Considering History: A Tribute to Steve Railton and the Best of American Education
Ben Railton pays tribute to his father by highlighting the most consistent throughline of his life: educational communities.
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Considering History: We Still Need to Learn from These Education Reformers
Ben Railton highlights education reformers from the first half of the 20th century from whom we still have a great deal to learn in the 21st.
Considering History: A Birthday Week Tribute to the Best of Charlottesville
Ben Railton shares a special birthday week tribute to a half-dozen figures from across the last half-century, iconic individuals who exemplify his hometown’s community and American story.
Retelling the Story of Chinatown Through Community and Confinement
These treasured neighborhoods are a source of cultural pride, but also an emblem of America’s dark past.
Considering History: Henry Gerber and the Society for Human Rights
Henry Gerber founded one of the most groundbreaking efforts in the fight for LGBTQ+ rights.
Considering History: Memorial Day Lessons from My Grandfather’s World War II Letters
American Studies Professor Ben Railton shares letters written by his grandfather during his service in World War II.
Considering History: The Soldiers of the Aloha Team Took Baseball by Storm
During World War II, a group of Japanese Americans in Hawaii joined the army and formed the Aloha Team, one of the best baseball teams in the armed forces.
Considering History: Jackie Robinson, Japanese Americans, and the Best of American Sports and Community
Jackie Robinson can help us better remember a largely forgotten teammate and childhood friend, Shigeo “Shig” Takayama, and the connections between African American and Japanese American baseball.
Six Great Real-Life Journalism Films
Fifty years ago, All the President’s Men set a new standard for depicting jounalism on film.
Considering History: Reframing Cesar Chavez Day to Focus on the Collective Farm Worker Movement
When it comes to Cesar Chavez Day, we have an opportunity to move away from tributes to a single figure and toward memories of the farm worker movement as a whole.
Considering History: Denis Kearney, Mary Doyle Curran, and the Worst and Best of Irish America
Commemorating St. Patrick’s Day as an Irish American holiday allows us to recognize a striking duality at the heart of the community’s American story in these two lives.
Considering History: The Groundbreaking Women of the 1932 U.S. Olympic Team
No past U.S. women’s Olympic team had a more complex and compelling story than the athletes who took part in the 1932 Los Angeles Summer Olympics.
Considering History: Bad Bunny, José Martí, and a Hemispheric America
Inspired by that Super Bowl performance from one of our moment’s most famous Caribbean young men, American Studies Professor Ben Railton share the story of another of history’s most prominent such figures: José Martí.
Considering History: Minnesota’s Black History and America’s Defining Diversity
Minnesota’s African American history highlights how much the state has always embodied diversity and the ongoing challenge of living up to our ideals of equality and justice for all.
Considering History: Public Broadcasting’s Origins Remind Us of Its Vital Role Today
This institution has played an important role in American society for nearly 60 years.
Considering History: Common Sense, Loyalists, and the Fight for American Ideals
Thomas Paine’s pamphlet can offer a perspective on the overlooked Revolutionary community known as the Loyalists, who demonstrated that the Revolution was fought not by or for a particular culture or community, but for a set of foundational ideals.