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The Lorraine Motel

Putting Race on Display: The National Civil Rights Museum

… Join hosts Leticia Wiggins and Patrick Potyondy for part one of a two-segment History Talk on race in … Museum in Memphis . “It really is a place,” says Jeffries, “for living history.” ( Image Source ) … committed to my memory, and, and writing some sort of main points that those parts of the exhibit should highlight. …
Henry Ford with a Model T in 1921.

What Bill Ford Is Learning from Great-Grandpa

… Now that Ford Motor Company has announced its “Way Forward” restructuring plan, … proclaim that “Innovation Is Our Mission,” he rightly points to the company’s long record of innovation in … into finished products. The plant attracted countless visitors, among them Charlie Chaplin, who visited it before …
The Humboldt Current: Nineteenth-Century Exploration and the Roots of American Environmentalism, by Aaron Sachs Book Cover

The Humboldt Current: Nineteenth-Century Exploration and the Roots of American Environmentalism

Review of The Humboldt Current: Nineteenth-Century Exploration and the Roots of American Environmentalism, by Aaron Sachs (Viking Books, 2006)
… to honor a German naturalist who made exactly one brief visit to the United States early in the nineteenth century, but whose adventures and accomplishments were so much admired they made him an … a bit fuzzy around the edges here. For all of them, Sachs points to the de-centering that comes with exploration, …
These false killer whales were part of an MSE in Flinders Bay, Australia, July of 1986.

Washed Ashore: Marine Mammals from Medieval Times to Today

… to save the lives of the stranded whales . Despite the  efforts  of the Department of Conservation and New Zealand’s … and tied to ropes and anchors off the bay, left to decompose within the ecosystem. Europeans who lived in the … communities encountered large marine life. She also points out that, while we know very little about the …
Print of "Galveston's Awful Calamity".

Galveston 1900: 125 Years After the Storm

… storm which these swells...told us in unerring language was coming.” —Dr. Isaac Cline Today, the National Weather Service (NWS) is trusted to provide timely warnings for hurricanes to the residents of the United States. But … , while railroads brought the Texas cotton crop and summer visitors alike. But the city was built on a barrier island …
View of Tbilisi as seen from Narikala, the city's medieval citadel.

A Postcard from Georgia and Azerbaijan

… indicating various locations in Georgia and Azerbaijan visited. Georgia My first stop was Georgia, a small country … Nino (296-335 C.E.), the (female) saint who is responsible for Georgia’s conversion, was determined to build a church … only after St. Nino spent an entire night praying for it to come back. From its bark, once it was grounded, flowed holy …

The Soccer World Goes to South Africa: Sport and the Making of Modern Africa

… the home squad provided just the opportunity he was hoping for. South Africa's "Springboks" defeated the heavily … of the re-admittance of South Africa to the international community. To many, winning a rugby tournament might seem to … committees assert will attend events and continue to visit host communities. It is in the hopes of realizing such …
A memorial dedicated to the heroes of the Great Patriotic War (1941-45) in Yaroslavl.

From Kulikovo Field to Kursk: Russia’s Forever War

Review of Russia: The Story of War, by Gregory Carleton (Cambridge, MA and London: Belknap/Harvard University Press, 2017)
… and colossal defeats has long baffled western observers. Visitors to Russia’s capital, the epicenter of Russia’s cult … Further away from the city center, a sprawling memorial complex known as Victory Park pays homage to Russia’s wars … of state propaganda, but powerful historical reference points that resonate with many ordinary Russians steeped in …

Human Rights at a Crossroads

… September 2018, President Donald Trump delivered a speech before the United Nations General Assembly. Humanitarian … arrived at the Paris Peace Conference with his Fourteen Points, a plan that he believed would bring justice to … U.S. soldiers just as they were returning from overseas combat ( left ). The opening session of the League of …
The so-called "Elgin Marbles," on display in the British Museum

Classics and the Alt-Right Conundrum

… ancient Greece and Rome? What are the consequences of this for our understandings of the ancient era? And what should … Eileen McCoskey , Donna Zuckerberg , and Curtis Dozier . For more on this topic, see: Denise Eileen McCoskey - … guy, Lee Patterson, about kinship and myth and one of the points he's making is the way that the study of myth in …
Sobaek Mountain

A Postcard from Yeongju, South Korea

… and cultural traditions remain vibrant, attracting visitors in all four seasons. Sobaek Mountain. Sobaek … grand vistas, as well as a beautiful valley with a dense forest. A number of historical monuments on Sobaek Mountain … lantern, a wood plaque reads “Muryangsujeon (無量壽殿)” and welcomes all comers (right). The founder of the Buseoksa …
Students at the Tuberculosis Sanitorium, Phoenix Indian School, ca. 1890-1910.

