Bobby Lee
@bobbylee.bsky.social
Historian of the United States, mostly in the 19th c., colonialism, land, GIS. American abroad
Pinned
Bobby Lee
@bobbylee.bsky.social
· Jun 12
Justice for the Edifice: Praying Compensation for Rhode Island College, 1770–1800
In 1770, Rhode Island College, now Brown University, erected the biggest building in Providence. Donations tied to the slave trade funded the College Edifice, now University Hall. Some donors grew ric...
direct.mit.edu
My latest article just published and is open access, for now at least.
It’s about how Brown got reparations for property made by slaves after the American Revolution. 🗃️
direct.mit.edu/tneq/article...
It’s about how Brown got reparations for property made by slaves after the American Revolution. 🗃️
direct.mit.edu/tneq/article...
It’s not like this wasn’t widely predicted (CBP’s 100 mile border zone, imperial boomerang, etc.), but it’s still shocking to see unfolding before our eyes
The U.S. military is being used inside the United States. There's a lot we don't know about how, why, and under what authorities.
Today, Lawfare is launching a new project–which includes a tracker and a map–to follow where and how the military is being domestically deployed.
Today, Lawfare is launching a new project–which includes a tracker and a map–to follow where and how the military is being domestically deployed.
November 11, 2025 at 5:59 AM
It’s not like this wasn’t widely predicted (CBP’s 100 mile border zone, imperial boomerang, etc.), but it’s still shocking to see unfolding before our eyes
Starting to think the Dems caving on healthcare was Schumer’s payback for the Mamdani vote
November 11, 2025 at 5:20 AM
Starting to think the Dems caving on healthcare was Schumer’s payback for the Mamdani vote
Is uscode.house.gov not working for anybody else?
uscode.house.gov
November 10, 2025 at 11:49 AM
Is uscode.house.gov not working for anybody else?
I've been looking into RAG systems for turning published indexes into structured data. NotebookLLM is a mixed bag: it reduces transcription time but makes many errors, so requires combing through output line by line. The errors it hallucinates are telling though...
November 8, 2025 at 11:26 AM
I've been looking into RAG systems for turning published indexes into structured data. NotebookLLM is a mixed bag: it reduces transcription time but makes many errors, so requires combing through output line by line. The errors it hallucinates are telling though...
The remains of 16 children brought home: ‘Burial ceremonies are “an important step toward justice and healing for the families and Tribal Nations impacted by the boarding school era,” the Cheyenne and Arapaho government said.’
ictnews.org/news/the-rem...
ictnews.org/news/the-rem...
The remains and stories of Native American students are being reclaimed from a Pennsylvania cemetery - ICT
The Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma received 16 of its children, exhumed from a Pennsylvania cemetery, and reburied their small wooden coffins last month in a tribal cemetery in Concho, Oklaho...
ictnews.org
November 7, 2025 at 7:17 PM
The remains of 16 children brought home: ‘Burial ceremonies are “an important step toward justice and healing for the families and Tribal Nations impacted by the boarding school era,” the Cheyenne and Arapaho government said.’
ictnews.org/news/the-rem...
ictnews.org/news/the-rem...
An American folk hero was born today
November 6, 2025 at 8:02 PM
An American folk hero was born today
Another pathway to the professoriate being closed #academicsky
UC to Stop Funding Systemwide Postdoc Program
Established in 1984 to encourage women and minority Ph.D.s to pursue academia, the program has attracted right-wing criticism for prioritizing diverse candidates. https://bit.ly/3WFBSpb
#EDUSky #AcademicSky #HigherEd
Established in 1984 to encourage women and minority Ph.D.s to pursue academia, the program has attracted right-wing criticism for prioritizing diverse candidates. https://bit.ly/3WFBSpb
#EDUSky #AcademicSky #HigherEd
November 5, 2025 at 8:22 PM
Another pathway to the professoriate being closed #academicsky
Reposted by Bobby Lee
CFP for Slavery North conference on "Rebellion, Resistance, and Refuge: Slavery and Border-Crossing during the American Revolution" @umassamherst.bsky.social 7/9-7/12/2026, abstracts due 12/19/2025 #vastearlyamerica slaverynorth.com/event/call-f... 🗃️
Call for Abstracts: Academic Conference - Slavery North
Rebellion, Resistance, and Refuge: Slavery and Border-Crossing during the American Revolution Call for Abstracts: Academic Conference Dates: Thursday, July 9 to Sunday, July 12, 2026 Location: Univers...
