drleonj.bsky.social
Black dogs, orange cats, and manuscripts. Professor @ USC. I write about African American life in early national and antebellum Boston.
245 posts
234 followers
263 following
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1827, sorry
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Here are some letters from 1828 mailed from Rainsford Island in the Boston harbor during a smallpox outbreak. The letters have been ‘sterilized’ with smoke, clearly visible, and stamped ‘quarantined’ in red. I might have held my breath when I read them!
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Mishmish has just started drafting an amicus brief!
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Poor Pancakes!
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The cruelty's the point. Nothing more, nothing less.
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I don't think they've been written about before. They were in a box labeled 'Early City Council Committees & Other Department Records.' I was looking for/at something entirely different when I ran across them, but that's just so often the way when doing archival research.
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I’d be completely remiss if I didn’t mention Al von Frank’s magnificent book on the Burns rendition. It’s a fantastic read 🗃️
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Aww, man ☹️
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They felt timely. Thank you for making the comparison the other day; it's really stuck with me.
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As @bjmquinn.bsky.social @aearhart.bsky.social @adamrothman.bsky.social and others have suggested, the Burns rendition served to radicalize people who were on the fence about anti-slavery activism, and one can only hope that the same is true today of our own perilous situation. History matters 🗃️
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These records from @archives.boston.gov are the receipts delivered from military companies to the city for their expenses in enforcing Burns' rendition. Like the ICE raids and the impending military parade, this was a scandalous waste of money too. The $13k claimed = $499,305.22 today's money! 🗃️
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Different strokes, I guess. I just love thinking about how disciplinary conversations unfold: what questions get asked, what theoretical assumptions underlie them, how the discovery of archival sources, or ways of interpreting them, can completely change how we frame a topic. What’s not to like?
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The only sad thing here is that he’s responding to a screenshot of a Tw*tter post, the author of which will likely never read it. Amazing thread, though!
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Mister, you just earned yourself another follower. That was a *virtuosic* use of social media.
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Historiography isn't irritating! It's awesome and fascinating!
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Black Bostonians! (But you already knew that 😊)
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That was my favorite one, that or Space Mountain. The outside rides were too scary for me, unless it was sitting in a teacup!
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The first strategy worked really well for Paine in Common Sense ("I have heard it asserted by some") altho he did end getting disinterred and his body misplaced, so maybe there's less choice than I initially though!
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This skeet to you by Mike and Ike’s and coffee?
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I was always taught to imagine the worst (legitimate) critique of one’s book, and then mention that criticism in the intro. “It will be objected by some that . . .” as a way of preempting it. Or you could lodge it in your heart and take it to your grave! Decisions, decisions! 🤷🏻♂️
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Thanks so much! That's a really interesting case study -- deeply researched and well-written -- but I'm looking for something more specifically focused on deceit and dissimulation as a practice.
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That sound horrific! I hope that you make a complete recovery!
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Thank you for sharing all the amazing music, though. It really does help! 🙏🏻
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So very much, yes, but I’d much rather be right where I am, minus the fascism ☹️
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Thank you! I’ll definitely check it out!
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I've already Wyatt-Brown, Genovese, and Kenneth Greenberg on this subject, but I'm looking for something more analytic than illustrative. TIA!
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I’m heartbroken for you and your colleagues. I wrote my book during a year-long NEH grant, and I wouldn’t be where I am or who I am without its support. I’m sending you all the vibes.
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I hope you also plan on discussing that outstanding dogger.
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At this point, I’ll take democracy saving anything . . .
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I love this!
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There is no question that WorldCat has succumbed to what Cory Doctorow calls “enshittification.” I find it almost unusable these days ☹️
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Your bro wrote the Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul books? Excuse me while I fanboy momentarily!
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I just have to know where this circular library in the graphic is located!
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Thanks, Leslie! I'd love to see that project come into being too!
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Thank you for sharing this context, Amy!
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You’re right! I just checked their title list. Good looking out. Fordham has it. www.readex.com/products/ame...
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Absolutely, but the analogy only takes us so far, because these transformations were preceded by decades of grass roots activism in Boston by the MGCA, NEASS, BFASS and others. Dissent in the Trump era has all too often been reduced to indignant tweets/skeets to like-minded followers. Alas for us.