Ways of Seeing: Other precedents for civil rights

Since I wrote the piece about my grandmother, I’ve been stewing about the revocation of abortion rights and reading more on the ways in which we can argue that these rights are constitutional.

In 1948, my grandmother married my grandfather. Soon after, they had their first child. He was the first of ten.

There is a lot of pain in the world right now. People continue to fall victim daily to a global pandemic. War has broken out in Europe. In our own backyard, we continue to see Black, brown, and indigenous people killed by the police.

When I moved to Vermont for college, I was 18 and had barely left Texas. My family drove me, and I was terrified when I realized how far Vermont was from home.

Recently, news and media coverage highlighted video footage and images of border agents near Del Rio, Texas, grossly abusing Haitian migrants crossing the Rio Grande into the United States.

When I sat down to write this column, I have to admit that I really struggled to decide what to write about. There’s so much going on in the world one doesn’t even know what to start with sometimes. As I thought more about it, though, and talked with frie … (read more)

Last week was cinco de mayo. For many Americans, it’s just another day. For others, it’s a day to celebrate something Mexican. Mexican culture? Mexican independence? Most Americans actually have no idea. For years, I made it a tradition to host a party ei … (read more)

A couple of weeks ago, my Grandmother died. I had to say goodbye to her on the screen of my tiny phone. She could not hear or see me, so the person in the room had to explain to her that I was on a little machine looking at her and trying to talk to her. … (read more)

A reporter called me this week to ask me about the history of the border. He wanted to know if I thought that there was any chance that President Biden would tear down any part of the border fence, since it seems that in his first week in office, Biden mo … (read more)

It’s been a long couple of weeks to say the least. The election has been called for former Vice President Joe Biden and Senator Kamala Harris. Now comes the wait for individual states to certify their official counts, which will be followed by several bas … (read more)

On Aug. 18, Donald Trump posthumously pardoned Susan B. Anthony. who voted illegally in 1872, well before the 19th amendment granted some women that right in 1920. I wonder if he would have pardoned her if she were black. For decades, Anthony fought shoul … (read more)

“Wow, it’s been a rough couple of weeks!” So many people have said that to me in recent days and each time I hear it, rage swells in my body. A rough couple of weeks? Try a rough couple of centuries. I am a historian of race in America. I am also a person … (read more)

In 1924 a virus outbreak overtook the state of California in unprecedented ways. The virus, known in Latin as aphtae epizooticae is a hardy virus that can spread rapidly. Virus particles can survive for two weeks on wool and for three months on leather, r … (read more)

There is a lot going on in the world right now, but I confess that I have been frequently and somewhat blissfully unaware of most of it. At the moment, I am suffering from some health issues that prevent me from spending too much time on the computer and … (read more)

“We have to do with the past only as we can make it useful to the present and to the future.” Frederick Douglass said that in a speech he delivered on July 5, 1852, in Rochester, N.Y. As a historian, I think a lot about the past. I am trained to study it, … (read more)