University of Maryland Department of History
Moments in
History
NOVEMBER
Another semester moves beyond the halfway point, more than mid-way into the fall of the year, with harvest, holidays, and celebrations looming on the horizon. Fall is a season for taking stock, for reflecting on the year that is passing away. In this issue, colleagues in the Department share memories of a departed colleague, Ira Berlin, who left an indelible impression on everyone he met, no matter how briefly. Memorial ceremonies to honor his memory will be held this month, including at the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, DC. Fall is as well a season for looking forward--to a new year, fresh with opportunities and new accomplishments.While the past is always palpable in our existence, especially to historians, still we look forward to renewal and fulfilling the promise begun by those who have gone before.
2018
Moments in History CONTENTS History has its eyes on you... Remembrances Accomplishments Publications & Presentations Random Moments Events & Activities & Awards Moving On Alums Becoming Historians Graduate Students Undergraduates Forward Looks
History has its eyes on you... Remembrances Julie Greene wrote this obituary for Ira Berlin in the AHA's Perspectives on History, October 2018. Scroll down for complete text, publication linked here. A towering historian of the African American experience, Ira Berlin, distinguished university professor at the University of Maryland, passed away on June 5, 2018, at the age of 77. Stretching over five decades, Berlin’s scholarship transformed understandings of African American history and made struggles over slavery and freedom central to North American history. Known for his generous and spirited camaraderie with faculty, staff, and students alike, Berlin made an inestimable impact through his scholarship and teaching and in service to his profession and university. Born on May 27, 1941, Berlin grew up in the Bronx, the son of Louis and Sylvia Berlin. He attended the University of Wisconsin, receiving a BA in chemistry (1963), then a PhD in history (1970). His dissertation became his first book, Slaves Without Masters: The Free Negro in the Antebellum South (1974). It articulated themes that would remain central to his work: that African American history differed greatly depending on geography and economic status, and that understandings—and experiences—of freedom and slavery changed over time. In the early 1970s, he taught at Federal City College in Washington, DC (where his colleagues included C.L.R. James), before taking an appointment at the University of Maryland, College Park, in 1974. In 1976, Berlin founded the Freedmen and Southern Society Project, serving as its director until 1991. That project has analyzed, annotated, and published thousands of primary documents that profoundly reshaped interpretations of African American history during the Civil War and early Reconstruction. Many Thousands Gone: The First Two Centuries of Slavery in North America (1998) proved to be Berlin’s most influential book, winning the Bancroft Prize, the Frederick Douglass Prize, and many others. This magisterial study demonstrated the complexity of slavery and the ways it, and constructions of race more broadly, changed over time as both slaves and masters shaped the institution. Berlin approached the history of slavery and emancipation as a labor historian—insisting often that slavery must be included as a central part of American labor history—yet his capacious approach expanded to explore the history of culture, kinship, and social relations. He also grew increasingly interested in migration, as seen notably in his books Generations of Captivity: A History of African-American Slaves (2003; winner of the AHA’s Albert J. Beveridge Award) and The Making of African America: The Four Great Migrations (2010). Through his scholarship and teaching, Berlin shaped the intellectual development of many generations of scholars. As adviser or via the Freedmen and Southern Society Project, he mentored many of the most influential historians working in the United States today. He served the University of Maryland as dean of undergraduate studies and dean of the College of Arts and Humanities. In 2011, he co-founded at the University of Maryland (with the present author) the Center for Global Migration Studies, to advance knowledge of migration from a global perspective. Berlin’s work on this center reflected his determination that historical knowledge be deployed to address contemporary social problems. In 2012, he observed that nowhere on campus was there a representation of the life of Frederick Douglass, whom Berlin characterized as “surely the most important person ever to walk the earth of our state.” Berlin began an initiative to honor Douglass, leading to the inauguration in 2015 of Frederick Douglass Square, a plaza featuring an inspiring statue of the fiery abolitionist as a young man. To Berlin’s joy, the plaza immediately became the rallying place for Black Lives Matter protests on campus. His friends, colleagues, and students remember Ira Berlin as a man with a capacious intellect, a warm heart, a fine sense of humor, tremendous energy, and an egalitarian spirit. His many collaborations speak to his love of intellectual community. Berlin’s accomplishments led him to receive innumerable grants, honors, and awards. In 2002–3, he served as president of the Organization of American Historians, and in 2004, he was elected to membership in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2014, Harvard University awarded him the W.E.B. DuBois Medal. And in 2016, the American Historical Association presented Berlin with its Award for Scholarly Distinction. Berlin is survived by his wife, Martha Chait Berlin; his son, Richard Berlin; his daughter, Lisa Berlin Wittenstein; and three grandchildren.
