David Krugler: 1919 Year of White Terrorism

David Krugler is a historian and novelist. A professor of history at the University of Wisconsin--Platteville, he has published, in addition to two novels, nonfiction books on propaganda, Cold War civil defense, and black resistance to white mob violence after World War I. Professor Krugler discusses his book, 1919: the Year of Racial Violence and How African Americans Fought Back. We specifically focus on Chicago and Knoxville riots with an eye on how Black World War I veterans factored into…

César García Hernández : Immigration Detention

César García Hernández talks about his book, Migrating to Prison America’s Obsession with Locking Up Immigrants. Professor Hernandez lays out the history of immigration imprisonment and detention through the lens of politics and law. Additionally, noting the way in which the way immigration changed during the 1970 and 80s during the Cuban and Haitian influx. As detention and deportation roar back into the headlines, this history takes on a renewed relevance. César García Hernández is the…

Carole Emberton: Violence, Reconstruction, and Redemption

Carole Emberton, Associate Professor of History at University at Buffalo, discusses her book Beyond Redemption: Race, Violence, and the American South After the Civil War. Contrasting Freedmen and Ex-Enslavers, Reconstruction and Redemption, and white and black violence, Professor Emberton explores how the Post-Civil War South struggled to reform itself. The role of black and white veterans, election violence, and the rise of paramilitary groups all converged to create a turbulent and dangerous…

Caitlin O'Loughlin: Banned Books and Gay Erasure

For Banned Books week, join Caitlin O’Loughlin as she discusses her article, “It’s Just Filth: Banned Books and the Project of Gay Erasure.” She explains how proposed bans seek to erase queer peoples, how these bans impact teachers, and what teacher preparation programs can do to counter these acts of censorship.

Ayesha Bell Hardaway: Rise of Police Unions

Ayesha Bell Hardaway is an Associate Professor at Case Western Reserve University School of Law and the Director of the Criminal Clinic in the Milton A. Kramer Law Clinic. Professor Ayesha Bell Hardaway talks about her 2022 article, "The Rise of Police Unions on the Back of the Black Freedom Movement." Professor Bell Hardaway discusses how police unions developed slowly over time to their rapid growth in the 1960s. How police unions transitioned from advocating for labor and wages to…

Andrew McKevitt: Gun Rights and Consumerism

Professor Andrew McKevitt talks about his book, “Gun Country: Gun Capitalism, Culture, and Control in Cold War America.” America’s gun culture was not an inevitable outcome of the Second Amendment and Professor McKevitt explains why. Framing America’s obsession with guns as essentially a consumerist market, not unlike another other collectible or commodity, Prof. McKevitt uncovers one potential origin – post-War European military surplus. Professor Andrew McKevitt is the John D. Winters Endowed…