David Patrick McKenzie
@dpmckenzie.bsky.social
Versatile public historian & professor. Public history, museums, US-LatAm hist, hist memory. Formerly of Folger, Ford’s Theatre, Capital Jewish Museum, Design Minds, Alamo. SATX->Pgh->ElSal->DC/NoVa->GSO.
Grab a paperback copy of *In Dependence* for just $15 (!!!!) with the @nyupress.bsky.social 50% off sale using code NYUP50 (through 8/31). nyupress.org/978147984231...
In Dependence
Examines the role of the American Revolution in the everyday lives of womenPatriarchal forces of law, finance, and social custom restricted women’s rights ...
nyupress.org
#ScholarSunday on a Saturday is just as full o’ public scholarly goodness as always! Check it out for yourself, & if you see this & are able, please share widely to get all this great work out there, thanks! 🗃️ @hcrichardson.bsky.social
Ben Railton@americanstudier.bsky.social · 2w agoDriving down to Virginia tomorrow, so it’s a special #ScholarSunday on a Saturday! Here’s my 288th thread of great public scholarly writing & work, podcast episodes, new & forthcoming books. Add more below, share widely please, & enjoy, all! 🗃️ + blackwhiteandread.com/scholarsunda...
August is here, & with it my 287th #ScholarSunday thread of great public scholarly writing & work, podcast episodes, new & forthcoming books from the past week. Add more below, please share as widely as possible, & enjoy, all! 🗃️ + blackwhiteandread.com/scholarsunda...
#ScholarSunday Thread 287 (8/2/26) – Black and White and Read All Over
August is here, & with it my 287th #ScholarSunday thread of great public scholarly writing & work, podcast episodes, new & forthcoming books from the past week. Add more below, please share as widely ...
blackwhiteandread.com
Ahem, I think I know how the story goes. www.theatlantic.com/culture/2026...
How the Trump Administration Made George Washington an Abolitionist
In Philadelphia, the Park Service now downplays the importance of slavery to understanding the first president.
theatlantic.com
Chance the Lawyer@chancethelawyer.bsky.social · 4w agowhy is everything
When writing an academic narrative nonfiction/crossover book, it's especially a delight to find a primary source that not only helps answer a question & advance an argument, but adds color. In 1841, my main figure, John Baldwin, wrote to H.M. Brackenridge. digital.library.pitt.edu/islandora/ob...
Verifying Connection
digital.library.pitt.edu
So is Spain being invited to the White House for McDonald's?
A compelling case for identification—and a good read in a fascinating person, to boot. Also appreciate the shout-out to archivists.
Dave Taylor@linconspirators.bsky.social · 2mo agoSince 1865, one of the photographs found on the body of Abraham Lincoln’s assassin has been misidentified. After two years of searching, I’ve found the true identity of the veiled woman. Her name is Laura Redden, and she led a remarkable life: #skystorians 🗃️ lincolnconspirators.com/2026/07/08/u...
Was just talking to a coworker about the “they changed my family’s name at Ellis Island” myth and she wanted to read more. Other than a day of everyone being mad at historians on here about this some time last year, are there any sources I can point her to to read more? (She is an academic.)
Make them go through the exhibits before you let them out.
Anthony's Spinning Circles here too!@circlesspinning.bsky.social · 2mo agoMaga taking shelter in the National Museum of African-American History And Culture!
When news reached Mexico of one of history’s great coincidences—the deaths of Jefferson and Adams on the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence 200 years ago today—the U.S. Minister there, Joel Poinsett, asked US citizens living in Mexico to wear mourning bands for 30 days.
Abe Lincoln vs. the "heritage American" crowd, 1858: It doesn't matter where your ancestors were in 1776. Americans who read the Declaration and affirm its creed "have a right to claim it as though they were blood of the blood, and flesh of the flesh of the men who wrote [it] ...and so they are."
Been a long road for me to get to today. Happy 4th, don’t let the bastards take it from you.
John Garrison Marks@johngmarks.com · 2mo ago9 years ago this week, I joined @aaslh.org to help museums across the country prepare for the 250th anniversary. I've been thinking, writing, and speaking about the Semiquincentennial for almost a decade. It's truly hard for me to believe this chapter of my professional life is now closing.
An open letter, to readers, about Charity and Sylvia. I am very pained to feel the need to write this. #queerhistory #pride
In addition to erasing indigenous history, the perception that everything in the US is new/modern really ignores how much older many things on the Eastern Seaboard are--buildings and roads and the choices made about were to put them.