Ira and I had many things in common. We both studied at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, he in the early 1960s, I in its last third. Our scholarship included works on terrible episodes of persecution, his on the history of slavery and its aftermath, mine on the history of Nazi Germany and the Holocaust. We both shared a passion for research and writing and did a lot of each. We both spoke our mind about issues and had done so for many years. These commonalities made for an ease of conversation on those fine occasions when we chatted, more often in his office than in mine. Whether we agreed or disagreed, he was always a gentleman who brought out the gentleman in me. We shared a focus on the primacy of scholarship and teaching and the value of gentle humor and diplomacy in departmental matters. Ira's civility and wisdom set a fine example. There is a bond among scholars who devote decades of their life to recalling such horrors, to offering explanations as to why they took place, and to offering massive evidence that yes, in fact, they did occur. We had that bond, that sense that what we were doing was important and would make a difference over a long run. Certainly, Ira's scholarship has made a major mark on historical scholarship about the history of the United States and about the history of African-Americans during slaver and after. It will continue to do so for decades to come. The day after Ira died, I was in Montgomery, Alabama, where I visited the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, a stunningly powerful reminder in iron and stone of the more than 4,400 African Americans who were lynched and murdered in various ways in the South and border states, and in Maryland as well, from the 1880s to the years just after World War II. I thought of Ira as I walked through and under the iron plates that recorded the names, dates and places of such inhumanity and crime. He stands tall among the many historians whose scholarship contributed to the blend of understated aesthetics with unmistakable historical specificity and detail. Ira Berlin's death is a great loss to the community of scholars, to the Department of History, and the University. I treasure the memories of the good times we had together, as well as the scholarly legacy he leaves us in the form of his historical scholarship. I will miss my colleague and friend a very great deal, and send condolences to Martha and his family, as well as the many other colleagues and students who had the good fortune to work with him over the years .--Jeffrey Herf
Remembrances
Possibly my favorite memory of Ira is when I once told him that I had given a poor lecture and he comforted me by pointing out that the only reason he ever felt he had given a good lecture was because he was aware of others that had not been good. It made me feel a lot better. --Berny Cooperman During racquetball games and bagel lunches I shared with Ira over many years, I especially delighted in stories he told me about growing up with his father’s New York grocery stores. It was an earthy and hotly competitive business, but also one thick with community ties. Surely for the proprietor’s son the aisles crammed with pumpernickel, pickles, and brisket served as a kind of Academy of Practical Commerce and Human Nature. But Ira sought his fortunes elsewhere, and after earning his Ph.D. he one day proudly told his father that he had landed his first academic job. His father congratulated him, then asked: “How do they pay you?” Ira was confused. He explained how the university’s payroll office issued regular checks. After a pause, his father explained: “You can’t make any money that way!” -- David Sicilia
Sub-headings
Michael Ross remembers encounters with Ira Berlin by reputation and by the basketball court.
Headings
Before I came to Maryland eight years ago, I knew Ira through his work. He was the most famous historian of slavery, a once-in-a-generation scholar whose transatlantic vision reshaped how we thought about the past. But only upon arriving in an office down the hall from his did I learn that at heart he was still a kid from the Bronx, full of anecdotes and lessons from his days at DeWitt Clinton High School. Nowhere was it more evident that you can take the boy out of the Bronx, but you can’t take the Bronx out of the boy, then when you joined him for a Maryland Basketball game. Ira was a season ticket holder since the 1970s and his seats were great. They weren’t courtside or in a box like those of the big donors, but by academic standards they were magnificent…close enough that during a lull you could hear the squeak of sneakers or the coach calling a play. Which also meant that the coach, or the referee, or the opposing team might hear you too. And at moments of frustration, Ira would stand up and let key participants know what he thought. His favorite phrase: “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” The fans in the adjoining seats, particularly those who knew Ira as one of the school’s most distinguished professors, would smile. It was fun and humanizing, and for a moment you felt as if you were with Ira in the 1950s at a Yankees game, razzing one of the Dodgers. I suspect there are some university administrators who remember hearing ‘What are you doing?’ from Ira over the years, particularly if they stood in the way of his efforts that transformed the department, the curriculum, and the campus. Ira Berlin, the boy from the Bronx, will be missed.
Two Memories of Ira Berlin “What are you doing tonight?” asked the Distinguished University Professor one afternoon, a few weeks after I had arrived on campus in the fall of 2002. Ira Berlin visited me in my office, after having ostensibly fallen asleep during my job talk a few months earlier. No matter: he invited me to a Maryland basketball game. Of course, I accepted. Little did I know that not only did Ira have season tickets, he was also very passionate about the game. Distinguished and less distinguished attributes were uttered. And Ira was very knowledgeable. It became clear to him that I was not as versed in the intricacies of the game, but that seemed to be fine with Ira. It was one of the best times I had in the arena. Fast-forward almost sixteen years: Ira’s office is next to mine. He doesn’t seem to mind having a soccer-loving immigrant as a neighbor. The 2018 spring semester is just about to end, and I spot Ira in his office. He is visibly marked by his illness, but in good spirits. We chat a little bit. “Ira,” I remark, “the semester is over, my grades are in, and it’s such a relief.” Ira looks at me and puts on a look of experience and playful melancholy. “You know what, Tom,”he replies, “there’s always going to be another semester.” --Thomas Zeller
