Ed Gitre
@edgitre.bsky.social
Father of 2 amazing boys, husband, historian, educator, school board member, digital scholar, director of https://americansoldierww2.org. Working on a book on the battle over Jim Crow in the US Army in WWII. Opinions my own.
On Facebook, Black Liberators in the Netherlands posted pictures of panels the Heritage Foundation reportedly pressed the Trump administration to have removed from the American cemetery in Margraten.
Black soldiers who volunteered for combat duty as riflemen are among the dead buried there.
Black soldiers who volunteered for combat duty as riflemen are among the dead buried there.
November 10, 2025 at 7:04 PM
On Facebook, Black Liberators in the Netherlands posted pictures of panels the Heritage Foundation reportedly pressed the Trump administration to have removed from the American cemetery in Margraten.
Black soldiers who volunteered for combat duty as riflemen are among the dead buried there.
Black soldiers who volunteered for combat duty as riflemen are among the dead buried there.
Thank you, @americanstudier.bsky.social, for highlighting my essay.
Here it is, my 249th #ScholarSunday thread of great public scholarly writing & work, podcast episodes, new & forthcoming books from the last week. Add more below in comments, please share as widely as possible, & enjoy, all! 🗃️
blackwhiteandread.com/scholarsunda...
blackwhiteandread.com/scholarsunda...
#ScholarSunday Thread 249 (11/9/25) – Black and White and Read All Over
Here it is, my 249th #ScholarSunday thread of great public scholarly writing & work, podcast episodes, new & forthcoming books from the last week. Add more below in comments, please share as widely as...
blackwhiteandread.com
November 9, 2025 at 2:36 PM
Thank you, @americanstudier.bsky.social, for highlighting my essay.
All-volunteer Black rifle companies fought alongside White companies in 1945 in the race to Berlin. These men put their lives on the line in service to their country.
White supremacists still can't accept that these Americans played essential roles in an Allied victory.
time.com/7329734/mili....
White supremacists still can't accept that these Americans played essential roles in an Allied victory.
time.com/7329734/mili....
November 9, 2025 at 2:29 PM
All-volunteer Black rifle companies fought alongside White companies in 1945 in the race to Berlin. These men put their lives on the line in service to their country.
White supremacists still can't accept that these Americans played essential roles in an Allied victory.
time.com/7329734/mili....
White supremacists still can't accept that these Americans played essential roles in an Allied victory.
time.com/7329734/mili....
I was gutted to hear of Alison's passing. She was on my dissertation committee. Her energy, kindness, and dedication will always stay with me. I was in awe of how she and her husband Keith juggled parenting and trailblazing careers. Just devastating news.
I've been waiting to comment publicly on this until the university made its announcement, but the Department of History at Princeton is devastated by the recent death of our wonderful colleague Alison Isenberg.
Alison Isenberg, distinguished urban historian and co-founder of Princeton-Mellon Initiative in Architecture, Urbanism and the Humanities, dies
A public memorial and celebration of Isenberg’s life will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 6, at the University Chapel.
www.princeton.edu
November 8, 2025 at 1:19 AM
I was gutted to hear of Alison's passing. She was on my dissertation committee. Her energy, kindness, and dedication will always stay with me. I was in awe of how she and her husband Keith juggled parenting and trailblazing careers. Just devastating news.
What a magnificent day for our democracy yesterday.
Mamdani: "New York will remain a city of immigrants, a city built by immigrants, powered by immigrants, and as of tonight, led by an immigrant."
November 5, 2025 at 12:39 PM
What a magnificent day for our democracy yesterday.
Brilliant
ICYMI: Drop everything and spend 13 minutes with Amy Sherald--with her singular vision and talent, with her clarity about her central place in the jagged American story. You will be stirred by it all. www.cbsnews.com/video/amy-sh...
Artist Amy Sherald: The 60 Minutes Interview
Amy Sherald spent years painting in obscurity, and almost died from a rare heart condition. Now 52, the artist behind Michelle Obama's official portrait is one of America's most celebrated painters.
www.cbsnews.com
October 26, 2025 at 11:57 PM
Brilliant
Willful ignorance or deliberate manipulation of recent military history? Convenient to pass over WWII when equal representation (racial quotas) in the armed forces served "the mission." Caldwell in @nytopinion.nytimes.com recycles the spurious arguments of the pro-segregationists.
