Category Archives: History

The Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History opened this past weekend for the first time since the pandemic lockdown shut its doors in March 2020.

That would be cause enough for museum officials to celebrate. But theres more.

The reopening follows a crippling bankruptcy and marks the first time the museum will operate at its current location with no construction debt hanging over its head and no mad scramble to cover regular interest payments.

Thanks to the largesse of designer, shoe manufacturer, and philanthropist Stuart Weitzman, 79, the museum has shed all of the long-term debt carried since the 2010 opening of its new $150 million facility off Independence Mall at Fifth and Market Streets.

Its unbelievable, said president and chief executive Misha Galperin, as he stood in the museum lobby and greeted visitors. Galperin took the reins of the museum just three years ago.

We had filed for bankruptcy on March 1. March 13 was a Friday and we closed the doors because of COVID. We canceled the big event that was scheduled for March. We had this whole plan for how were going to go forward. And then, you know, wham bam, Galperin said.

COVID hit.

And then we werent eligible for [federal COVID relief loans] because we were in bankruptcy. So thats two years we were held up. But we pivoted very quickly to be online and had enormous success with that. And we were fortunate to figure out how to exit bankruptcy in September of last year, and then Stuart came through with his transformational gift, he said.

And now Galperin greeted visitors on reopening day as he awaited Weitzman, who was in town he lives in Connecticut for meetings with museum officials and with Penn, Weitzmans alma mater and another recipient of his largesse. The Penn design school is now named after him.

Weitzmans gift to the museum in November was more than $20 million, he says, and allowed the museum to buy its own building and build its endowment.

The museum reopening is marked by a new exhibition of artworks and installations conceived by artist Jonathan Horowitz, The Future Will Follow the Past. Designed specifically for the museum, the exhibition explores the changes the country has experienced since 2020, addressing anti-Semitism, racial violence, immigration, womens rights, and LGBTQ+ rights.

Juxtaposing Horowitzs work with objects from the museums core collection, the exhibit is scattered across four floors. The proximity of the various works creates a dialogue, museum curators said.

For instance, a copy of Faith Ringgolds We Came to America (the original is in the collection of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts) depicts Africans swimming toward a Black Statue of Liberty as a ship burns in the background. Ringgolds powerful image hangs in front of a more conventional view of the statue from a 19th century advertising poster, possibly for soap, said Claire Pingel, the museums chief registrar and associate curator.

Nearby is an untitled Horowitz sculpture that explores the August 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Va., where hundreds of white supremacists, Klan sympathizers, and neo-Nazis gathered in a violent protest over the removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee. One counter-protester was killed. Afterward, Charlottesvilles city council ordered that the Lee statue be hidden, covered by a black tarp. Six months later, a judge ordered that the covering be removed.

Horowitzs sculpture presents the covered sculpture cloaked in black. Interestingly, the Lee statue was created by Moses Jacob Ezekiel, a young Jewish sculptor from Virginia who lived in Rome. Ezekiel fought for the Confederacy during the Civil War and later crafted both Confederate and Union monuments, as well as sculptures decorating the United States Capital.

When Weitzman arrived at the museum after visiting Penn, he said that this kind of innovative display has been characteristic of the museum throughout his experience of it.

I loved it when I visited it, Weitzman said of trips going back several years. Im involved with Penn a lot and then I heard that this building might become an office tower because the bank was owed all this money.

Weitzman did not care for that idea so, about a year ago, he sold an extremely rare Double Eagle gold piece, a unique stamp, and another block of four stamps at Sothebys for a reported $32 million.

These guys benefited from it, Weitzman said glancing around at Galperin and a few museum board members.

Ive actually had an impact on the museum experience, he said.

A few years ago, he called up his friend Sidney Kimmel, who had just stepped down as museum board chair, and said, Sydney, Im looking at 15 renowned Americans on a screen here [at the museum], and one of the pictures in the lower right corner is Ethel Rosenberg, Weitzman said, referring to the museums Only in America gallery hall of fame. I said, What in the world is that museum thinking? Ethel Rosenberg? Known? Yes. Renowned? No. And he said, Hey, I dont know. I helped build the place 20 years ago, but I dont run it. But would you send me a shot of that screen? And within a week her picture was down.