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Socialization happens slowly in most workplaces. People learn things one at the time, often in contradictory ways. Ira was a model colleague for many reasons, but one that stands out is that you could rely upon him to teach you how to work in an academic department in openness, real collegiality, and good humor. When I arrived at Maryland, I saw that people tended to seal off with paper the glass partitions of their office doors. There were, and are, some good reasons for doing that. Some colleagues have had their wallets and other valuable stolen, as thieves have been able to see what is inside. When I arrived I followed the general model and papered the little glass window on my door. One day Professor Berlin came to my office, as he’d do sometimes, to return something I had given him to read and/or simply chat for a moment. I think Kate was with him -- I may be wrong. At any rate, that day his attention focused on my papered-over glass partition. “Why do you do that” he said? He then proceeded to tear apart the paper, while Kate [?] and I looked on with amusement. “I’ll put it right back on” I told him. “I do not want my bikes and my computer (note the ranking order here) stolen.” “You shouldn’t” Ira replied, in that unique tone of his, which was both pugnacious, and warm, and friendly at the same time. “You want people to see inside. You want your colleagues and students to see that you are in. No secrets!!” I laughed then, and, when he was gone, I put the paper back on. It is still there. But Ira’s was, I realize now, a lesson in transparency and collegiality. Something we need more and more in the world and in our working environments. Now that he is gone, however, his “open window rule” does not help me that much. Through the little window on his office door, I can only see his absence. --Saverio Giovacchini
Everybody knows Ira Berlin as a great scholar, and rightly so. Even though my own work, on the early modern Middle East, is at a remove from Ira’s U.S. focus, I took inspiration from his insights on the all-pervasive nature of the institution of slavery. His Many Thousands Gone in particular provided me with an enlightening read one summer some years ago. For sure the permeative impacts of slavery on American life that the book highlights had special meaning for me as an American. The book put me in touch with a reality that I should have had some appreciation for before, but didn’t. Ira’s elegant conceptualization of the way slavery distorted structures of power shed unexpected light on my own work. The idea of slavery as infecting all of society not only during its heyday but even after its formal abolition was a real lightbulb moment for my own writing about women and slavery in the Middle East. I remain deeply appreciative of the reach of Ira’s intellectual contributions. Given how often his work has been referenced by scholars working on other parts of the globe, obviously Ira’s brilliance was not confined by national borders. I’ll always value those qualities, but what I most recall and remain in awe of is how lightly he carried his scholarly reputation and accomplishments. In addition to having a wonderful, wry sense of humor, a lot of love for New York sports teams, and endless affection for his students and the role of teacher, Ira was modest to a fault, a warm, thoughtful, and generous colleague. I don’t know many colleagues who are missed in so many ways. --Madeline Zilfi
Presentation Moments
Rick's talks and presentations, most recent first: "The Genius of Benjamin Franklin" November 14, 2018 Profs and Pints @ The Bier Baron. Washington, DC "How Hamilton Remixes History and Show Biz" November 13, 2018 Smithsonian Associates, Smithsonian Institution Washington DC "The Nine Lives of Benjamin Franklin Part II" October 29, 2018 Live and Learn Bethesda Bethesda, MD "The Wrong Side of History: Loyalists in the American Revolution" October 28, 2018 Friends of the Virginia Room, City of Fairfax Library Fairfax, VA T"he Lost Boys: Kidnapping and Slavery on America’s Reverse Underground Railroad" *October 25, 2018 Nanyang Technological University, Singapore "The Reverse Underground Railroad: Kidnapping and the Domestic Slave Trade in the United States, 1776-1865 October 24, 2018 "The Lost Boys: Kidnapping and Slavery on America’s Reverse Underground Railroad" October 22, 2018 University of Hong Kong
Rick Bell has been traveling far and wide presenting papers related to his current book project. He has also made several presentations about other research interests such as Benjamin Franklin and the effect of the Pulitzer-Prize winning play Hamilton on the study of early American history.
On November 5, Holly Brewer gave a paper at the first UMD Graduate Field Committee for Medieval and Early Modern Studies event of the academic year. Brewer spoke about "Creating a Fashion for Slavery in the Stuart Court(s): Law, Theater, and Art," material that is part of her current book project. The presentation was given in the Michelle C, Smith Collaboratory for the Visual Arts to showcase the late-seventeenth century art works which Brewer has found contain references to the growth of slavery in the Anglo-Atlantic world. Her presentation highlighted the visual fashion of including slaves wearing silver collars in art work of the period, among other symbolism. The event was very well attended and the work inspired a lively interdisciplinary discussion.
During the summer of 2018, Berny Cooperman held a senior fellowship at the Maimonides Centre for Advanced Studies at the University of Hamburg. While there he completed a study on “Cultural Pluralism from the Ghetto—What Might It Have Meant?” which uses Hebrew and Latin sources to explore the complex response to legal change and professional isolation. He also delivered a research seminar at the Centre devoted to “Must Thought Be Controlled?” The talk suggested a new approach to the rhetoric of religious skepticism, religious toleration, and political secularization in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Cont. below; scroll down In July he gave the keynote talk at the annual international workshop on Jewish Communal Registers, this year held at the Central European University in Budapest. The workshop was jointly sponsored by CEU, the National Library of Israel, University of Maryland, and Brown University. Berny's paper was entitled “Jewish/State Relations and the Emergence of a Jewish Notarial Culture—Pinkasim in context.” In October, back in Washington, he gave a paper on "Inventing Traditional Authority: Jewish Conceptions of Knowledge in Italy" at the German Historical Institute conference: “Agents of Cultural Change: Jewish and other Responses to Modernity, ca. 1750–1900.”
Travel Moments
Berny Cooperman held a Senior Fellowship in the summer of 2018 at the Maimonides Center for Advanced Studies at the University of Hamburg.
