Eric Foner, a member of The Nation’s editorial board, is the DeWitt Clinton Professor of History at Columbia University and the author, most recently, of The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery (Norton), was awarded the Pulitzer, Bancroft and Lincoln prizes.
In the United States, new efforts to address state-backed racial violence and discrimination tap into a long global history of transitional justice. Case studies in Brazil, South Africa, and Northern Ireland shed light on which types of transitional justice programs are likely to be most effective in the United States.
Many scholars saw the civil rights movement as a second Reconstruction era in the United States and a second try at making this country truly committed to liberty and justice for all.
Weâve never seen a threat to democracy like this
A conversation with dean and law professor Erwin Chemerinsky on the latest impeachment and on what happens next
January 27, 2021 9:59AM (UTC)
U.S. President Donald Trump gives thumbs up to supporters from this motorcade after he golfed at Trump National Golf Club on November 22, 2020 in Sterling, Virginia. The previous day President Donald Trump left the G20 summit virtual event âPandemic Preparednessâ to visit one of his golf clubs as the virus has now killed more than 250,000 Americans. (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)
Capitol Mob Reveals Ongoing Refusal to Accept Black Votes as Legitimate
A noose is seen on makeshift gallows built by Trump loyalists as they gather on the west side of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on January 6, 2021.
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds / AFP via Getty Images
By
What will history make of the horror and disbelief experienced by the world on January 6, when the United States Capitol was violently broken into and vandalized by Trump supporters who attempted to stop the counting of the Electoral College votes legitimately won by President-elect Joe Biden?
The painful and unforgettable events that transpired that day, leaving five people dead, not only speak to the fragility of American democracy but also reveal deeply embedded realities about white supremacy and its current and historical efforts to undermine democratic institutions and ideals.