Category Archives: Uncategorized

When Black Women Journalists Fight Back President Trump’s maligning of black women journalists set me back this week. I wanted to think hard about why, amidst all his sparring with the press, these attacks especially rankled me. History is, in … Continue reading →

Review: The Origins of Birthright Citizenship Robert Tsai of American University Law School reviewed Birthright Citizens for the Boston Review: “Weaving together court records and contemporaneous newspaper accounts, Jones convincingly demonstrates that free black people laid claim to U.S. citizenship … Continue reading →

The President revealed that he believe himself empowered to in some sense do away with birthright citizenship by way of a Executive Order. While he did not go very far toward revealing any details, of substance or timing, alarms rightly … Continue reading →

I spent an afternoon with Michelle Obama and a very special book group, convened in anticipation of the release of her memoir, Becoming. It was an honor to be in such esteemed company of sister-writers of such excellence, and then … Continue reading →

Birthright Citizenship as a Powerful Weapon Against Racism: It felt urgent this week to give people a reason to think beyond birthright citizenship as a historical question, to contemplate what it means for our own time. I’m convinced it is … Continue reading →

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN The History Behind the Birthright Citizenship Battle By JENNIFER SCHUESSLER July 20, 2018 The historian Martha S. Jones talks about how the 19th-century drive for African-American citizenship connects with today’s immigration debate.

This past weekend I kicked off the publication of Birthright Citizens with Howard Law School’s Lisa Crooms-Robinson. I couldn’t have asked for a better partner; Lisa is both a scholar of citizenship and of human rights, and so her take … Continue reading →

#SummerReading: Recommended New Books on the Black Experience By Ibram X. Kendi June 11, 2018 0   With summer quickly approaching, I have compiled a list of recommended new non-fiction books. All of these books, which were published as early … Continue reading →

My latest for the Washington Post explain that threats that black Americans has a long and disreputable history. “For nearly a century, between the American Revolution and the Civil War, former slaves and their descendants lived under a legal regime … Continue reading →

Here’s an exciting snapshot of African American History today at Johns Hopkins. “Through a New Lens” was a chance to talk about how Birthright Citizens fits into the larger field of African American history — 200 years after the first … Continue reading →