Martha S. Jones's Blog
March 6, 2019
At the UCLA Luskin Center for History and Policy.
David Myers and the UCLA Luskin Center for History and Policy offered me a unique opportunity to reflect out loud on writing history in troubled time with an invitation to the “Historians and Society” series. I took the occasion to explore my own concerns and conflicts about being a historian of citizenship in the midst of a humanitarian crisis. I very grateful to my UCLA colleagues who listened with care and then responded with compassion and important questions. You can watch here.
February 12, 2019
At Rutgers-Newark Law School.
At Rutgers Law, I was reunited with my friend Elise Boddie, at the invitation of Professor Rose Cuison Villazor, who directs the Rutgers-Newark Law School Center for Immigration Law, Policy and Justice. Special thanks to Dean David Lopez and Chancellor Nancy Cantor for coming out!
February 11, 2019
At the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health: Race and Rights in Pre-Civil War Baltimore
I was honored with Dean Josh Sharfstein invited me to speak with the public health community about my research on birthright citizenship. I wasn’t sure that I knew quite what to say, but a great audience helped create a strong 60 minutes of thinking about birthright, past and present.
February 8, 2019
At Rutgers Law, Newark: Birthright Citizens with Martha Jones and Elise Boddie
I joined Elise Boddie for a discussion of Birthright Citizens, at Rutgers Law School, Newark — organized by the Center for Immigration Law, Policy and Justice and the Association of Black Law Students. Don’t miss Elise’s brilliant commentary later in the video where she illuminates our contemporary political struggles through the lens of 19th century struggles. It was a memorable exchange. As a special honor, we were joined by Dean David Lopez and Chancellor Nancy Cantor, along with Center Director Professor Rose Villager.
January 19, 2019
A PROSE Award Finalist: Birthright Citizens
A real honor! Birthright Citizens was honored as a finalist for the PROSE best book in U.S./North American History award by the American Association of Publishers.
January 4, 2019
Sad News: The Passing of Professor Rosalyn Terborg-Penn
Among a small cadres of black women historians whose work paved the way for my own was Dr. Rosalyn Terborg-Penn. Her pioneering work on black women in the women’s suffrage movement is a text to which I still return and teach every chance I get. Dr. Terborg-Penn sadly passed away in December 2018, just after so many of us had enjoyed her insight and wit during the 40th anniversary meeting of the Association of Black Women Historians, an organization she had helped to found. I was grateful for the chance to pay a small trip to her here in the New York Times. RIP.
November 30, 2018
Birthright Citizens Among Best of 2018: Zócalo Public Square’s “11 Books that Got Us Through 2018.”
High praise for Birthright Citizens: “If you want to understand the debates that are tearing our country apart right now, you must start here.”
November 23, 2018
Birthright Citizens Makes Scholarly Kitchen’s Best Reads of 2018 List
Karin Wulf singles out Birthright Citizens: “I read some really wonderful books this year, and added a huge number to my “must read” pile. Among the very best, and one I’m urging family and friends as well as colleagues to read, is Birthright Citizens: A History of Race and Rights in Antebellum America . Birthright Citizens takes up an issue with clear contemporary resonance. How does anyone, born in the United States or born abroad, become a citizen, and what rights are conferred by, let alone guaranteed by citizenship?”
November 18, 2018
For Public Books: “Michelle Obama’s Embrace.”
This one came straight from the heart, in a way that was only possible after talking personally with Mrs. Obama. I continue to wrestle with my so-called mixed-race family history and identity, but after reading her memoir, Becoming, I was able to tell her how moved I was by her embrace of people like me. And then I wrote about it for Public Books.
November 16, 2018
In Memorium: Ira Berlin, 1941-2018.
This afternoon we joined his family and friends to say goodbye to a beloved colleague and friend, Ira Berlin. His scholarship is legend in the field of slavery. And I am especially indebted to Ira for his interest in Birthright Citizens. He was the first to comment on an early article with a characteristic “You’re onto something!” And his field defining Slaves Without Masters was the counterpart always simmering under my prose. My best memories of Ira and his beloved wife Martha are of time we spent together in France. In Paris, where we spent a long night hearing the sounds of Nantes’ Fete de la Musique, and shoe shopping along the rue Cherche Midi for shoes. The memorial at the National Museum of African American History and Culture was a fitting tribute, and featured the moving sounds of the University of Maryland Gospel Choir. RIP, dear Ira.
