Paul Renfro
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renfro.bsky.social
Paul Renfro
@renfro.bsky.social
Historian at Florida State University. Wrote STRANGER DANGER (@oxunipress.bsky.social) and THE LIFE AND DEATH OF RYAN WHITE (@uncpress.bsky.social). Writing THOSE FEARFUL DAYS and THE PASSION OF MATTHEW SHEPARD (@liveright.bsky.social / @wwnorton.com).
Pinned
Let’s goooooooooooooooooooooooo 🗃️
Reposted by Paul Renfro
If you're in the Dallas-area, join us Thursday (2/19) night at SMU for our event *The Life and Death of Ryan White4: AIDS and Inequality in America.* Featuring @renfro.bsky.social. Register for this free event here: lp.constantcontactpages.com/ev/reg/a9jgesk
@uncpress.bsky.social
February 18, 2026 at 8:04 PM
Reposted by Paul Renfro
Jesse Jackson's passing has reminded me of this @dissentmag.bsky.social piece that I cowrote with my dear friend Matt Stanley in 2019, ahead of the 2020 Democratic presidential primaries. I think it's aged fairly well. 🗃️ dissentmagazine.org/online_artic...
The Reactionary Heartland Is a Myth
Don't believe the media stereotype. An inclusive left-populism has won in the Midwest before, and it can win again.
dissentmagazine.org
February 17, 2026 at 5:06 PM
Reposted by Paul Renfro
Jesse Jackson was an early and ardent supporter of gay rights. In fact, on July 17, 1984 at the DNC in San Fransisco, the first speech EVER at a national political convention calling for gay rights was delivered by none other than Rev. Jackson himself.
February 17, 2026 at 2:43 PM
Jesse Jackson's passing has reminded me of this @dissentmag.bsky.social piece that I cowrote with my dear friend Matt Stanley in 2019, ahead of the 2020 Democratic presidential primaries. I think it's aged fairly well. 🗃️ dissentmagazine.org/online_artic...
The Reactionary Heartland Is a Myth
Don't believe the media stereotype. An inclusive left-populism has won in the Midwest before, and it can win again.
dissentmagazine.org
February 17, 2026 at 5:06 PM
Jesse Jackson’s 1984 and 1988 presidential campaigns certainly weren’t perfect. But with an emphasis on hopeful inclusion, they offered a bold, much-needed rejoinder to Reagan’s exclusionary, jingoistic politics of nostalgia and fear. Rest in power. 🗃️
February 17, 2026 at 11:21 AM
Really looking forward to this! See y'all later this week.
Join us Thursday night for a conversation with @renfro.bsky.social, historian at Florida State and former CPH postdoc! He'll be discussing his new book, The Life and Death of Ryan White: AIDS and Inequality in America @uncpress.bsky.social
February 16, 2026 at 2:07 PM
Thinking of this king today.
February 14, 2026 at 12:09 AM
Typical Joan Scott W
“The abolition of gender studies is a way of further guaranteeing impunity to the elite men whose contempt for and exploitation of women and girls apparently knew no bounds, whether they actually slept with the women on offer or simply shared Epstein’s fantasies in order to gain influence.”
Gender studies courses are shutting down across the US. The Epstein files reveal why | Joan Wallach Scott
Texas A&M University is the latest school to end women’s and gender studies programs and teaching race. We know why
www.theguardian.com
February 13, 2026 at 5:54 PM
Reposted by Paul Renfro
“The abolition of gender studies is a way of further guaranteeing impunity to the elite men whose contempt for and exploitation of women and girls apparently knew no bounds, whether they actually slept with the women on offer or simply shared Epstein’s fantasies in order to gain influence.”
Gender studies courses are shutting down across the US. The Epstein files reveal why | Joan Wallach Scott
Texas A&M University is the latest school to end women’s and gender studies programs and teaching race. We know why
www.theguardian.com
February 13, 2026 at 3:10 PM
“Hi.”
February 12, 2026 at 11:05 PM
A literal baby
February 12, 2026 at 11:40 AM
More photographic evidence.
February 10, 2026 at 7:34 PM
Flexing in my office this morning.
February 9, 2026 at 1:03 PM
For those who may not know, Florida A&M is a historically Black university.
February 8, 2026 at 6:50 PM
It is finished.
February 8, 2026 at 2:57 PM
No turning back now.
February 8, 2026 at 12:24 PM
Reposted by Paul Renfro
🎉 FSU is hiring a 2-year postdoc in Public History!! 🎉

Apps (cover letter + cv) due March 11, finalists will submit additional materials (letters + writing sample)

More info available here: careers.historians.org/jobs/2201954...
February 4, 2026 at 1:55 PM
Here are the books I'm assigning for my Fall 2026 graduate readings course in US History since 1965. (I know I've posted this list before, but I just submitted my textbook orders for the fall, so I thought I would circulate it again.) 🗃️
February 4, 2026 at 2:05 PM
My department at Florida State is hiring a postdoc in public history! I’m not on the search committee, but please feel free to reach out if you have any questions about the position, the department, FSU, or Tallahassee. 🗃️ networks.h-net.org/jobs/69772/f...
Florida State University - Dean's Postdoctoral Scholar (Public History) | H-Net
networks.h-net.org
February 4, 2026 at 11:30 AM
A fundamentally evil news media organization.
February 3, 2026 at 11:49 AM
Gay spaniel on a gay chinoiserie sofa
February 1, 2026 at 11:19 PM
Common Mamdani W
January 30, 2026 at 10:46 PM
Flawless baby
January 30, 2026 at 10:43 PM
A question on the midterm exam in my America in the 1980s course.
January 30, 2026 at 4:36 PM
Wait, wait—a mediocre shithead at an Ivy League university?! Say it ain’t so!
Yale is launching a new Presidential Senior Fellowship to expand access to the transformative work of universities. As part of this program, author and columnist David Brooks will join the Jackson School of Global Affairs starting February 1.

Read more in Yale News: bit.ly/49QpJoY
January 29, 2026 at 10:21 PM