February 1-2, 2025: January 2025 Recap

[A Recapof the month that was in AmericanStudying.]

December30: 2025 Anniversaries: King Philip’s War: My annual historic anniversariesseries kicks off with the 350th anniversary of a tragic earlyAmerican conflict.

December31: 2025 Anniversaries: Lexington and Concord: The series continues with twoimportant ways to add to our Revolutionary memories for the 250th.

January 1:2025 Anniversaries: The Erie Canal: For the 200th anniversaryof its opening, three figures who helped construct the Erie Canal.

January 2:2025 Anniversaries: Two 1875 Laws: The Page Act, the Civil Rights Act,and the worst and best of America, as the series remembers on.

January 3:2025 Anniversaries: 1925 Literature: A link to a Saturday Evening PostConsidering History column where I argued for complementing The Great Gatsbywith other 1925 lit.

January4-5: 2025 Anniversaries: Five 1975 Films: The series concludes with quickthoughts on what five class 1975 films can tell us in 2025.

January 6:Great Society Laws: Civil and Voting Rights: For the Great Society’s 60thanniversary, a series on its groundbreaking laws kicks off with three pivotalcivil rights acts.

January 7:Great Society Laws: Education and the Arts: The series continues with twospecific laws and one broader effect of the Great Society.

January 8:Great Society Laws: Economic Safety Nets: Three distinct and equally importantways that the Great Society created safety nets, as the series acts on.

January 9:Great Society Laws: Medicare and Medicaid: How the Great Society reflected twodistinct ways of thinking about health care, and why the second is stillurgently needed.

January10: Great Society Laws: Immigration and America: Theseries concludes with one definitively inclusive thing the 1965 Immigration Actdid, one more complicated effect, and the bottom line.

January11-12: The Great Society in 2025: A special weekend follow-up on wherewe are in January 2025, and why we need to fight for the Great Society now morethan ever.

January13: Spring Semester Previews: Graduate Research Methods: For my Springsemester previews series, I wanted to focus on skills we’ll be working on in myclasses this semester, starting with the combination of clarity and nuance inmy Grad course.

January14: Spring Semester Previews: First-Year Writing II: The series continueswith a film I’m for the first time hesitant to share with my First-Year Writingstudents, and why that makes it even more important to do so.

January15: Spring Semester Previews: Major American Authors of the 20C: How creativeassignments can complement and strengthen analytical writing, as the seriesteaches on.  

January16: Spring Semester Previews: American Literature II: Why I’m stillcommitted to including longer works in my literature classes despite thechallenges.

January17: Spring Semester Previews: The Short Story Online: The series concludeswith the unmistakable frustrations of generative AI, and how I’m trying to pushback.

January18-19: Spring Semester Previews: My Scholarly Work and You: A special weekendpost on my ideas for a next public scholarly podcast, and how you all can help!

January20: Misread Quotes: MLK’s Dream: To build on my annual MLK Day post on themisunderstood King, a series on misread and -remembered quotes, starting withKing’s most famous one.

January21: Misread Quotes: Lincoln’s 2nd Inaugural: The seriescontinues with why one of our most justifiably famous inaugural addresses needsto be remembered more accurately.

January22: Misread Quotes: The Constitution: Three sections of the Constitutionthat conservatives consistently get wrong, as the series reads on.

January23: Misread Quotes: The Bible: And three sections of Scripture about whichI would say the same.

January24: Misread Quotes: Churchill on Politics and Age: The series concludeswith a Churchill quote that never happened, and why it’s even wronger thanthat.

January27: Musical Activism: “We Are the World”: For the recording’s 40thanniversary, a musical activisms series kicks off with three figured who embodythe multiple layers of “World.”

January28: Musical Activism: Live Aid and Farm Aid: The series continues with an overblowncontroversy at one benefit concert that helped produce another enduring one.

January29: Musical Activism: Post-9/11 Songs: How connections to political andhistorical events can change what songs mean and do, as the series plays on.

January30: Musical Activism: Artists United Against Apartheid: Two Americancontexts for an inspiring 1985 musical activism.

January31: Musical Activism: Endorsements: The series concludes with threeexamples and types of political endorsements from musicians.

Super Bowlseries starts Monday,

Ben

PS. Topicsyou’d like to see covered in this space? Guest Posts you’d like to contribute? Lemme know!