Living History

Fareed Zakaria: "Some of us--especially those under 60--have always wondered what it would be like to live through the kind of epochal event one reads about in books. Well, this is it. We're now living history, suffering one of the greatest financial panics of all time. It compares with the big ones--1907, 1929--and we cannot yet know its full consequences for the financial system, the economy or society as a whole."

Vote Obama, in Words and Music

Dres from Black Sheep:

Robert Caro: LBJ, Voting Rights and Obama

Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, Robert Caro, is one of the foremost scholars on Lyndon Johnson. The day of Barack Obama's historic acceptance speech at Invesco Field in Denver, which was also the 45th anniversary of the March On Washington and Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" speech, he wrote a fascinating opinion piece - "Johnson's Dream, Obama's Speech" - in the NYTimes on LBJ, voting rights and Obama. In short, Caro argues that Obama's speech might not have been possible if it had not been for another speech, made by Johnson 43 years earlier, a speech that was so powerful it made Martin Luther King, Jr., cry... It is worth a read.

The letters to the editor around the time of Obama's historic acceptance speech were also very interesting and worth checking out.

Barack Obama's Amazing Acceptance Speech

I'll be commenting on my experience at Invesco Field over the next few days, but for now, if you have not already, please take the time to watch Barack Obama's historic acceptance speech. It is amazing. Please also forward it to as many folks as possible, particularly those who are undecided...

The folks at Slate have highlighted and explained all the references in the speech.

Here are some reactions to the speech from the floor of Invesco Field.

Michael Eric Dyson puts the speech in historical context.

Robert Downey, Jr., Blackens Up for "Tropic Thunder"

The new Ben Stiller film, "Tropic Thunder," has attracted controversy for a few reasons, including Robert Downey, Jr.'s character's decision to "blacken up." Is it simply ironic humor or is it offensive?

In response, a Slate reporter posed the question this way: Is it ever acceptable for a white actor to put on blackface for a role?

See how he answered in this 6 minute video report:



What do you think? Is it ever acceptable for a white actor to wear blackface, even if done ironically?

"Blood Done Sign My Name"

I was extremely fortunate as a graduate student to be advised by an amazing historian, Tim Tyson. Tim is a fantastic and compassionate man, a crusader for social justice, and a hell of a lot of fun. My M.A. research contributed to his first (and award-winning) book, Radio Free Dixie: Robert F. Williams and the Roots of Black Power. This book revolutionized the way scholars look at Black Power and armed self-defense during the civil rights era and spurred a slew of new research, including my own work on race relations and civil rights insurgency in Milwaukee. Tim is both a rigorous academic historian as well as a beautiful and poetic writer. His books are darn good reads!

Tim's second monograph, Blood Done Sign My Name, is another gripping, award-winning page-turner, part history, part autobiography. The story focuses on the 1970 murder of an African American veteran in Oxford, North Carolina, and the fallout from this injustice. Recently, the book was optioned as a movie and it has now begun shooting. Very cool!

Here is Tim talking about the book on NPR.

Here is a brief Youtube video from the set of Blood:


Keep your ear to the ground and check out Blood Done Sign My Name when it hits a theater near you. In the meantime, pick up one of Tim's books and give it a read. You won't regret it!

UPDATE: Howard Zinn, "A People's History of American Empire," Video!

This is an animated video of "A People's History of American Empire," with voiceover by Viggo Mortensen...