Jess Mahler
@JessMahler@indiepocalypse.social  ·  activity timestamp 2 days ago

Just learned about the memoir "The United States Governed by Six Hundred Thousand Despots" by John Swanson Jacobs.

John Swanson Jacobs was an enslaved person who escaped and travelled all over the world before writing his memoir in Australia, which makes it the only memoir of a formerly enslaved person we know of which was not edited by and published under the auspices of a white abolitionist.

It was lost for over 150 years and just rediscovered and reprinted last year. Sadly, it's being sold at academic prices, which means $20 for the ebook and over $100 for the hardcover. I plan to see if it's available through interlibrary loan.

Anyway, amazing bit of rediscovered history, check it out!

https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/U/bo213914021.html

#Books #history
ProPublica
@ProPublica@newsie.social  ·  activity timestamp yesterday

Texas Officials Say They Didn’t See the Flood Coming. Oral Histories Show Residents Have Long Warned of Risks.
—

After a tragedy, records from local archives can help us understand how a community understands itself. Here’s some of what we learned following the devastating July 4 flooding in Texas.
https://www.propublica.org/article/texas-floods-oral-histories?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post

#News#Texas#Floods#TexasFloods#History#Community
Fitness Foundry (Coach Julio)
@Fitnessfoundry@mas.to  ·  activity timestamp 2 days ago

The trauma of racial profiling is real, and its effects—especially on youth—are long-lasting.

We must ensure that public spaces remain safe and welcoming—not sites of fear or intimidation.

Your voice matters. Don’t let silence win. Know your rights, and protect the rights of those you serve.

Link to story: https://abc7ny.com/post/nyc-youth-baseball-coach-says-ice-agents-approached-members-team-practicing-riverside-park-manhattan/17060854/

#America#Democracy#Coach#Boston#Civilrights#History#Leaders#Immigrants #racism #fascism #sports #freedom #nyc
Levka
@LevZadov@kolektiva.social  ·  activity timestamp 3 days ago
#fascists #universities #history

"In the 1975 book, *The Abuse of Learning: The Failure of German Universities*, historian Frederic Lilge chronicles how German universities, which entered the 20th century in a golden age of global intellectual influence, did not resist the Nazi regime but adapted instead to it.

Even before seizing national power in 1933, the Nazi Party was closely monitoring German universities through nationalist student groups and sympathetic faculty, flagging professors politically unreliable and particularly Jews, Marxists, liberals and pacifists.

After Hitler took office in 1933, his regime moved to purge academic institutions of Jews and political opponents. The 1933 Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service commanded by the firing of Jewish and other non-Aryan professors and members of the faculty politically suspect.

Soon after, professors were required to swear loyalty to Hitler, curricula were revised to emphasize . . . . . racial science and . . a pseudoscientific framework used to justify antisemitism and Aryan supremacy . all departments and were restructured to serve to Nazi ideology.

Some institutions, like the Technische Hochschule Stuttgart, even rushed to honor Hitler with an honorary doctorate within weeks of his rise to power. He has declined the offer, though the gesture signaled the university's eagerness to align with the regime. Professional associations, such as the Association of German Universities, remained silent, ignored key opportunities to resist before universities lost their autonomy and became subservient to the Nazi state.

As linguist Max Weinreich wrote in his 1999 book, *Hitler*, professors, many academics didn't just comply, they enabled the regime by reshaping their research. This legitimized state doctrine, helping to build the intellectual framework of the regime.

A few academics resisted and were dismissed, exiled or executed. It wasn't.

The transformation of German academia was not a slow drift but a swift and systemic overhaul. But what made Hitler's orders stick was the eagerness of many academic leaders to comply, justify and normalize the new order. Each decision - each erased name, each revised syllabus, each closed program and department . was framed as necessary, even patriotic. Within a few years, German universities no longer served knowledge . served they power."

https://elobrero.es/component/k2/164050-universities-in-nazi-germany-and-the-soviet-union-thought-giving-in-to-government-demands-would-save-their-independence.html

vruz
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Punkrock History
@historyofpunkrock@sfba.social  ·  activity timestamp 3 days ago

In memory Ian Kevin Curtis, lead singer, lyricist and occasional guitarist of the post-punk band Joy Division, born on this day in 1956, Stretford, Lancashire, England.

Photo by Paul Slattery

#punkrock #postpunk #iancurtis #joydivision #history #punkrockhistory #otd

vruz
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Punkrock History
@historyofpunkrock@sfba.social  ·  activity timestamp 3 days ago

47 years ago today
Pete Shelley of English punk band the Buzzcocks at the Rock Against Racism Festival at Alexandra Park in Manchester, England on July 15, 1978

📸 by Kevin Cummins

#punk #punks #punkrock #peteshelley#buzzcocks#rockagainstracism #history #punkrockhistory #otd
James Baillie
@JubalBarca@scholar.social  ·  activity timestamp 3 days ago

At #IMC2025 last week I was once again the co-organiser for the Caucasus panel strand, so here's a short write-up of how that went (and some notes on the sorts of talks we get at big historical conference for those who'd like to know) -

https://medievalcaucasus.org/2025/07/the-medieval-caucasus-at-imc-2025/

#Medieval#Caucasus#History#Histodons