‘Father’ and ‘dad’ are synonyms. ‘Figure’ and ‘bod’ are synonyms. But, a ‘father figure’ and a ‘dad bod’ aren’t exactly the same thing…
Remembering the day a group of friends and I were excited to see toys we grew up with in the gift shop at National Museum of American History… Only to look up and see a sign saying something like “Vintage Toys” 😂🤦♂️
John Garrison Marks@johngmarks.com · 2mo agoI don’t bring my kids here to be personally attacked first thing in the morning, IHOP.
Working two events that attracted conspiracy theorists was quite a trip. While the central story at Ford’s Theatre was literally a conspiracy, some claimed it went much further—like the guy who showed up for 150th of Lincoln assassination with 9-foot sign claiming papal involvement in said event.
Erin Grievances@erinbartram.bsky.social · 2mo agoWe are in mailbag heaven at the magazine this year, and this is the latest and greatest. I would love to hear the conspiracy theories that you encounter when talking about your work with people outside the field. Do you take the same approaches as Lorna?
We are in mailbag heaven at the magazine this year, and this is the latest and greatest. I would love to hear the conspiracy theories that you encounter when talking about your work with people outside the field. Do you take the same approaches as Lorna?
Contingent Magazine@contingent-mag.bsky.social · 2mo agoBuzz Aldrin had one way of responding to conspiracy theorists. In our latest mailbag, @lornawallace.bsky.social offers some alternate approaches.
Watching Haiti play Brazil in Philadelphia reminds me of a story from my research on U.S. citizens in Mexico that especially intrigued me: that of Theodore Ducoing, born in Philadelphia in 1810. His mother was born in 1789 in what was then Cap-François, Saint-Domingue—today Cap-Haïtien, Haiti.
Brazil/Haiti on Juneteenth makes me feel like I’m back in grad school.
Haiti was the first nation in the Americas to abolish slavery (1804). Brazil was the last (1888).
The summer PI is out! Erika Valdivieso discusses Latin American classical reception, Virgil & her new book. Then, ancient Cypriot pigeons, a new game board from medieval Morocco, @proflroach.bsky.social remembers Rosamond McKitterick, ancient world journals by @yaleclassicslib.bsky.social & more.
Pasts Imperfect (6.18.26)
This week, classicist Erika Valdivieso discusses new directions in Latin American classical reception, Virgil, and her new book, Empire’s Companion: Virgilian Epics from Colonial Iberoamerica. Then, a...
pasts-imperfect.ghost.io
There's a reason the Confederacy inaugurated its permanent government in Richmond on George Washington's birthday, in front of a giant statue of George Washington. He's also in the middle of the official seal of the Confederacy.
Dr. M.A. Davis@mikedavis.bsky.social · 2mo agothis was handled in a v. good way in the Amazon MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE, where Washington and Jefferson's role as enslavers is enthusiastically taught in the schools of Nazified America, because it's proof they are the heirs of the Founders.
Need a distraction from the Idiocracy tonight? Try all the amazing public scholarship in today’s 280th weekly #ScholarSunday thread! Share widely & enjoy, all! 🗃️ @hcrichardson.bsky.social
Ben Railton@americanstudier.bsky.social · 2mo agoIt’s Flag Day, & let’s counter the dumpster fire at one of our most historic public sites with all the great public scholarly writing, podcasts, new & forthcoming books in my 280th #ScholarSunday thread! Add more below, share widely, & enjoy, all! 🗃️ + blackwhiteandread.com/scholarsunda...
For all the talk of genocide elsewhere, this is going to end up as the largest scale mass killing event in modern history. A crime against humanity & the rule of law of almost unimaginable proportions for which Musk must be marched in chains to the courthouse & then to jail for the rest of his life.
Chaucer Doth Tweet@levostregc.bsky.social · 2mo ago
Future historian department: -Front page of today's NYT reports creation of world's first trillionaire. -Lead op-ed of same NYT is about worst-ever Ebola outbreak, which *this VERY SAME trillionaire* enabled, with his "chainsaw" destruction of US public health in the world. The book writes itself
Yeahhhh… Let’s be more consistent tonight, Spurs
@jmguti.bsky.social · 2mo agoEven less known fact: you do not need to give give back your double digit lead at the end of the game
On June 19, 1866, Black Texans marked the first anniversary of Juneteenth. But where and how was that day first publicly celebrated? My new article, “The First Juneteenth,” explores those questions and finds some surprising answers in Houston. www.alliancefortexashistory.org/juneteent…