Julie
Greene
Julie Greene in China
GLOBAL
In May Greene chaired and presented at a round table for the Latin American Studies Association Conference in Barcelona on "Rethinking Panama: Empire, Race, and Migration. It included scholars from the US, Canada, and Colombia. In June she gave an invited talk at Hong Kong University titled "Imperial Migrations: Labor, Race, and U.S. Global Power in the Early 20th Century U.S." In Hong Kong and in Shenzhen, China, also in June, Julie spent time meeting with activists and touring factory districts in the latter city to understand contemporary labor relations in mainland China. Her essay on that topic, "The Condition of the Working Class in Shenzhen, China," will be published Oct. 1 in Dissent Magazine. Also in June IJulie taught a week-long seminar at Sichuan University, Chengdu, China, on "Social Responses to U.S. Industrialization, During the Gilded Age and Progressive Era," as part of a China Residency Program sponsored by the OAH and the American History Research Association of China. Her essay describing the experience has been published in the OAH magazine, The American Historian and an expanded version of it is available on the OAH website: Speechless in Sichuan: Adventures during the OAH China Residency Program http://www.oah.org/insights/posts/2018/7/speechless-in-sichuan/
Art Eckstein, James Gilbert, and Jeffrey Herf joined fifty-four Distinguished University Professors in writing a letter supporting UMD President's actions in the troubled football program on campus. (Photo left Art Eckstein and Bobby Seale by Judy Gumbo Albert)
November 1, 2018 Revised and expanded: November 2, 2018 To the Regents of the University of Maryland We write as Distinguished University Professors to convey our deep dismay and profound disappointment at your recent actions. From all reports in the public media, it appears that your decision to retain DJ Durkin, who as head football coach is ultimately responsible for the tragic events last spring, has resulted in the resignation of University President Wallace Loh. Dr. Loh, alone of university officials, assumed full moral and financial responsibility on behalf of the university for a tragic death that could have likely been prevented. The differences between the failure of the football coaching staff to respond appropriately and the assumption by the university president of requisite responsibility through which to enable the entire campus – and most importantly, the student-athlete’s family – to acknowledge and deal with the enormity of the death is striking. There is a clear and absolute ethical and even pragmatic distinction between the two. And if by your lights one party must be retained and the other dismissed, then we feel strongly that you have erred in your choice. Durkin, as head coach, is responsible for his staff’s shortcomings and the clearly unhealthy, indeed deeply dangerous, atmosphere created within the program. Someone who is paid 12.5 million dollars over a five-year period should have the elementary common sense to know how to run a football practice on a hot and humid day that does not lead to the death of a player. By reinstating the head football coach and by pressuring the university president to resign, the Regents have revealed their distorted priorities, ones that place potential athletic success over the University’s academic purpose and the health of our athletes. Your decision has already deeply damaged the national reputation of the University. Commentators are viewing your decision as one that reflects the mistaken priorities of the whole institution. Front page articles and commentary in the Washington Post and the New York Times, among other national media, have projected the dysfunction and incompetence of the athletic program onto the entire University. Your decision has reinforced that negative misperception of the rest of the University. Dismissing President Loh while retaining DJ Durkin, the coach who had clear and immediate responsibility for running a safe summer practice and who enabled the tragedy, belittles the moral authority of the Regents and diminishes the integrity of the University. Sincerely, Arthur Eckstein Distinguished University Professor Department of History Ritu Agarwal Distinguished University Professor Robert H. Smith, School of Business Mikhail A. Anisimov Distinguished University Professor Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and, Institute for Physical Science and Technology William E. Bentley Distinguished University Professor Robert E. Fischell Distinguished Chair in Engineering Director, Robert E. Fischell Institute for Biomedical Devices Professor, Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology Research Fischell Department of Bioengineering Jeffrey Bub Philosophy Department Institute for Physical Science and Technology (IPST) Joint Center for Quantum Information and Computer Science (QuICS) Catherine Carr Distinguished University Professor Department of Biology Peter Carruthers Distinguished University Professor Department of Philosophy Rita Colwell Distinguished University Professor Institute for Advanced Computer Studies Maureen Cropper Distinguished University Professor Department of Economics Sankar Das Sarma Distinguished University Professor Director and Richard E. Prange Chair Department of Physics James F. Drake Distinguished University Professor Department of Physics Institute for Physical Science and Technology Catherine Fenselau Distinguished University Professor Emeritus Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry Michael E. Fischer Distinguished University Professor University System of Maryland Regents Professor Institute for Physical Science and Technology Department of Physics Nathan A. Fox Distinguished University Professor Program in Neuroscience and Cognitive Science Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology Mark I. Freidlin, Distinguished University Professor, Department of Mathematics. Elisabeth Gantt Distinguished University Professor Department of Cell and Molecular Biology Michele Gelfand Distinguished University Professor Department of Psychology James Gilbert Emeritus Distinguished University Professor Department of History George Gloeckler Emeritus Distinguished University Professor Department of Physics Ashwani K. Gupta Distinguished University Professor Department of Mechanical Engineering John