trouble’ they love to quote so much, was arrested 45 times in his life. The last was in 2013 protesting for immigrants, during the Obama presidency.

she is dreadful.

The book cover to "The Sisterhood: How a Network of Black Women Writers Changed American Culture" by Courtney Thorsson. The photograph on the cover features several women standing and sitting, including authors Toni Morrison and Alice Walker.

Happy World Read Aloud Day!  

Writing can be a solitary process, but a writers' group valuing idea exchanges and viewpoints helped Toni Morrison and Alice Walker.

Read #NEHgov funded book “The Sisterhood: How a Network of Black Women Writers Changed American Culture”:   ow.ly/NAI350UR7Gm

unacceptable. dept. of ed. news gutted me yesterday. this is worse.

Trump Proposes the U.S. Take Over Gaza as He Hosts Netanyahu: Live Updates

Breaking News: In a news conference with Israel’s prime minister, President Trump said he wanted the U.S. to take over Gaza in an “ownership position.”

congratulations! so happy for you!

Congratulations!

Thank you for leading!

Was worrying about this earlier today!

Thank you for speaking up and helping to take action!

terrifying

i think it is important to say that the open and explicit racism of the president and the vice president isn’t just uncouth or “controversial” but a direct attack on tens of millions of americans and a dereliction of their duty to represent the entire country

And all of the silences too!!!

Want to talk about why the work of women author societies is so urgent in 2025? or how to do community and coalition building? Send the Margaret Fuller Society your ideas for our #SSAWW 2025 panel! #C19 #amlit #pedagogy #recovery #margaretfuller @recoveryhubaww.bsky.social @legacy1984.bsky.social

Fantastic resource! Thank you!