Modern medicine traces its scientific roots to the Middle Ages
Contrary to popular belief, early medieval doctors relied on rational deduction to understand and treat disease, Binghamton historian Meg Leja writes in Smithsonian Magazine. Read more
Off the Page from WSKG: The Weeping Time
The largest slave auction in American history took place in 1859, but it’s been largely forgotten by history. Binghamton University historian Anne Bailey joins Crystal Sarakas of WSKG in this podcast for a conversation about race, the erasure of slave auctions, and the healing that families are doing as they trace their history back to the auction block. Read more
Christian schools boom in a revolt against curriculum, pandemic rules
A boom in conservative Christian schooling appears to be driven nationwide by a combination of pandemic frustrations and rising parental anxieties around how schools handle education on issues including race and the rights of transgender students, the New York Times reports, quoting Binghamton historian Adam Laats and others. Read more
Book traces disputes over teaching evolution
A Binghamton University historian argues in a new book that Americans are not divided when it comes to the teaching of evolution: The real disagreements relate to creationism. Read more
Historian’s book project wins NEH backing
Elisa Camiscioli studies immigration to and from France, trafficking between Europe and Latin America, and race and sexual politics in modern France and its empire. Read more
They sold human beings here
For hundreds of years, enslaved people were bought and sold in America. Today most of the sites of this trade are forgotten, Binghamton historian Anne C. Bailey writes in The New York Times. Read more
The case for historians being more engaged in public affairs
Binghamton University scholar Adam Laats writes in the Washington Post that historians “must move aggressively — not just exhort Americans to study the past, but help the public to dismantle historical interpretations that have been bent and twisted the past to support short-term political convenience.” Read more