Weitzman was impressed, and he realized he could have an impact.

I began to come around and send people, my kids, he said. Its the only museum, I believe, that is dedicated to American Jewish history. If he could help the museum avoid falling into bankruptcy and becoming an office tower, he would find it.

Josh Perelman, the museums chief curator and director of exhibitions and collections, was asked about the Ethel Rosenberg incident. He said he was not party to any conversations Weitzman had with Kimmel or other board members.

But, said Perelman, the museum is dedicated to presenting multiple viewpoints.

We are committed to exploring history from multiple different perspectives, Perelman said. Part of understanding, whether its our history as a community of Jews or our history as a nation, sometimes that means asking hard questions. Sometimes that means facing people or events that challenge us.

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Philadelphias Jewish history museum reopens after bankruptcy and a 2-year shutdown - The Philadelphia Inquirer

By Kimberly Jackson | [emailprotected]

Driving through Old Town, tourists might miss one of the oldest places in the city, the Old Presbyterian Meeting House. Tracing the history of the church, which celebrates its 250th anniversary this year, is a lesson in American history, from the first settlers to the American Revolution to the Civil War, through the abolition of slavery and all the way to issues of today.

The Old Presbyterian Meeting House, located at 323 S. Fairfax St., is tucked away in the heart of Old Town, neighboring residential homes in a preserved community. It was a place of refuge and strength in colonial days. Now, as the church has reached a significant anniversary, parishioners want the public to know how significant the OPMH was and remains.

Early days

In the late 18th century, prior to the colonies existing as the United States, presbyterian believers organized the Meeting House before it was allowed to even be called a church. Early on, most members were Scottish merchants, who came to Alexandria pursuing religious freedom and financial independence.

We were dissenters, Don Dahmann, longtime OPMH member and chair of the history and archives committee, said. You could not be a church because the church is the Church, the Church of England, and everything else is something else, a meeting house.

Though early settlers and enslaved people met and worshipped together years before, the Old Presbyterian Meeting House became a formal congregation in 1772, when it received its first official minister, Rev. William Thom.

Meeting House members were also part of the American Revolution, Dahmann said.

There are scores of members who are fighting in the militia units. The merchants are serving as commissary officers supplying George [Washington] and all of the armies with wheat and these desperate letters, you know, We have to have more food! Dahmann said.

Once the war ended, the meeting house became incorporated in 1786, but a few years before that, the first meeting house building was constructed in 1775. Like many churches, it held memorial services for George Washington, the first president of the United States, upon his death in 1799. The churchs bell tolled four days before his burial.

It was the only bell in town, so it tolled [to mark special events], Dahmann said. We know it tolled on certain times like the reading of the Emancipation Proclamation, all kinds of those things, because bell ringing was a public signal. Im sure it was for fire, too. Because it was the only bell in all of town.

Continued relevance

Although the church is celebrating its 250th anniversary, the building that currently sits on the site is not the same one that was built in 1775. A lightning strike caused a fire that destroyed the original building in 1835, and the church rebuilt an exact replica a few years later. That building stands unchanged today except for a bell tower that was constructed in 1843 and a set of granite stairs at the entrance that were built in 1853. The bell that now tolls was recast with metal from the original bell that was destroyed in the fire, according to church historians.

To me it is not just that this started a long time ago, it is that this continues today. That part to me is amazing given how much religion has evolved in the United States in general and Alexandria in particular, Daniel Lee, a historian in the Office of Historic Alexandria, said.

According to Lee, some of the most important parts of the churchs history are the roles that members played during the Revolutionary War. The efforts of church members, many of whom were Scottish settlers, continue to impact the citys international relations to this day, Lee said.

The thing I would like to emphasize [is] we continue to have a relationship with Scotland today. Dundee, Scotland is one of our sister cities, and the Old Presbyterian Meeting House is a reflection of that long-held relationship, Lee said.

The Old Presbyterian Meeting House is not just a historic monument church members still gather on Sunday mornings. The sanctuary of today still has the pews from the 1830s with doors, which allowed families to seal in the heat. Unlike in the 19th century when families paid to reserve certain seats in the church, today, churchgoers can sit on any pew they choose.