Early American Contagions

… measles, typhus, and influenza decimated Indigenous communities in the Americas is a commonly held one. Like so much of our popular conceptions … the Americas. Aztecs wrote about a smallpox epidemic just before Spaniards came among them: “there spread over the …
A long line of migrants in India

Migration and Mobility: Yesterday and Today

… With more than 80 million forcibly displaced people in the world and another 260-plus … policy in the U.S., Europe, and across the world have become fierce and deeply divisive, to say the least, and will surely continue to dominate politics in the coming years. All the while, lives are in the balance as …
Buildings along a waterfront in China

China and Africa: Historical Perspectives on a Rising Power

… new influence, building on Cold War relationships first forged during an earlier era of Sino-American competition. Yet looking at Chinese engagement in Africa … the last 50 years reveals that increased power has transformed Beijing’s foreign policies and strained its global …
Ivan Aivazovsky, a Native of Feodosia, Crimea, is known as one of Russia's greatest painters, and one of the world's best at seascapes. The Battle of Sinop (Russian and Turkish Navies), 1853

Top Ten Origins: Stories from Crimea

… The Crimea that most people have come to know is a peninsula occupied by Russian forces, ostensibly annexed to the Russian Federation, and … local peoples the Tauri when he came to the region to visit Greek colonies. Greeks had settled at the magnificent …
A crowd of Syrian refugees in the Vienna airport

Road to Europe: The 2015 Migration Crisis

… Over the past months, the news media has presented dramatic scenes of desperate people … I teach courses on Eastern Europe, nationalism, migration, communism, the Cold War, among others.   Dr. Robin Judd   … ago.   Dr. Theodora Dragostinova  So if we are going to revisit the Ottoman Empire, the end of the Ottoman Empire was …
Shells of burnt-out busses after a suicide bombing

The Terrors of Suicide Bombing

… pilots, and today’s suicide bombers? How can the history inform policy decisions to try and prevent such acts? Join … Patrick Potyondy  Welcome to History Talk , the history podcast for everyone, produced by Origins: Current Events and …
Immigrant Rights Protest by Betty Tsang, Flickr, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

The Federal War on Immigrants Is a War on All Workers

… President Bush's immigration reform legislation appears to be dead in the U.S. Congress, … of well-publicized workplace raids to terrorize immigrant communities. Although immigrants bear the brunt of these … the raid, a Republican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani, visited Portland and cheered the actions of the ICE, linking …
Cartoon from Puck: The Bosses of the Senate

Buying American Elections?

… national politics as much as many fear? The answer is more complicated than you might think. Check out a lesson plan … Patrick Potyondy  Welcome to History Talk , produced by Origins: Current Events … way. What's the case to be made that it is good to have unlimited money sloshing through political campaigns?   Dr. …
Haze obscuring image of rooftops in China

The Greening of China?

… great paradox. With its fast-growing economy, China has become the leading producer of CO2 (though not on a per-capita basis). Simultaneously, it has become the world's leading producer of green and renewable … environment, and what global role China might play in the coming years in confronting climate change. ( Image Source ) …
A view of the West Bank city of Bethlehem.

A Dawn of Peace in Bethlehem?

… relations in the region. By 2001, Christmas had become a casualty of Israeli-Palestinian violence. Israel forbade the late Palestinian Authority President Yasser … have flourished. In 2003, over 300,000 Israeli tourists visited the Turkish resort of Antalya. In 2005, despite a …
Artifact from Benin

Who Owns the Past? Museums and Cultural Heritage Repatriation

… In November 2018, a report commissioned by French President Emannuel Macron called for artifacts taken to France during the heyday of European … of Native American remains by American museums to the complicated provenance of Greek and Roman antiquities held … are many fault lines but generally speaking, the pro camp points to the need to address the injustices of colonialism …
A Church in Novgorod Russia

Russia and the World

… regional interventions, to allegations of interference in foreign elections, the country's international activities … But what exactly does Russia want? And how does this compare to its ambitions in the past? In this episode of … prestige, and influence play in shaping the country's foreign objectives. ( Image Source ) …