C. Haltiwanger Distinguished University Professor Louisa Dillard Professor Department of Economics Jeffrey Herf Distinguished University Professor Department of History Theodore Jacobson Distinguished University Professor Department of Physics Christopher Jarzynski, Distinguished University Professor Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry Institute for Physical Science and Technology Department of Physics Abolhassan Jawahery Distinguished University Professor Department of Physics Arie Kruglanski, Distinguished University Professor Department of Psychology Howard Lasnik Distinguished University Professor Department of Linguistics John H. Laub Distinguished University Professor Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice Robert Levine, Distinguished University Professor Department of English Jerrold Levinson Distinguished University Professor Department of Philosophy George H. Lorimer FRS Emeritus Distinguished University Professor Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry Steven Mansbach Distinguished University Professor Department of Art History Rabindra Mohapatra Distinguished University Professor Department of Physics Christopher Monroe Distinguished University Professor Bice Zorn Professor of Physics Fellow, Joint Quantum Institute and Center for Quantum Information and Computer Science Dianne O'Leary Distinguished University Professor Department of Computer Science Edward Ott Distinguished University Professor Yuen Sang and Yu Yuen Kit So Endowed Professor Department of Physics Margaret A. Palmer Distinguished University Professor Director, National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center Stanley Plumly Distinguished University Professor Department of English Stanley Presser Distinguished University Professor Department of Sociology Ingmar R. Prucha Distinguished University Professor Department of Economics George Ritzer Distinguished University Professor Department of Sociology Gary Rubloff Distinguished University Professor Minta Martin Professor Department of Materials Science and Engineering Raymond J. St. Leger Distinguished University Professor Department of Entomology Jan V. Sengers Distinguished University Research Professor Institute for Physical Science and Technology Allen Schick Distinguished University Professor School of Public Policy Ben Shneiderman Distinguished University Professor Department of Computer Science Roman Sundrum Distinguished University Professor and John S. Toll Chair Department of Physics Eitan Tadmor Distinguished University Professor Department of Mathematics, Institute for Physical Science & Technology Center for Scientific Computation And Mathematical Modeling (CSCAMM) Terence P. Thornberry Distinguished University Professor Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice Mary Helen Washington Distinguished University Professor Department of English Michel Wedel Distinguished University Professor Robert H. Smith School of Business John Weeks Distinguished University Professor Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry Ellen D. Williams Distinguished University Professor Department of Physics
During the week of October 29 to November 2, he wrote a letter with Arthur Ecskstein, James Gilbert and Steven Mansbach to denounce the Board of Regents decision to retain D J Durkin as football coach. By November 2, fifty-four fellow Distinguished University Professors had signed the letter. It was sent to the Board of Regents and was sent to members of the Department. On November 5, he was quoted about the issue Susan Svrluga's aritcle in The Washington Post, "Major donors, other leaders condemn the board, call for U-Md. president to remain." Scroll down for full text of the letter.
Jeffrey Herf was interviewed by the German weekly Jungle World regarding recent events. The interview is published in issue number 45 (early November 2018). The editors gave the interview the title:"Die Karawane der Weisen von Zion: Antisemitismus, Terror und Donald Trump" (The Caravan of the Elders of Zion: Antisemitism, Terror and Donald Trump). Read the interview here.
October 31, 2018 NPR's Morning Edition Hear the broadcast here. October 29, 2018 CNN Tonight with Don Lemon on the synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh.
October 23, 2018 New York Times Letter to the Editor. Scroll down to read the entire letter. October 27, Washington Post Op-Ed. Read it here.
New York Times Letter To the Editor A Warning to Saudis About What Happens to Dissidents A history professor says the Saudis are acting like Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin and other tyrants by killing a prominent opponent to send a message to the populace. Oct. 23, 2018 To the Editor: In your excellent Oct. 19 editorial “Mr. Trump, Don’t Back Down Now,” you write that “contrary to Mr. Trump’s suggestions, this was a crime against America.” That is certainly the case, but the killing of Jamal Khashoggi was even more so a crime against the people of Saudi Arabia. It was in its effect and probably in its intent an act of state terrorism that sent the following message to the kingdom’s already intimidated people: We have just murdered a well-connected, powerful, prominent individual who dared to criticize us. It would be even easier for us to murder any one of you who may be foolish enough to voice criticism of our policies. It is the same message previous tyrants have sent. Mussolini sent it when Fascists assassinated the opposition leader Giacomo Matteotti. Stalin sent it when he included prominent leaders of the Communist Party such as Nikolai Bukharin and Leon Trotsky in his purges. Hitler sent it when he had former Chancellor Kurt von Schleicher murdered. Mao Zedong sent it when people previously prominent in the Chinese Communist Party were sent to their deaths. In each of these cases, and so many others, the tyrants knew that murders of the previously powerful sent a well-justified chill down the spines of millions. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman appears to be following this barbaric policy of previous dictators. Jeffrey Herf College Park, Md.
Jeffrey Herf is an active, important, informed voice speaking out about the resurgence of anti-Semitism and the dangers that such hatred poses for democracy. He also sees the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Kashoggi as a portent from the past.