They never took up an offering in church. Instead, families paid rent for the pews. There were free pews, Dahmann said.

According to Dahmann, there was never a slave gallery, even though he says there were enslaved people who attended church. Dahmann said issues of race have always been complicated for the church.

This congregation has been part of that. Slave owners, house servants, people owned slaves, clergy here owned slaves, Dahmann said.

But he said while some churches owned enslaved people and hired them out for money, the Meeting House did not.

We had African Americans as full community members in the 18th century and 19th century. We are members of abolition societies, twice, Dahmann said.

Church records also show the first African American preached at the meeting house in 1811. Dahmann said the first woman preached at the meeting house in 1827, but today, the church has two associate ministers who are women, Katherine Stanford and Ann Herlin, who work alongside Pastor Robert Laha.

While some things have changed at the Old Presbyterian Meeting House, others have not. On Sundays, the choir still sits in the balcony, where the organ is located. When other churches became more modernized and moved the choir to the front of the church, the Old Presbyterian Meeting House stuck to the original tradition.

The church also kept the old clock that survived the fire at the original meeting house. Today it hangs in the sanctuary, and it remains set at 10:20 p.m. It is set to 10:20 because that is the time that George Washington died, Dahmann said. Two of the three doctors attending him were members of the congregation. One was James Craig, [who is] buried here. And they stopped the clock in his bedroom at 10:20.

A repository of history

The meeting house maintains the burial ground where the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from the American Revolution is located, along with other graves that date back to the 1770s, including many infants, who died unnamed before they could be baptized.

There are also fireproof cabinets that hold the names of enslaved people and thousands of members as well as thousands of sermons, 50 of them published from the colonial period.

There is a lot to see and learn at the Old Presbyterian Meeting House. Some tourists have stopped by the historic church on local ghost tours, which have listed the church as an attraction. Sometimes the sites relevance as a tourist attraction and its purpose as a church come into conflict, according to Anna Davis, co-chair of the churchs anniversary celebration committee.

We had to stop a ghost tour from coming into the church in the middle of the service. It was like, no because we dont usually have things on Thursday evenings, so we get tour groups and that is fine. But we need to be known for more than just being on the ghost tour, Davis, a 30-year church member, said.

The OPMH has already hosted a two-part lecture series about the history of the church, with recordings available on the church website at www. opmh.org for those who missed it. The church also held a concert on May 15 and a reunion weekend, which will include an art shot, is upcoming in June. The organizers are asking current and former members to submit photos from weddings, baptisms or other events for display and for a lasting commemorative album. They will also host a tour of the Presbyterian Cemetery.

The hope is to share the history of the Old Presbyterian Meeting House and its more than 250 years of history, service and worship.

I think we are too insular. I dont think we tout what weve [done] our important role in history, nearly enough. I dont think we really try to share our story outside, and I dont think it is deliberate. I think it just sort of happened that way, Davis said.

Over the course of two centuries, the Old Presbyterian Meeting House has become filled with stories and memories, and the story continues today.

Bonnie Leigh and her husband, Art, joined the church in 2004 as they were looking for a historic church in which to hold their wedding.

We did get married here, and then I started doing the Easter flowers, the Christmas flowers. We started to usher. I became a deacon. He is on the finance committee, Leigh said.

In 2020, Leighs daughter got married at the church as well.

The Davis and Leigh families are just two that have found a sense of community in the Old Meeting Presbyterian House. Though they both realize the historical relevance of the church, they said it is the people in the building that make the difference for them.

Nearly 20 years after her wedding in the historic church, Leigh said she has found a place where her and her husband belong.

Everybody is welcome. It is fun. We made a lot of really good friends here, Leigh said. If anything were to happen to me, I could call, I cant tell you how many people. And they would come help.

Find a full list of events for the 250th celebration as well as written church history at http://www.opmh.org.

Read more:

The Old Presbyterian Meeting House is a place of history and worship - Alexandria Times

Johnny Depps relationship with Amber Heard ended up in embroiled in a nasty legal battle and $50 million defamation trial in May 2022.

But the Aquaman actress is far from Depps first Hollywood romance, as hes dated some of the biggest names from the 80s to today.