slaverynorth.com
November 5, 2025 at 4:27 PM
CFP for Slavery North conference on "Rebellion, Resistance, and Refuge: Slavery and Border-Crossing during the American Revolution" @umassamherst.bsky.social 7/9-7/12/2026, abstracts due 12/19/2025 #vastearlyamerica slaverynorth.com/event/call-f... 🗃️
Made the mistake of mentally committing myself to reading through the private laws of the United States without realizing they run to like 800 pages some years. Finding myself wishing ill on all these Civil War pensioners
November 3, 2025 at 10:11 PM
Made the mistake of mentally committing myself to reading through the private laws of the United States without realizing they run to like 800 pages some years. Finding myself wishing ill on all these Civil War pensioners
Very likely that by the end of this week the US will be in it’s longest government shutdown ever - beating Trump’s record from his first term. My guess is that it won’t end until air traffic controllers call out en masse, which most congresspeople can’t avoid being personally inconvenienced by
November 2, 2025 at 1:45 PM
Very likely that by the end of this week the US will be in it’s longest government shutdown ever - beating Trump’s record from his first term. My guess is that it won’t end until air traffic controllers call out en masse, which most congresspeople can’t avoid being personally inconvenienced by
I recently wrote an article about colleges getting reparations for war damage to buildings built by slaves. It examined one case, but there are others. No one knows how many. Anyway, I just came across Washington and Lee Uni collecting $17k for Civil War damage to property amassed by selling slaves
November 2, 2025 at 11:31 AM
I recently wrote an article about colleges getting reparations for war damage to buildings built by slaves. It examined one case, but there are others. No one knows how many. Anyway, I just came across Washington and Lee Uni collecting $17k for Civil War damage to property amassed by selling slaves
Reposted by Bobby Lee
'His book tour brought him to Cambridgeshire, where he would marry and have two children with Susannah Cullen, an Englishwoman from Ely. They settled in Soham, supported by a local network including abolitionist friends, safe...when reactionary “church and king” mobs were targeting reformers.' 1/3
Lost grave of daughter of Black abolitionist Olaudah Equiano found by A-level student
Fitzwilliam Museum has uncovered student’s work from 1977 that revealed Cambridgeshire location of child’s burial place
www.theguardian.com
November 1, 2025 at 8:24 AM
'His book tour brought him to Cambridgeshire, where he would marry and have two children with Susannah Cullen, an Englishwoman from Ely. They settled in Soham, supported by a local network including abolitionist friends, safe...when reactionary “church and king” mobs were targeting reformers.' 1/3
Reposted by Bobby Lee
Today, the descendants of the people enslaved by these Massachusetts families are in tremendous need. This is the exact area hit hardest by Hurricane Melissa. Part of the reason the people are so vulnerable is that their ancestors were enslaved, exploited, and impoverished to make Cambridge rich.
October 30, 2025 at 6:01 PM
Today, the descendants of the people enslaved by these Massachusetts families are in tremendous need. This is the exact area hit hardest by Hurricane Melissa. Part of the reason the people are so vulnerable is that their ancestors were enslaved, exploited, and impoverished to make Cambridge rich.
Haven’t heard much from historians about NARA being closed because we all have emergency funds of thousands of archival photographs we’ve yet to look at
October 29, 2025 at 10:06 PM
Haven’t heard much from historians about NARA being closed because we all have emergency funds of thousands of archival photographs we’ve yet to look at
Reposted by Bobby Lee
How the legacy of the Civil War—as presented by writers, poets, and artists of the time—has shaped American visions of democracy.