Esther B. Rhoads in Japan
Marlene Mayo gave a paper November 3 at the annual Mid-Atlantic Region/Association for Asian Studies Conference: "Examining the Quaker Network in Early Postwar Japan: Esther B. Rhoads and the Imperial Family, 1946-1960." (Rhoads was the second of two English language tutors to Crown Prince Akihito, now the Emperor of Japan, shortly to abdicate in April 2019. Her main mission, however, in the name of peace and reconciliation, was to administer relief in Japan by the American Friends Service Committee and to help rebuild the Friends Girls School (junior and senior high school), which had been totally destroyed by a B-29 fire bomb raid on Tokyo, May 1945.)
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Karin Rosemblatt attended the History of Science Society Meeting in Seattle where she presented on "Globalizing the Human Sciences in Latin America." While on the west coast, she also participated in a University of Washington workshop on Ethics, Settler Colonialism, and the History of the Human Sciences. On November 16, Karin celebrated the release of her latest book, The Science and Politics of Race in Mexico and the United States, 1910-1950 at The Mexican Cultural Institute in Washington, DC. Joanne Rappaport of Georgetown University, and Julia Young of Catholic University delivered comments, with David Sartorius moderating the session. The commentary was followed by a reception and book signing.
Jewish History professor discusses representation of Jewish European immigrants in film “Hester Street”
Stories Beneath the Shell
The 1975 movie “Hester Street” gives a fairly accurate depiction of Jewish immigrant experiences in tenements at the turn of the 20th century, though there were far more accounts of filth and poverty in real life, Jewish History professor Marsha L. Rozenblit said following a screening of the film Oct. 18 in Shoemaker. The movie follows the story of a Russian Jewish immigrant couple as they struggle to assimilate to American culture in the lower east side of Manhattan. “‘Hester Street’ is an iconic film about Jewish immigration,” said Katarina Keane, executive director for the Center for Global Migration Studies and organizer of the event. “It’s a kind of film that a lot of people find connections to, and they can kind of see their grandparents’ stories reflected in the film.” About 20 people attended the event, which was part of the Center for Global Migration’s “Immigration in Film” series. Rozenblit is a social and cultural historian who focuses on Jewish people in Central Europe. Following the screening, she led a discussion about the themes it presented about Jewish immigration. Rozenblit said the film exhibited a proper representation of the Jewish immigrant experience, but there were some differences between what the movie depicted and what actually occurred. “It doesn’t look quite as poor in the movie as it probably was, but the [characters] are obviously poor,” Rozenblit said. “They’re obviously in crowded conditions, there are boarders and lodgers [and] people are mixing in each other’s business, which was accurate,” Rozenblit said. Rozenblit said that the film did a good job showing how immigrants attempted to Americanize themselves. She pointed to learning to speak English and changing their names to sound more American as examples. In the film, the husband shaves his beard and goes to dancing classes. “Traditionally Jewish men did not touch women they did not know,” Rozenblit said. “The dancing is a form of Americanization.” The wife initially covered her hair with either a wig or a kerchief, which is traditional for married Jewish women. By the end of the film, she stopped covering her hair in order to assimilate. “It’s a modesty thing, women should only be beautiful to her husband, not to all men,” Rozenblit said. “But when she comes to America, people wear their own hair, so she does.” However, Rozenblit said the wife wearing a wig was unrealistic. “Wearing wigs was not very typical, people just covered their heads with kerchiefs,” Rozenblit said. “To buy a wig was expensive, so only wealthy women wore wigs. She would not have had a wig, but it’s sort of more cinematic.” Morgan Petteeone is a freshman bioengineering major who attended the film because she grew up in an Orthodox Jewish neighborhood and wanted to learn more about that culture. “At first, I didn’t really understand the point of the movie,” Petteeone said. “As I watched it more, I realized it wasn’t just a story about a drama between a man and his wife. It was also about people who are immigrants getting Americanized.”
Marsha Rozenblit speaking in CGMS's Immigration in Film series reported in Stories Beneath the Shell from the UMD Merrill School of Journalism
Julie Taddeo presented a paper on "Frankenstein and neo-Victorian Representations of Class, Gender and Medicine in Period Television" at the November meeting of the Mid-Atlantic Popular and American Culture Association in Baltimore, MD. Colleen Woods received her Congressional Gold Medal awarded to Filipino and Filipino-American WWII veterans. She wrote the historical narrative section for the bill before Congress, which was based on her own archival research. President Barack Obama signed the bill into law in December 2017.
Sarah Cameron's opinion piece was published in the Wall Street Journal on November 2. Entitled "The Forgotten Soviet Famine," Sarah's piece addresses the 85th anniversary of a terrible famine in Kazakhstan perpetrated by Stalin. Jeffrey Herf's essay "Im Krieg mit Israel: Antizionismus in Ostdeutschland seit den 1960er Jahren bis zum Mauerfall" (At War with Israel: Anti-Zionism in East Germany from the 1960s to the Fall of the Wall) was published with essays of twenty-one other contributors in Nach Auschwitz: Schwieriges Erbe der DDR: Playdoyer für eine Paradigmenwechsel in der DDR Zeitgeschichtsforschung, Enrico Heitzer, Martin Jander, Anetta kahane and Patrice G. Poutrus, eds. (Frankfurt/Main: Wochenschau Wissenschaft Verlag, 2018) (After Auschwitz: The Difficult Legacy of the GDR [German Democratic Republic or East Germany]. Plea for a Paradigm Change in Contemporary Historical Research on the GDR).
