June 28-29, 2025: June 2025 Recap

[A Recapof the month that was in AmericanStudying.]

June2: GraduationStudying: George Moses Horton’s Poem: A series inspired by myyounger son Kyle’s high school graduation kicks off with the layers behind adeceptively simple poem.

June3: GraduationStudying: Crummell and Douglass’s Debate: The series continueswith an impromptu graduation day debate that exemplifies one of our mostcomplex and crucial questions.

June4: GraduationStudying: Du Bois’s Speech: Two lessons from one of myfavorite speeches by my favorite American, as the series commences on.

June5: GraduationStudying: The Graduate: One aspect of the iconic 1967 filmthat hasn’t aged well, and two that still feel very relevant.

June6: GraduationStudying: That Suncreen Speech: The series concludes withthree stand-out quotes from Mary Schmich’s famous 1997 advice for graduates.

June7-8: What’s Next for Kyle: And a follow-up update on what’s next for myfavorite recent graduate!

June9: Revolutionary War Figures: Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys: Inhonor of the Continental Army’s 250th birthday, a Revolutionary Warseries kicks off with the less than noble side to a folk hero.

June10: Revolutionary War Figures: Molly Pitcher: The series continues with whythe iconic hero who might not have existed still matters.

June11: Revolutionary War Figures: The “Black Regiment”: Three telling detailsabout the Continental Army’s longstanding African American regiment, as theseries fights on.

June12: Revolutionary War Figures: Benedict Arnold: The benefits andlimitations to remembering our most infamous traitor the way that we do.

June13: Revolutionary War Figures: YA Novels: The series concludes with three groundbreakinghistorical novels that reflect the evolution of YA literature as well as ourRevolutionary memories.

June14-15: Revolutionary War Figures: The Continental Army: For the ContinentalArmy’s 250th, a special post featuring three details about itsformation and evolution.

June16: American Nazis: Madison Square Garden: For the 80thanniversary of Operation Paperclip, a series on Nazis in America kicks off withan infamous 1939 event.

June17: American Nazis: Ford, Lindbergh, and Coughlin: The series continueswith three famous figures who reflect the breadth and depth of American Nazism.

June18: American Nazis: The Plot Against America: Three telling and compellinglayers to Philip Roth’s 2004 novel, as the series marches on.

June19: American Nazis: Wernher von Braun: Three striking lines from Tom Lehrer’ssatirical song about the Nazi turned American scientist.

June20: American Nazis: Neo-Nazis and Charlottesville: The series concludeswith how we can respond to a resurgent Neo-Nazi movement.

June21-22: American Nazis: Project Paperclip and Hunters: A special weekendpost on one of our best cultural representations of Operation Paperclip andNazis in America.

June23: Sound in Film: Vitaphone’s Anniversary: A series on the 100thanniversary of a groundbreaking cinematic technology kicks off with contextsfor that pioneering moment.

June24: Sound in Film: Al Jolson: The series continues with how the firstspoken dialogue in an American film reflects some of our worst and best.

June25: Sound in Film: Mid-Century Evolutions: How two films and one genre reflectthe changing landscape of film sounds, as the series talks on.

June26: Sound in Film: Dialogue Dubbing: Revealing one of film’s hiddenhistories through three characters whose dialogue was dubbed by a differentperformer.

June27: Sound in Film: Meaningful Music: The series concludes with a link to awonderful piece from FilmStudier Vaughn Joy on how one iconic film uses music.

Nextseries starts Monday,

Ben

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