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myhnn.bsky.social
History News Network
@myhnn.bsky.social
2.7K followers 310 following 450 posts
New perspectives on the many ways in which the past shapes the present. Subscribe to our newsletter for weekly deliveries of our original writing about history: http://hnn.us/newsletter

Powered by @bunkhistory.bsky.social at the University of Richmond.
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“He had learned from his media rivals that the appearance of having mass support was as important as actually having it.” www.hnn.us/article/the-...
Top: Postcard from the pre-Empire Crusade Tariff Reform campaign, 1910. [Wikimedia Commons] Bottom: Tariff Reform poster, c. 1910. [LSE Library]
October 31, 2025 at 6:51 PM
myhnn.bsky.social
“The so-called southern Confederacy is fighting for the establishment of a Government, which will have for its corner-stone … the degradation of the many for the purpose of elevating the few; but never shall they succeed so long as I can raise my arm against them.” www.hnn.us/article/elev...
In his Claremont speech, Vance took a swipe at New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, questioning his patriotism and asking, bizarrely, “I wonder, has he ever read the letters from boy soldiers in the Union Army to parents and sweethearts that they’d never see again?” But it’s Vance who needs to hit the books. He can start with the September 18, 1864, letter of Seargeant Charles W. Singer, of the 107th United States Colored Infantry, published in the A.M.E. Church newspaper the Christian Recorder. Singer wrote, “Remember, soldiers, we are fighting a great battle, for the benefit, not only of the country, but for ourselves and the whole of mankind … While this Government stands, there is hope for the most abject, disabled and helpless of mankind … The so-called southern Confederacy is fighting for the establishment of a Government, which will have for its corner-stone the perpetuation of human slavery—the degradation of the many for the purpose of elevating the few; but never shall they succeed so long as I can raise my arm against them.” Invoking the sacrifices of soldiers’ families, Singer added, “Shall we not console our aged mothers with the hope, that, when hereafter their souls, crowned with the garlands of martyrdom, look down from the home of the blessed, the united joys of the heavens shall thrill through their immortal spirits, seeing their dear people free from the bondage of slavery?” Singer saw in America’s promise of equality a creed worth fighting for.
July 16, 2025 at 8:34 PM
myhnn.bsky.social
www.hnn.us/article/coun...
In 1783, weeks after a peace treaty ends the Revolutionary War, Britain invades the independent United States. The British navy blockades the Eastern seaboard, cutting off American trade routes, and the army launches a ground invasion. The French government, deep in debt from aiding the Thirteen Colonies, cannot provide support to the Americans. Does the newly formed nation survive? This question has generated considerable discussion on the Reddit forum “HistoryWhatIf.” In one scenario suggested there, royalist supporters in the South welcome the return of imperial rule and the Southern states rejoin the British Empire, leading to the early abolition of slavery in the North. In another, the British invasion is quickly repelled by hardened Continental Army troops, who annex Canada to the United States. It’s but one of thousands of counterfactuals that have been debated since the forum’s creation in 2014. Popular topics have ranged from the distant past (“What if the Romans had integrated Jesus Christ into the imperial pantheon?”) to the very recent (“If Trump buys the Buffalo Bills in 2014, how does the franchise fare afterwards?”). The forum’s most popular post (“What if Mitt Romney had won in 2012 instead of Obama?”) attracted thousands of comments. Questions related to World War II, the Civil War, American elections, and 9/11 usually garner the most attention.
May 15, 2025 at 1:31 PM
myhnn.bsky.social
“Arising during an election year, the issue was simply shelved.” Read Dana Frank on how a local prosecutor protected white supremacists and went on to a career in Washington, DC. www.hnn.us/article/ohio...
Who stopped the Black Legion? Many of those with the mandate to do so looked the other way. Local and state officials across the Midwest, as well as in Congress, the U.S. Department of Justice, and even FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover knew in meticulous detail about the Legion but chose not to take it on. Many, including Hoover, even squashed prosecutions of the terrorist group. In Washington, DC, the politics were thick. “Why doesn’t the federal government take action?” asked labor journalist George Morris in a 1936 pamphlet about the Black Legion. “The answer is clear. If the investigation were carried beyond Michigan it would reach into the Southern states where the K.K.K. is strong and where Roosevelt has his main base of support. Arising during an election year, the issue was simply shelved.”
January 21, 2025 at 12:13 AM
myhnn.bsky.social
In this week's best-of roundup: histories of Kennedy worship, Hegseth's tattoos, food deserts, newspaper printing & more.

Read and subscribe here: mailchi.mp/historynewsn...
December 6, 2024 at 7:12 PM
myhnn.bsky.social
Revisiting the Agrarian-Distributists and their fabrication of an American past. www.hnn.us/article/the-...
September 3, 2024 at 8:02 PM
myhnn.bsky.social
The hubbub orbited around “the Wigwam.” It was the biggest venue in America at the time, capable of holding 10,000 people. Constructed in rough Western style, it was no beauty. Its “hasty and irregular construction” reminded Hanscom of the entire Republican Party.
August 20, 2024 at 7:41 PM
myhnn.bsky.social
When labor found a common cause — and enemy — with the abolition movement. Read an excerpt from “The Root and the Branch: Working-Class Reform and Antislavery, 1790–1860” by Sean Griffin. www.hnn.us/article/sord...
Cover of “The Root and the Branch: Working-Class Reform and Antislavery, 1790–1860”
May 22, 2024 at 1:00 PM
myhnn.bsky.social
Read @emmagarman.bsky.social on literature masquerading as primary source. At a time when the word “fiction” carried only negative connotations of deception and mendacity, the contrivance of “real” primary sources reassured readers of a story’s legitimacy. www.historynewsnetwork.org/article/a-ki...
May 21, 2024 at 9:43 PM
myhnn.bsky.social
This week’s newsletter is here! mailchi.mp/historynewsn...
May 21, 2024 at 9:42 PM
myhnn.bsky.social
Some personal news!

As of today, HNN is back in action! And we're delighted to introduce our new institutional sponsor: University of Richmond's @bunkhistory.bsky.social.

We'll be sharing more about the new partnership in our newsletter later today. Subscribe here! buff.ly/47Fg2WH
December 1, 2023 at 1:51 PM
myhnn.bsky.social
Revisionist history has indeed gone too far.
Mrs. Krabapple changes American history in accordance with Bart's history test answers: "America was now discovered in 1942 by.... "some guy" and our country isn't called America anymore. It's Boehnerland.
October 13, 2023 at 1:28 AM