Publication Moments
Stefano Villani has published four essays in Italian: 1) “Not a professedly pious man”: Antonio Montucci e il protestantesimo britannico,” in Donatella Cherubini (a cura di), Di padre in figlio. Antonio ed Enrico Montucci senesi europei tra ’700 e 800 (Milano: FrancoAngeli, 2018), pp. 41-60; 2) “Le edizioni in italiano del Book of Common Prayer della Chiesa episcopale degli Stati Uniti d’America,” in Riforma e movimenti religiosi 3 (2018): 87-126; 3) “L’Anglo-Continental Society e l’Italia,” in Rivista Storica Italiana, 130/1 (2018): 74-117; 4) “William Chauncey Langdon e l’attività del Comitato sulla Riforma italiana della Chiesa Protestante Episcopale negli Stati Uniti d’America (1865-1874),” in Protestantesimo 73 (2018): 129-186.
November Events
ARHU Conference Awards
Congratulations to History Department faculty for winning ARHU Grants for Conferences in the Faculty Funds competition.
Bernard Cooperman, Jews and State Buiilding in Early Modern Italy, May 5, 2019
Peter Wien, Tribes and Tribalism: (Re-)Assessing Society in the Middle East and How We Talk About It, May 3, 2019
Julie Greene, Kicked Out: U.s. Deportation & Detention Policy, March 28, 2019
Mary-Elizabeth Murphy's (PhD, 2012) book, Jim Crow Capital: Women and Black Freedom Struggles in Washington, D.C., 1920–1945 has been published by the University of North Carolina Press in November 2018. Murphy is associate professor of history at Eastern Michigan University.
Mary-Elizabeth Murphy (PhD, 2012) had her book, Jim Crow Capital: Women and Black Freedom Struggles in Washington, D.C., 1920–1945, will be published by University of North Carolina Press in November 2018. Murphy is associate professor of history at Eastern Michigan University.
Alumni
The History Undergraduate Association continues its energetic activities for AY2018-9. HUA held three events in November and more planned for the rest of the year. Come out and support their activities and meet our majors!
The History Undergraduate Association sponsored a special evening panel to help History majors consider "Is Graduate School Right for Me?" on Thursday, November 15. The panel featured both faculty and graduate students who were there to help undergradaute majors explore the pros and cons, myths and realities of studying history at the graduate level. The possibilities for that career path made for lively discussion.
Andre Pagliarini (UMD History BA '12; Latin American Studies Certificate '12) has been developing his voice (and an online following) as a public intellectual, posting regular columns in the New Republic about recent Brazilian politics, especially the turn to the right. Read his most recent article here.
Jair Bolsonaro won the presidency on a promise to bring back military rule. By Andre Pagliarini November 13, 2018 Jair Bolsonaro isn’t big on democracy. The newly elected president has dismissed the notion of human rights as a “disservice” to Brazil. He has bemoaned the fact that its police force, one of the deadliest in the world, does not have the right to kill more freely, promising to give it “carte blanche” under his administration. He once proposed using a helicopter to drop pamphlets warning drug dealers to leave poor communities, or be fired upon indiscriminately. Bolsonaro is by far the most prominent elected official to praise the harsh military dictatorship that ruled the country from 1964 to 1985. A retired army captain who served in the military from 1977 to 1988, he was a lackluster soldier whose outsize political ambitions often rubbed senior military figures the wrong way. In 1986, for example, he complained to the press about the lack of pay raises and the dearth of professional prospects for soldiers on active duty. Soon after, he was court-martialed for stoking unrest. (He was accused of plotting to bomb a military barracks and was convicted, but won on appeal, and the charges against him were eventually dropped.) At the time, the military had only recently returned the government to civilian control. But Bolsonaro, unlike many leading figures in the military, never accepted its diminished role in Brazilian life. In his presidential campaign, he selected a general as his vice president and promised to name other military men to key posts in government. He wants to militarize Brazil’s borders and has described the Landless Workers Movement, an organization that occupies large, unproductive estates in the countryside to advocate for land reform and denounce rural inequality, as a terrorist organization. He has pledged, in short, to revive, in spirit if not necessarily by law, the repressive thrust of the military regime. Bolsonaro’s alignment with the armed forces follows a clear political logic. The military is the most trusted public institution in Brazil, polling much higher than Congress, which Brazilians see as hopelessly corrupt, or the judiciary, which is viewed as an insular cabal more interested in preserving its own privileges than in administering justice. (Brazilian judges are among the highest paid in the world.) In recent years, other leaders in Latin America have profited from a right-wing wave. Mauricio Macri, a conservative multimillionaire, became president of Argentina in 2015; and in 2017, Chileans elected Sebastian Piñera, who has brought into his cabinet officials tied to the brutal regime of Augusto Pinochet. But Bolsonaro stands apart for having accomplished something no politician has attempted since democracy was restored across the region almost 30 years ago: He has won a national election as an unabashed champion of military dictatorship. Bolsonaro served in the army at a time when its more moderate officials were negotiating a return to civilian government. There were still, however, hardliners who believed handing power back to the same corrupt political class the military had largely uprooted in 1964 was a mistake. They wanted, in other words, to continue hunting down leftists. Bolsonaro almost certainly belonged to this group. During his three decades in Congress, he often lamented that the regime was not more deadly, arguing that killing 30,000 political enemies during the dictatorship would have been better than the several hundred who actually died. (“The dictatorship erred by torturing and not killing,” is a common line.) It makes sense that such