Archive for: Companion Reading for the JER

(Micro)History in Community

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In a companion piece to her new JER article, Melanie Rush makes a case for collaboration on primary source analysis.

To Be Counted Is to Be Considered

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Meagan Wierda illustrates the importance of accurate census data to the long history Black activists in the United States.

Diamonds in the Archival Rough

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Michael Woods describes how a fortuitous archival discovery influenced his recent JER article.

How I Discovered that Politics is a Plural Noun

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Reeve Huston considers the ways that political practices in our own lives and times reflect a kind of "political promiscuity" that has long been part of the American tradition.

“Homeplace,” the Underground Railroad, and the Politics of Everyday Care

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Angela Murphy reflects on how bell hooks's work resonated with her research on Jermain Wesley Loguen.

The Long Struggle for Equality in the American South: Louisiana as a Test Case

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Building from his recent JER article, Lacy K. Ford explores how Louisiana's 1845 and 1852 constitutional conventions set the stage for social and political tensions that would shape the state for the next century.

No Place of Grace: Coming to Terms with Free State Slavery Through Historic Buildings and Public History

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Richard Newman reflects on how the power of place can be harnessed to tell the story of free-state slavery at historical sites outside the South.

Active Silence, Archival Presence, and an Enslaved Mother’s Legal Knowledge

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Cory James Young, in a companion piece to his JER article on hereditary term slavery in Pennsylvania, considers the significance of some silences in slavery's archive.

Christ vs. Culture, Religion vs. Politics

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Emily Conroy-Krutz reflects on the "porousness of the boundary between religion and politics" in the Early Republic, a dynamic paralleled in contemporary American denominations' debates over issues like LGBTQ rights.

Women’s Everyday Experiences of War during the American Revolution

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In response to the recent JER Conversation on the Revolution at 250, Lauren Duval offers further insight into new approaches to women's history and the Revolutionary War.

American Revolution or Revolutionary War?

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Inspired by the recent JER conversation on the Revolution at 250, Dillon Streifeneder considers how historians in recent years have worked to bring military history back into the history of the American Revolution.

How Past and Present Catch Up With Each Other

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Discussing his article on the election of 1801, James M. Banner offers a first-hand example of how current events can offer historians new perspectives on the past.
Photo image of contemporary memorial to the 1811 German Coast Uprising.

Blood Is Thicker Than Water: Black Family Networks and Slave Insurrections

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Justin Iverson recounts the ways that Black communities utilized kinship ties to mobilize rebellion in cases like the 1811 German Coast Uprising.

Too Much Opera, Too Many Novels: Writing about Life, Death, and Yellow Fever during COVID-19

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By exploring her own engagement with opera and literature during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Michelle Orihel makes a case for why historians might acknowledge the seemingly unrelated music and literature they consume while working on scholarship.
image of inside of Mount Holly Jail/Burlington County Prison Museum

“Unconscionable and unconstitutional”: The Supreme Court Is Using History to Disenfranchise Unhoused People

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Kristin O'Brassill-Kulfan's research on Overseers of the Poor in the nineteenth century offers insight into contemporary actions criminalizing homelessness.
poster advertising sheriff's sale

The Power of Paper in the Early Republic

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Among other symbols of authority available to local officials like sheriffs, as Chad Holmes demonstrates, even mere scraps of paper held immense power in the early republic.
map of boston from 1725.

When Did the Police Become a “Machine”?

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The journey of America's police force from a non-professional night watch to a highly visible and professional force is the topic of Nicole Breault's newest essay.
illustration of man chasing a hog

Let’s Give Hog Reeves Their Due!

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As a companion piece to his introduction to the new JER forum on "Local Governance in the Early Republic," Gabriel Loiacono explores the important, though often overlooked, role of local hog reeves in early America.
Angelica Schuyler holding child alongside her governess

The Unbroken Lineage of American Dynasty: From Revolution to Succession

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Tom Cutterham explores the problem of American dynasty from 18th century examples to current pop culture iterations in shows such as Succession.
frontpiece to "A Sure Guide for His Majesties Justice of Peace" featuring a king sitting on a throne.

The Jack-of-all-trades Magistrate: Grappling with the Expansive Governing Role of Justices of the Peace in Early America

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Sung Yup Kim examines the importance of (and controversy surrounding) one of the most powerful elements of local magistracy in early America: justices of the peace.