US jails are now the nation’s biggest mental healthcare providers, a fact that surprises many Americans. But, it turns outs, there’s always been a thin division between the nation’s jails and mental healthcare system.
Using Digital Archives to Engage Students, Part I: Ten Strategies for Instructors
Teaching with digital archives means showing students how to critically examine material. Digital collections can be used as a springboard for engaging students with a plethora of questions that can lead to fundamental discussions about knowledge production.
History on the Government’s Dime
Practicing history as part of a state agency can be challenging, especially for a historic prison. This article uses Idaho as a case study to outline some of those challenges, and how historians must contend with conservative governments, racist pasts, and difficult prison history.
There’s a Legitimate Critique of the 1619 Project. And Then There’s Sean Wilentz.
Conservatives have relied on a small group of historians to validate their criticisms of the 1619 Project. Now one of the most vocal historians against the 1619 Project is trying to distance himself from the far-Right.
Hulu’s Mrs. America and the Real History of the Battle Over the ERA
What can Mrs. America tell us about the historical context of the battle over the Equal Rights Amendment? Where does it shine and where does it fall short? And what should we take away from the show, and its real history, to better understand our present?
Unjust Laws and the Movement for Black Lives: A Historical Perspective
The parallels between the civil rights movement of the early 1960s and the 2020 uprising can situate Gov. DeSantis’s proposal in a broader context. Many of the legislative efforts to curtail Black Lives Matter demonstrations parallel efforts made to criminalize nonviolent actions led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Small Acts of Storytelling: Why We Need More History
College students are taking fewer history classes than ever before. The consequences have implications not just for our collective knowledge about the past, but also for our ability to make sense of the present.
Of Plagues and Papers: COVID-19, the Media, and the Construction of American Disease History
In their attempts to make sense of the novel coronavirus, media outlets frequently invoke the past, comparing COVID-19 to the Black Death, the "Great Influenza" of 1918-19, and other historical disease outbreaks. The act of connecting "then" and "now" has produced two countervailing historical narratives: one that emphasizes medical progress over time, and another that highlights America's failure to learn the lessons of past pandemics.
Public History and Dark Tourism
This article looks at what it’s like to work at a dark tourism destination, in this case the Old Idaho Penitentiary. From a public history perspective, it details the challenges of practicing history responsibly, while also catering to visitor demand for paranormal programming such as macabre prison stories. Ultimately, lucrative paranormal investigations allow for more historically based, educational programming that may not be as popular, but fulfills the site’s mission of informing the public of Idaho and prison history.
Teaching in a Time of Pandemic: Distance Teaching Resources for Historians
When navigating an exceptionally demanding moment for history educators, the simplest tools are the best.