Just submitted my copyedits back to Western Historical Quarterly for my article due out this summer! It's been quite a journey with this one (started in Spring 2022). It engages with the trials & executions of two Dakota chiefs who British agents kidnapped in Rupert's Land after the US-Dakota War.
Boxed G.I. Joe action figure labeled “Navajo Code Talker,” depicting a World War II U.S. Marine in uniform with helmet, radio pack, and field gear. The packaging includes illustrations of soldiers in combat and a note that the figure “talks” with phrases in Navajo code and English. To the right of the box is a printed chart titled “The Navajo Code,” showing English words with corresponding Navajo terms, along with a circular “Junior Navajo Code Talker” emblem.
A new research topic down the road? I grew up with GI Joes. Not only does this Navajo Code Talker speak, it comes with a Navajo language code book. I've got WW2 on the mind lately (taught the topic to my Native history course yesterday).
Then there are the realities of Native soldiers being placed in the most dangerous spaces of Vietnam because of their connection to warrior culture. That they were skilled marksman, trackers, scouts, snipers, etc, b/c of simply being Native. Just interesting forms of settler colonialism at work.
Prepping for tomorrow's class on Native American military service. Not surprising, but still striking, how non-Native ppl stereotyped Native cultures: during the Vietnam War, US soldiers called the Viet Cong “Apaches” + referred to the jungle as “Indian Country” b/c they saw it as dangerous & wild
Book news! I’m pleased to share that I’ve signed a contract with the University of Nebraska Press to publish my book, tentatively titled A Line Worth Crossing: Dakota Mobility in Mni Sota Makoce after the US-Dakota War. Thank you to everyone who helped me reach this point. Now it’s time to write!
A blue sky, green grass, and historic Jesuit Catholic college building.
A beautiful day in New Orleans. Time to teach the Indian Citizenship Act and, later, Augmented/Virtual Reality.
Just taught the Lieber Code and emerged to this nonsense. To equate Trump's threats with Sherman's actions is to fundamentally misunderstand what Sherman did and did not do. He did not destroy a civilization, he was not a war criminal, no matter what the Lost Cause would have you believe.
The Lac du Flambeau Band announced that it’s restricting musky and walleye fishing for non-tribal members on tribal lands as a conservation measure and hoo, boy, white Wisconsinites are up in arms (figuratively, at least, on social media) about it like it’s the late-1980s again.
It's finally happened. I knew the day would come. I received an email from a publisher about writing a follow up series to the book, _To Face a Savage Trail" by novelist John Legg.
www.leggbooks.com
Naw, I'm good, and not the right Legg you're looking for!
A black box with white text, with a few tagged names in blue text, describing a scholarly collaborative project.
Received good news today! The Public Historian formally accepted our roundtable, "Indigenous Cultural Preservation in Public and Digital Spaces." See attached pic for additional context. Can't wait to see it printed in 2027!
declassified RCMP files confirm Canada's domestic intelligence agency infiltrated and sought to disrupt legitimate political Indigenous organizations in the 1970s, in an extensive program of covert surveillance, informants and countersubversion www.cbc.ca/news/indigen...
Wow! We’re at 3.57 here. Cheaper in some places, more in others. I want to say downtown NOLA was about 3.60 when I drove by yesterday.
Interesting data point from my commute between Hattiesburg and New Orleans three times a week for teaching: back in January, I was filling up every other day for about $16–18. Now, at the highest price per gallon I’ve seen, that same fill-up (roughly three-quarters of a tank) costs me $27.12.
A classroom full of students with yellow chairs and brown wood desks. Tan wall with a green chalkboard. A project screen shows a historian talking.
Thanks to @dhowlett1692.bsky.social for Zooming into my Digital History class to talk about Reddit, AskHistorians, and the ethics of discussing history in open, but moderated spaces. My class really enjoyed the presentation! @loyolanola.bsky.social #AskHistorians
RIP Country Joe McDonald. His lyrics still resonate today.
"Violence erupted."
Today's article pick from Damn History, a free newsletter for readers/writers of #popularhistory. Congrats to writer @legg.bsky.social!
Read/subscribe to Damn History: damn-history-16d93f.beehiiv.com/subscribe
clioandthecontemporary.com/2026/02/09/a...
Celebrating Presidents in 2026? Fraught as hell, but what’s not is celebrating all the great public scholarship in my 263rd #ScholarSunday thread of writing, podcasts, new & forthcoming books. Add more below, share as widely as possible, & enjoy, all! 🗃️ +
blackwhiteandread.com/scholarsunda...
We didn’t bake a cake for #DouglassDay, but with it being so close to Mardi Gras here in New Orleans, I had to bring in some King Cake for Douglass Day celebrations! Living in Hattiesburg, I’m introducing my Loyola students to Loblolly’s King Cakes! We can’t wait for a great day of transcribing!
Apologies for the typo: I meant to say "Do it along side your students" not "Doing it along..."
It's been a week, folks.
You can view some of my student's public Dear Data work on their blogs found at my Public History Trail website:
publichistorytrail.com
Here's the official page for the Dear Data project, created by Giorgia Lupi and Stefanie Posavec.
www.dear-data.com/theproject
A white paper with colorful lines and shapes that represent travels from Hattiesburg, MS to New Orleans, LA (and other places throughout one week's time). The shapes (see key on the left side) represent the weather I experienced while traveling in MS and LA. The color over the lines represent what day of the week I traveled.
If you're teaching Digital Humanities, encourage students to participate in the Dear Data project. It's v. engaging for students to keep track of data in visually interesting ways. Doing it along side your students! Here's my visualization which traces my commute/weather from Hattiesburg to NOLA.
A open computer on a brown desk. The image on the screen two Native men, in artistic colors with a blue sky behind them and mountains.
This ought to be an interesting lecture today. I only assign readings once a week which leaves some gaps in the schedule for open sessions. I decided I’d introduce my students to Last of the Mohicans (novel and movie adaptations) in history, myth, and memory. We’ll see how they like this one.
I know some people are embarrassed about promoting the release of a new book, but don't think of it as simply the product of your own mind and effort. Think about all the people at your publisher, who have invested their time and talent into producing your book. Celebrate what is a team effort.
Dems need to Flip this logic:
You can file your taxes online, renew your drivers license online, complete TSA precheck online, and access government benefits online...
Why should voting be any different?
ICYMI: check out my recent essay with @cliocontemporary.bsky.social that contextualizes recent federal violence in Minnesota with violence against Native people during the nineteenth century.
In the wake of the ICE surge in Minnesota, @legg.bsky.social explains how federal immigration violence against Minnesotans echoes the historic federal violence committed against Minnesota’s Indigenous peoples in the nineteenth century. 🗃️
I just spoke with the White House after another horrific shooting by federal agents this morning. Minnesota has had it. This is sickening.
The President must end this operation. Pull the thousands of violent, untrained officers out of Minnesota. Now.
in case you're curious about how angry Minnesota is about ICE, it was -20 today
