Slavery and Trafficking

( Counterpunch ) – Controversy about Charles Austin Beard began in 1913 when he published An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States. He turned thirty-nine that year. Until then, his books had appeared to widespread praise within the profession and to the benign neglect of the general reading public. A highly successful […]

Apartheid

Top 6 Worst Supreme Court Decisions in History

Juan Cole

1. Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857) I explained elsewhere, “Although we all learn about the 1857 Dred Scott decision in school, we aren’t usually told that it actually should be called the Harriet and Dred Scott decision, since Scott’s wife was also a plaintiff in the suit. History.com explains that Dred Scott had been enslaved […]

African-Americans

Juneteenth celebrates just one of the United States’ 20 emancipation days – and the history of how emancipated people were kept unfree needs to be remembered, too

The Conversation

By Kris Manjapra, Tufts University | – The actual day was June 19, 1865, and it was the Black dockworkers in Galveston, Texas, who first heard the word that freedom for the enslaved had come. There were speeches, sermons and shared meals, mostly held at Black churches, the safest places to have such celebrations. The […]

Afghanistan

Afghanistan: heroin and human trafficking are the only two sectors of the economy still thriving

The Conversation

By Jonathan Goodhand and Jan Koehler | – In the frontier town of Zaranj on Afghanistan’s border with Iran, young men jostle one another as they cram into pickups that leave at regular intervals to be smuggled across the border. Human trafficking is one of the few sectors of the Afghan economy that is thriving. […]

Colonialism

Columbus didn’t represent Italy, and he Killed and Enslaved Americans, and we Don’t need his Statues

Michael Slager

Chicago (Special to Informed Comment) – Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot ordered the removal of two statues of Christopher Columbus after police and protesters clashed last week. The confrontation at the navigator’s monument in Grant Park resulted in injuries to both officers and demonstrators. According to NBC News, Chicago Police Department officials confirmed that the gathering […]

African-Americans

On Juneteenth: That Time Muslim Tunisia Pleaded with Antebellum US to Abolish Slavery

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor| (Informed Comment) | – – Back in 2017, then Trump chief of staff John Kelly created a controversy with an argument from historical relativism, defending the honoring of Confederate figures. I addressed his glib argument, and reprise it here in honor of Juneteenth. Juneteenth.com explains the origins of today’s commemoration of the end […]

African-Americans

Top 5 Reasons We must, despite Trump, change the name of Fort Bragg, since Braxton Bragg was a horrible Human Being

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Responding to the Black Lives Matter protests that have sent people to the streets since the killing of George Floyd, the US military was on the verge of changing the names of the US military bases named for Confederate generals when the odious Trump intervened to stop it. African-Americans make […]

Featured

Dear John Kelly: Yes, Slavery was wrong in 1860s & Muslims helped Convince Americans to end It

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – John Kelly’s ignorant remarks about the Civil War and compromise on Laura Ingraham’s show have rightly angered a lot of people. One of the arguments he made was for historical relativism: ““I think we make a mistake, though, and as a society and certainly as, as […]

Slavery and Trafficking

That Time when Muslim Tunisia advised the Antebellum US to Abolish Slavery

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Revised classroom version Some observers imply that in 1861, most people in the world believed in slavery and so you can’t blame the American South for retaining it. This premise is not true. For one thing, a majority of American states had abolished slavery. Ohio did […]