Reading Round Up for September 2019

“Slavery Images: A Visual Record of the African Slave Trade and Slave Life in the Early African Diaspora”: “The images in Slavery Images: A Visual Record of the African Slave Trade and Slave Life in the Early African Diaspora have been selected from a wide range of sources, most of them dating from the period of slavery. Our growing collection currently has over 1,200 images. This website is envisioned as a tool and a resource that can be used by teachers, researchers, students, and the general public – in brief, anyone interested in the experiences of Africans who were enslaved and transported to the Americas and the lives of their descendants in the slave societies of the New World.”

“Indigenous Artists Used Maps as Tools of Resistance in Colonial Mexico” by Monica Uszerowicz for Artsy: “The original maps were a response to a questionnaire sent to the Americas by the Spanish Crown in 1577 regarding the demographics and terrain of their colonized territories. Most maps came from the south and center of Mexico, “where the tradition of map-making was already very active,” Granados said. Many of them “were made by elites. If you were a noble person or highly educated, you knew how to draw and paint.”They showcase “some of the visual strategies used by native communities for the endurance and perseverance of their cultures throughout the so-called colonial period and well beyond,” the exhibition catalog notes.”

“Victim Of Brock Turner Sexual Assault Reveals Her Identity” by Lynn Neary for NPR: “In newspapers she was described as the “unconscious intoxicated woman.” In the courtroom she was called Emily Doe. On Tuesday, she let the world know that her real name is Chanel Miller.”

“The Racist History of Tipping” by Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II for Politico: “You might not think of tipping as a legacy of slavery, but it has a far more racialized history than most Americans realize. Tipping originated in feudal Europe and was imported back to the United States by American travelers eager to seem sophisticated. The practice spread throughout the country after the Civil War as U.S. employers, largely in the hospitality sector, looked for ways to avoid paying formerly enslaved workers.”

“Black Women Aren’t Allowed To Be Introverted” by Sequoia Holmes for Bese: “As a self-identified introverted Black woman navigating mostly white spaces, I often find that my peers and coworkers have preconceived assumptions about who I am, based on my Black-womanhood. When I fail to live up to the funny, entertaining, sassy, Black woman stereotype, they’re quick to assume my failure to entertain is because I don’t like them. This isn’t a huge problem until it’s time for peer reviews, promotions, or layoffs. Then, it quickly becomes an insidious dehumanization tool that can result in job termination because Black women are not afforded the luxury of introversion, especially not in the workplace.”

“Why Republicans Aren’t Turning on Trump” by Adam Serwer for The Atlantic: “But when the president attempted to use his authority to extort a foreign leader into implicating one of his political rivals, a former vice president and longtime Democratic senator, in criminal activity, the leadership of the Democratic Party seemed to suddenly recognize what it was facing. Millions of Americans wake up every day worried that Donald Trump’s actions will hurt someone they love, but until he used his authority to go after someone beloved by the Democratic establishment, party leaders didn’t quite grasp the urgency. If Trump could do this to Joe Biden, after all, he could do it to any of them. That’s often how it works in a democracy: People do the right thing for self-interested reasons.”