militaristic rhetoric would have endeared Bolsonaro to the armed forces, but it’s not clear why the rest of Brazil was taken in by it. Only a tiny minority has called for a military intervention like the one that ushered in dictatorship in 1964. What explains his victory? One simple answer is the recession. Brazil has been mired in deep economic trouble since 2014. To the poorest Brazilians, Bolsonaro has promised gainful employment and the preservation of their government benefits; to the middle class, a return of the status they lost while the left-wing Workers’ Party was in power; and to the wealthiest Brazilians and investors, open markets, less stringent labor laws, and lower taxes. It’s an attractive agenda for those who believe the economy will only bounce back if the government gets out of the way. Bolsonaro has also promised to eradicate crime, something even his more ardent opponents have welcomed. But few voters would have taken his violent solutions seriously, nor seen him as a legitimate candidate, were it not for the gradual rehabilitation of the dictatorship in the public consciousness. It’s been 33 years since military rule ended in Brazil. And as painful memories of that period recede into the past, the regime’s hard edges have softened, helped along by a new wave of politicians, economists, movements, pundits, and intellectuals who have sought to counter what they see as the leftist stranglehold on Brazilian political life over the last decade and a half. Get the latest from TNR. Sign up for the newsletter. It remains to be seen whether Bolsonaro’s militaristic nationalist appeal will endure if Brazil’s economy is slow to recover. Then again, it may not matter, assuming Bolsonaro succeeds in his goals of shoring up the repressive powers of the state. The people of Brazil have volunteered their support for him; they may not be allowed to withdraw it. Andre Pagliarini is a visiting assistant professor of modern Latin American history at Brown University. He is currently preparing a book manuscript on twentieth-century Brazilian nationalism. @apagliar
The New Republic
Why Brazilians Elected an Aspiring Dictator
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Winter 2018 Commencement December 19, 2018 12:30 pm Kay Theatre, Clarice Performing Arts Center
Call for submissions for 20th Century Japan Research Awards for 2018-2019 The Nathan and Jeanette Miller Center for Historical Studies and the University of Maryland Libraries invite applications for two $1,500 grants to support research in the library's Gordon W. Prange Collection and East Asia Collection on topics related to the period of the Allied Occupation of Japan and its aftermath, 1945-1960. Holders of a Ph.D. or an equivalent degree are eligible to apply, as are graduate students who have completed all requirements for the doctorate except the dissertation. The competition is open to scholars in all parts of the world and from any discipline, but historical topics are preferred. University of Maryland faculty, staff, and students may not apply. More information can be found on the Prange Collection website. The application deadline is December 7, 2018. The grant must be used by December 14, 2019. Grant funds will be disbursed in the form of reimbursement for travel, lodging, meals, reproductions, and related research expenses. Such costs as computers or software are not eligible. NOTE TO NON-U.S. CITIZENS: approximately 30% of the total award may be withheld for tax purposes, depending upon the recipient's country of origin. The withholding may be reimbursed to the recipient after filing a tax form with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS). All applications must be submitted electronically by attachment to millercenter@umd.edu with "Twentieth-Century Japan Research Awards" in the subject line. Applications must include a curriculum vitae and a two-to three-page description (double-spaced) of the research project. Applications from graduate students must be accompanied by a letter from the principal faculty advisor attesting to the significance of the dissertation project and to the student's completion of all other degree requirements. Materials in the Gordon W. Prange Collection include virtually all Japanese-language newspapers, news agency releases, magazines, pamphlets, and books dating from the period of Allied censorship, 1945- 1949, in addition to over 10,000 newspaper photos. There are also materials published by Chinese and Korean residents, most of which are written in Japanese. Related collections in English include the personal papers of Charles Kades and Justin Williams. Office correspondence documenting policies and decisions of the Publications, Pictorial, and Broadcast Division, Civil Censorship Detachment (Civil Intelligence Section), Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers Japan, are complementary to official Occupation records housed at the National Archives, College Park. Japanese newspapers and magazines from the Prange Collection are available for research on microform. The East Asia Collection contains Japanese-language books published during the wartime period, scholarly monographs on Occupied Japan, and a wide variety of reference works. During the campus visit, the award recipient will give an informal talk on her/his research. At the conclusion of the visit, the recipient will submit a blog post reflecting on her/his research experience that will appear on Prange Collection social media sites. Reimbursements will be made after the blog post has been submitted to the Prange Collection staff. For further information about the collections, consult the following websites: http:/www.lib.umd.edu/prange and http://www.lib.umd.edu/EASIA/eastasia.html
February 8: 4pm, TLF 2110. Chris Blakley (McNeil Center): "To Get A Cargo of Flesh, Bone, and Blood: Animals in the Slave Trade in West Africa." Respondent: Sophie Hess (Maryland)
Washington Early American Seminar Series
Forward Looks
HIST328X Behind "A Game of Thrones" : Modern Medievalism In Popular Culture
HISTORY
November 2018 Special thanks to: Kira Barrett, Gail Russel To contribute to Moments in History, fill out this form. Photos by John T. Consoli/University of Maryland and Philip M. Soergel, unless otherwise credited.
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