@shirleyinithaca.bsky.social's Haunted by the Civil War is now available (23 Dec UK pub). Learn more: press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
#Literature #History #CivilWar
@shirleyinithaca.bsky.social's Haunted by the Civil War is now available (23 Dec UK pub). Learn more: press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
#Literature #History #CivilWar
October 28, 2025 at 4:31 PM
How the legacy of the Civil War—as presented by writers, poets, and artists of the time—has shaped American visions of democracy.
@shirleyinithaca.bsky.social's Haunted by the Civil War is now available (23 Dec UK pub). Learn more: press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
#Literature #History #CivilWar
@shirleyinithaca.bsky.social's Haunted by the Civil War is now available (23 Dec UK pub). Learn more: press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
#Literature #History #CivilWar
Reposted by Bobby Lee
What just fell out of this court record? Pounce! Before blotting paper became available, & for long after too, people used pulverized cuttlefish bone to dry ink. You can it clearly on this inky mess of a signature, together with a piece of contemporary blotting paper for comparison 🗃️ #bookhistory
October 27, 2025 at 5:44 PM
What just fell out of this court record? Pounce! Before blotting paper became available, & for long after too, people used pulverized cuttlefish bone to dry ink. You can it clearly on this inky mess of a signature, together with a piece of contemporary blotting paper for comparison 🗃️ #bookhistory
“if Rushmore’s story is told the right way, ‘people are going to be leaving pissed’”
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
‘The Rushmore story is hard to tell’: how an Indigenous park leader revealed the monument’s dark side
As memorial marks 100 years, Gerard Baker, park’s Native American ex-superintendent believes if Rushmore’s story is told the right way, ‘people are going to be leaving pissed’
www.theguardian.com
October 26, 2025 at 9:23 PM
“if Rushmore’s story is told the right way, ‘people are going to be leaving pissed’”
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Very helpful name for a law
October 26, 2025 at 4:33 PM
Very helpful name for a law
I can’t believe we’re only 9 months in. Worse every week. Never a break.
October 25, 2025 at 7:27 PM
I can’t believe we’re only 9 months in. Worse every week. Never a break.
This fox won’t quit. It pulled out the debris and moved the bricks I put in the tunnel it dug. Got me feeling like farmer Boggis out here
October 25, 2025 at 8:44 AM
This fox won’t quit. It pulled out the debris and moved the bricks I put in the tunnel it dug. Got me feeling like farmer Boggis out here
Most of the recent private laws passed by the US relate to immigration status adjustments but you occasionally get ones like this: $1 million in back pay to a double agent who spent decades under cover
www.congress.gov/107/statute/...
www.congress.gov/107/statute/...
www.congress.gov
October 25, 2025 at 6:09 AM
Most of the recent private laws passed by the US relate to immigration status adjustments but you occasionally get ones like this: $1 million in back pay to a double agent who spent decades under cover
www.congress.gov/107/statute/...
www.congress.gov/107/statute/...
College looking like a postcard today
October 22, 2025 at 1:21 PM
College looking like a postcard today
US went from having the first Native chair of the NEH to devastating cuts to Native artists and orgs
ictnews.org/arts-enterta...
ictnews.org/arts-enterta...
A changing Native art world under the Trump administration - ICT
‘These actions in combination with their rhetoric are unnerving, and are but one of many challenges at hand and to come’
ictnews.org
October 22, 2025 at 6:46 AM
US went from having the first Native chair of the NEH to devastating cuts to Native artists and orgs
ictnews.org/arts-enterta...
ictnews.org/arts-enterta...
Reposted by Bobby Lee
A rancher went all the way to the Supreme Court in his effort to make corner-crossing on the public/private land checkerboards illegal trespassing. He wasted his money. Good. www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/natural-reso...
U.S. Supreme Court denies taking on corner crossing case
That means stepping over private land access public land remains legal in some states, including Wyoming, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico.
www.wyomingpublicmedia.org
October 21, 2025 at 11:54 PM
A rancher went all the way to the Supreme Court in his effort to make corner-crossing on the public/private land checkerboards illegal trespassing. He wasted his money. Good. www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/natural-reso...