Tracking Hate Groups

The Southern Poverty Law Center, located just down the road from my house in downtown Montgomery, Alabama, seeks to address the problem of race and racism in America by tracking and monitoring hate groups. Their mission is of the up most importance when it comes to protecting the liberties of all Americans — regardless of [...]

Mascots and Race

Being a person that discusses historical and anthropological matters related to race and culture, I try not to get wrapped up in emotions about such matters. Being an avid sports fan, I pay close attention to schools’ mascots. About a decade or so ago, the NCAA started questioning the “sensitivity” of schools using American Indian [...]

Death of a Library

I visited my campus library today to chat with our librarian about a video set I use in my classes. While visiting, she and I discussed our shock at what the Cushing School is doing. Note, the Cushing school is very old, very elite, and to an extent — very traditional school. They have a [...]

New Urban Hip-Hop Academic Journal

My friend Phil, who is the former chair at the Second Baptist School and who is currently a visiting professor at Sam Houston State University, sent me information on a new and different type of peer-reviewed academic journal that is looking for scholarly works for publication. I am interested in the academic audience this journal [...]

Socialism in American Political History

Very interesting discussion taking place of late in the New York Times about how we define socialism. See below…
It seems that whatever President Obama talks about — whether it’s overhauling health care, or regulating Wall Street, or telling schoolchildren to study hard — his opponents have called him a socialist. “Socialism” was an epithet [...]

Joe Wilson

I found this over at the Political Cartel. I guess Joe Wilson would approve of this. You can read the article there.

FOX NEWS

According to Keith Olbermann:  in his view, folks that watch Fox News are “tin foil hatters, conspiracy theorists, paranoids and racists.”

Above: Does FOX attack Blacks?
The crowd of some 150 people wielded a petition with more than 600,000 signatures objecting to news coverage by Fox, owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, organizers [...]

Giving A Test

My AP United States History classes are writing their first exam today; it should be a great adventure for many of them. Honestly, I think they will do very well.  About 20 of us met at the home of Parker Malone for a review session last night; it went very well. Parker’s mom took the [...]

Cooler Temps

I logged almost 20 miles this weekend, which is a bit on the light side for me. However, I have noticed the temperature starting to take a dip, which makes fall and winter running easier. Why winter running is great:

Faster runs
Recover faster
Run longer and faster
More energy
Compete in longer races more

The Historiography Question

By definition…
Marxist historiography has made contributions to the history of the working class, oppressed nationalities, and the methodology of history from below. The chief problematic aspect of Marxist historiography has been an argument on the nature of history as determined or dialectical; this can also be stated as the relative importance of subjective and objective [...]

Religious Identity

I had my AP United States history classes read a piece from the America’s Journey text. I found this part very interesting on the perception of religiosity in America during the early 1990s. It reads:
The New York Times reported on ‘dozens of surprises’ contained  in an opinion poll on religious identification in America. The poll [...]

The Talk

The Warrior Round Table, a blog maintained by the headmaster at Little Rock Christian School and one that I have been reading for a while, recently drafted four reasons why they will not be viewing President Obama’s stream. You can read that post here. I am curious as to what other schools (public and private) [...]

Christian Schools

I am spending my day (literally) editing a survey form that I will email to a number of independent schools across the country. This will be the second such survey I will send. I am targeting protestant Christian schools with this one, including upper-tier Christian schools. The perception that many in the general public have [...]

A History Lecture: Look to Reagan & FDR

I found this political cartoon on another blog I read. I thought it said a great deal about the paranoia and ignorance of many; however, it does speak to the heart and truth about some American  fear regarding President Obama. I do not know why some fear him except that he is different. And, people [...]

Social Conditioning?

I am not sure what environmental factors permit an individual to cost himself millions of dollars in the NFL and jeopardize an education, but the University of Oregon’s Blount discovered his plight yesterday after punching a player in the face after a defeat from Boise State University. It would be nice to defend him and [...]

Ted Kennedy

This is a cross post with the AHA:
In the wake of Senator Ted Kennedy’s death last week news agencies have taken a look back at his life and legacy, and the history of the whole Kennedy family. Read on for links to some of these articles.

Remembering Ted Kennedy through images
Take a look at Senator [...]

The Problem with Teaching History

I continue to be and will always be a great fan of James Loewen; I think he gets it too. I am often troubled by the history buff notion. Too many people who see the teaching, reading, writing, and learning of history as static; it should not change since there is only one voice. But [...]

School Industry

I posted this once and thought about it again last night when Dead Poets Society was on the tube.
During the Gilded Age period, the industrial model of education was seen as efficient and pragmatic; however, the traditional machine model as illustrated by a row of desk showcased industry and religion: In the typical classroom model, [...]