John Harris
@drjohnaeharris.bsky.social
Historian. Author of The Last Slave Ships: NYC & The End of The Middle Passage (Yale, 2020). Working on a new book Spying on The Slave Trade. Rep’d by Deirdre Mullane N. Irish immigrant to U.S. https://www.johnaeharris.com/
Years before 2022, Lynn Hunt wrote a terrific piece about the essentiality of writing for the process of thinking. By relinquishing our writing to a machine, we are simultaneously relinquishing our ability to think. That can only be bad news for democracy.How do we help our students understand this?
Opinion | I’m Begging You: Never Write With A.I. (Gift Article)
It’s bad for your brain and worse for democracy.
nytimes.com
The agenda for my local county council meeting tomorrow is 1. Moratorium on building data centers 2. Recognizing the achievements of Miss Teen South Carolina
Thanks to everybody who bought an advance copy! Algo likes pre-orders, I'm told ;-)
I can’t recommend the British Food History Podcast enough. If you love food then Neil’s the host for you
Dr Neil Buttery@neilbuttery.bsky.social · 4d agoThanks too to all of my brilliant guests: Kathryn Harvey Mark Dawson Briony May Williams CJ Jackson Peter Ross Deborah Albon Amy Palmer @adamcrymble.bsky.social Rachel Rich Maureen Kilpatrick Nancy Siegal @tenementkitchen.bsky.social & @rosswclarke.bsky.social
Overall this piece Anthony Conwright tracks the public debate over the naming of the war fairly well with a few exceptions. Here are 3 graphs from an essay on the naming of the war by historian Gaines Foster, which appeared in his book THE LIMITS OF THE LOST CAUSE. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/02/o...
I’m astonished by the ability of my fellow humans to forget the events we all just lived through. Folks remember the masks and the remote school. The million US dead are rarely mentioned. Folks, we lived through a plague.
Anyone have a recommendation for a kid friendly Odyssey book?
“everything fell apart” - the author just couldn’t resist, could they?
Kristin Wilson@kristin-wilson.bsky.social · 5d agoGift link, because you’ll want to read this whole thing: In a 19-page filing, [Pirro’s] office undermined everything Trump has been saying about damage to the Reflecting Pool. “The damage was the result of a botched installation and not vandalism,” her office wrote in a motion to dismiss the case.
Has anyone published an anthology of Antonio Maceo's writing? How much remains? Is there no deep reading of his changing thinking over time? 🗃️
Every criminal defence lawyer should now be asking - as standard: * Has any piece of evidence, schedule, digital search, summary, or unused assessment been conducted by AI? * Has any witness used AI in the formulation of their statement, exhibits or in preparation of giving oral evidence at trial?
Just finished a letter of rec for a brilliant student. Small colleges like mine have their weaknesses but when it comes to letters of recommendation, being tiny and knowing our students well means we can write some absolute bangers
Cool to have a historical thesis on my new license plate but is it a good one?
THE FREDERICK DOUGLASS PAPERS SERIES THREE includes 247 of his letters with Republican party leaders from the 1880s about campaign strategies and his efforts to advance the reputation of those protecting African American rights. Available now.
I was just saying to my wife that we’re going to have a policy on AI glasses. I am lucky to have small classes which makes it easier.
Joshua Foust 🪖🎮@joshuafoust.com · last wk.Does anyone have a plan for what happens when students show up in class with these?
Big news for early career historians: EAS & the Journal of the Early Republic have launched the G.E.H. Prize — $500 for the best article by an emerging scholar, alternating journals each year. First winner announced at SHEAR! https://bit.ly/4b5wYcF
This historian grows fig trees and makes jam in his spare time
I’m reading the English updated edition of Alencastro’s “The Trade in the Living,” and it is fascinating how he thoroughly updated a book that was already of the best works of Colonial Brazilian history ever. I first read it in my first year of college, and have reread it many times since, but…
Some abolitionists once played up an antislavery version of George Washington to try to end slavery. Now the Trump administration is doing it to deny slavery mattered at all. I wrote about the new exhibit at the President’s House in Philly for @theatlantic.com. www.theatlantic.com/culture/2026...
Washington, the Useful Abolitionist
In Philadelphia, the Trump administration downplays the importance of slavery to understanding the first president.
theatlantic.com
I wrote this the other day arguing AI means the humanities become even more important in an age where AI can solve questions that are defined and data rich, leaving the wicked issues where we can’t even agree on the nature of the problem… www.ft.com/content/fbde...
Remarkable story - “the only known example of a multigenerational journal established by an enslaved person in the United States.”
KEW@kidadaewilliams.com · 2w agoThis 19th-Century Diary Written by Adam Francis Plummer, an Enslaved Maryland Man Is a Crucial Record of His Life and Family History—and the Only One of Its Kind Found in the United States www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-...
Always stuck by how British elites favored the Confederacy. Former Foreign Secretary Lord Clarendon wrote in 1862 "I hate the Confederates almost as much as the Federals but I hope for their success." Foreign Sec. Lord Russell thought the idea of "conquering the South ... hopeless."
My first academic publication has been published today: the exhibition and reception history of the painting 'The Arctic Council' (1851). This took 3 years to research and write, and I'm so happy that all can read about my findings now! doi.org/10.1017/S003... #navalhistory #polar
i swear "pubic opinion" is going to end up in my book unless I have a great copy editor
Superb defense of the historical profession from David Blight
Jim Ambuske@jimambuske.bsky.social · 2w ago"Ours is a beautiful, ancient craft essential for any society's needs for self-understanding. We are equipped with a host of modern methods, but guided ethically by very old rules that no authoritarian political project ought to be allowed to profane." www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbz2...