NYT published an opinion today by Christopher Caldwell of the Claremont Institute. The Heritage Foundation cited Caldwell in a March article titled: "Trump Is Bringing About a Regime Change Not Seen Since 1933."
Is this the New York Times or Völkischer Beobachter?
@jeffjarvis.bsky.social thoughts?
Is this the New York Times or Völkischer Beobachter?
@jeffjarvis.bsky.social thoughts?
October 8, 2025 at 6:36 PM
Willful ignorance or deliberate manipulation of recent military history? Convenient to pass over WWII when equal representation (racial quotas) in the armed forces served "the mission." Caldwell in @nytopinion.nytimes.com recycles the spurious arguments of the pro-segregationists.
"Equal opportunity of service and of recreation are the right of every American soldier regardless of branch, race, color or creed." Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1 March 1944
September 30, 2025 at 10:45 PM
"Equal opportunity of service and of recreation are the right of every American soldier regardless of branch, race, color or creed." Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1 March 1944
Let's travel back further to March 6, 1942. The Senate Committee on Military Affairs was debating an armed forces reorg. Committee member Truman argued, "If we could just get the War Department and the Navy Department on speaking terms..., I don't think that we will ever have another Pearl Harbor."
September 5, 2025 at 9:53 PM
Let's travel back further to March 6, 1942. The Senate Committee on Military Affairs was debating an armed forces reorg. Committee member Truman argued, "If we could just get the War Department and the Navy Department on speaking terms..., I don't think that we will ever have another Pearl Harbor."
Tell that to the former Axis Powers of World War II. It appears our VP is unfamiliar with the concept of "unconditional surrender."
JD Vance: "This is how wars ultimately get settled. If you go back to World War 2, if you go back to every major conflict in human history, they all end with some kind of negotiation."
August 25, 2025 at 12:24 PM
Tell that to the former Axis Powers of World War II. It appears our VP is unfamiliar with the concept of "unconditional surrender."
Foundations of modern academia are crumbling before our eyes.
Meanwhile, at the University of Chicago... www.insidehighered.com/news/admissi...
August 23, 2025 at 3:47 PM
Foundations of modern academia are crumbling before our eyes.
Reposted by Ed Gitre
"As I went through the papers of [the American grassroots movement], their private papers and their organizational papers both, what I found was this deep and abiding expression of anti-internationalism, which they then redefined as a defense of sovereignty."
- @jenmittelstadt.bsky.social
- @jenmittelstadt.bsky.social
August 15, 2025 at 1:26 PM
"As I went through the papers of [the American grassroots movement], their private papers and their organizational papers both, what I found was this deep and abiding expression of anti-internationalism, which they then redefined as a defense of sovereignty."
- @jenmittelstadt.bsky.social
- @jenmittelstadt.bsky.social
Reposted by Ed Gitre
Reposted by Ed Gitre
How do we pay respect this #MemorialDay? Consider one Black #WWII soldier's request. "Don't you think it would be a grand gesture and the beginning of great progress if the people (of the United States) as a whole would have their eyes opened ... "
americansoldierww2.org/surveys/a/S1...
americansoldierww2.org/surveys/a/S1...
May 26, 2025 at 5:22 PM
How do we pay respect this #MemorialDay? Consider one Black #WWII soldier's request. "Don't you think it would be a grand gesture and the beginning of great progress if the people (of the United States) as a whole would have their eyes opened ... "
americansoldierww2.org/surveys/a/S1...
americansoldierww2.org/surveys/a/S1...
"Dr. Carla Hayden was a leader in the digitization of libraries and a steadfast advocate for their public mission. Her dismissal signals more than a routine personnel shift—it reflects a deeper contest over who controls the curation and dissemination of knowledge in the digital age."
"For me, the answer now lies in refusal, the withdrawal of participation from systems that require dishonesty as the price of belonging."
Today I am resigning from the National Science Board and the Library of Congress Scholars Council.
I wrote about my decision in TIME.
time.com/7285045/resi...
Today I am resigning from the National Science Board and the Library of Congress Scholars Council.
I wrote about my decision in TIME.
time.com/7285045/resi...
Why I’m Resigning from the NSF and Library of Congress
I cannot participate in systems that require dishonesty as the price of belonging.
time.com
May 13, 2025 at 9:16 PM
"Dr. Carla Hayden was a leader in the digitization of libraries and a steadfast advocate for their public mission. Her dismissal signals more than a routine personnel shift—it reflects a deeper contest over who controls the curation and dissemination of knowledge in the digital age."
Virginia Tech is hiring an instructor in modern military history, I'm happy to announce. We're looking for a scholar who can teach operational history and also contribute to our thriving war & society program.
@smh-historians.bsky.social
@wwiimuseum.bsky.social
@smh-historians.bsky.social
@wwiimuseum.bsky.social
Details | Instructor in Modern Military History | Careers | Division of Human Resources | Virginia Tech
careers.pageuppeople.com
May 9, 2025 at 1:57 PM
Virginia Tech is hiring an instructor in modern military history, I'm happy to announce. We're looking for a scholar who can teach operational history and also contribute to our thriving war & society program.
@smh-historians.bsky.social
@wwiimuseum.bsky.social
@smh-historians.bsky.social
@wwiimuseum.bsky.social
Reposted by Ed Gitre
🧵 EXTRA History Lesson Today! Since we were on the topic of WWII today, let’s talk about the vital importance of the Code Talkers. After the U.S. joined the war, the efforts of the Marines in the Pacific were stalling due to the Japanese breaking the American’s radio codes. Many young (1/5)
May 8, 2025 at 8:08 PM
🧵 EXTRA History Lesson Today! Since we were on the topic of WWII today, let’s talk about the vital importance of the Code Talkers. After the U.S. joined the war, the efforts of the Marines in the Pacific were stalling due to the Japanese breaking the American’s radio codes. Many young (1/5)
Reposted by Ed Gitre
It is such an impactful and wonderful project!
May 8, 2025 at 1:13 PM
It is such an impactful and wonderful project!
Our project was a labor of love, made possible by hundreds of students, scores of scholars & DH practitioners, & thousands of "citizen-archivists" from around the world. It would not exist without #NEH funding. A gutted NEH will mean that projects like ours will no longer be possible.
History Lesson: Today is VE Day! 80 years ago, WWII in Europe (not Japan, but Europe) was officially over. Germany signed the unconditional surrender at small schoolhouse in Reims, France on May 7, but the war was declared over at midnight. To learn more about the American soldiers’ (1/2)
May 8, 2025 at 12:48 PM
Our project was a labor of love, made possible by hundreds of students, scores of scholars & DH practitioners, & thousands of "citizen-archivists" from around the world. It would not exist without #NEH funding. A gutted NEH will mean that projects like ours will no longer be possible.
Reposted by Ed Gitre
We won!! A nationwide preliminary injunction against McMahon's February Dear Colleague letter which tried to stop public schools & higher Ed from teaching honest history or enforcing student civil rights. It’s a win for students, families & educators. democracyforward.org/updates/harm...
Harmful Attacks on Educational Programs Paused by Court in Case Brought By Educators - Democracy Forward
democracyforward.org
April 24, 2025 at 6:36 PM
We won!! A nationwide preliminary injunction against McMahon's February Dear Colleague letter which tried to stop public schools & higher Ed from teaching honest history or enforcing student civil rights. It’s a win for students, families & educators. democracyforward.org/updates/harm...
More good news for public education, this time in the MD case. www.aft.org/press-releas...
Harmful Attacks on Educational Programs Paused by Court in Case Brought By AFT, ASA, School District
Court Blocks “Dear Colleague Letter” Purporting to Prosecute or Cut Funding Based on Teaching History, Sociology, Or Other Lessons That Reference Race or Racism
www.aft.org
April 25, 2025 at 11:12 AM
More good news for public education, this time in the MD case. www.aft.org/press-releas...