Check out the actors dating history of ex-wives, fiances and girlfriends.

Depp married his first wife, makeup artistLori Anne Allison, in 1983 at just 20 years old. Allison, who is six years his senior, met the future star through her brother, who played in a band called Kids with Depp, according to Rolling Stone.

Many credit Allison for jumpstarting Depps career, as she introduced the budding star to Nicolas Cage, who in turn introduced him to his own agent, who took on Depp and secured him an audition for A Nightmare on Elm Street,his first on-screen role in 1984.

The pair split in 1985, but remain on good terms, with Allison telling TMZ in 2016 that Depp is a soft person who never hit or yelled at her, despite accusations from Heard.

Depp met his next partner, actress Sherilyn Fenn, while shooting a 1985 short film called Dummies.

The couple went on to date for three years, collaborating again in 1987 on an episode of 21 Jump Street. According to Brides.com, they were even engaged.

While the pair split the following year, like Allison, Fenn has had nothing but great things to say about her ex in the years since.

He was very sweet. He was my first love, she told The Big Issue in 2017. I had found real love. It was with someone who was walking the same path, but even if he wasnt, the love and the connection was strong enough cooking meals, hanging out, laughing and crying. So it is more about that than the fact he is this well-known person now. I know him as a human not a movie star.

Dirty Dancing actress Jennifer Grey began dating the star in 1989, with Grey claiming in her 2022 memoir, Out of the Corner, that he proposed to her within two weeks of them meeting through her agent at the time.

During a May 2022 visit to The Drew Barrymore Show Grey also revealed that she was engaged to the actor as well as Matthew Broderick within the same month.

While she described Depp as ridiculously beautiful and surprisingly open, funny, quirky and sweet on their first date, she added that he later developed anger and jealousy issues, leading her to call off the engagement after only nine months together.

Depp fell for his next love, Winona Ryder, after spotting her at the premiere of Ryders 1989 film Great Balls of Fire.

It was a classic glance, like the zoom lenses in West Side Story, and everything else gets foggy. I knew then, Depp told Rolling Stone in 1991.

They would eventually meet months later through a mutual friend and go on to co-star in the 1990 film, Edward Scissorhands.

During their high-profile courtship, Depp got his now famous Winona Forever tattoo on his bicep.

While the couple broke up in 1993 leading Depp to alter his tattoo to read Wino Forever Ryder still speaks fondly of their time together and even testified on his behalf during his UK libel trial against The Sun, which he ultimately lost.

Depps tryst with actress Ellen Barkin began in 1994 while she was separated from her then-husband, Irish actor Gabriel Byrne. They dated briefly in the public eye before things fizzled, only to start up a non-exclusive relationship in 1998 while filming Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas together.

According to Depp, Barkin still holds a grudge because he never wanted to make things official between them, as she testified against him in his UK trial, claiming he once threw a wine bottle at her.

A sexual element began with Ms. Barkin which lasted for months on and off really because she was making the film I was making at the time, Depp said, adding that she wanted a proper relationship with me and I did not want that.

Depp and model Kate Moss began dating in late 1994 after meeting through Vanity Fair celebrity writerGeorge Wayne.

The pairing would turn out to be a tumultuous one, as Depp was arrested that year for causing almost $10,000 worth of damage to a hotel room, with Moss found sitting amid the wreckage by police.

Despite the intense evening, the couple lasted until 1998.

Moss has since shared how tough the split was for her, saying it lead to years of crying over the City of Lies actor.

Depp began dating his next long-term love, Vanessa Paradis, in 1998 following his split from Moss and brief romance with Barkin.

French singer Paradis met Depp while he shot Roman Polanskis film The Ninth Gate in Paris and went on to date for 14 years.

The couple welcomed daughter Lily-Rose in 1999 and son Jack in 2002.

The couple called it quits in 2012, with Depp telling Rolling Stone of their breakup, It wasnt easy on [Paradis]. It wasnt easy on me. It wasnt easy on the kids. It doesnt stop the fact that you care for that person, and theyre the mother of your kids, and youll always know each other, and youre always gonna be in each others lives because of those kids.

Depp began to spark dating rumors with Amber Heard in 2011 after the pair met on the 2009 film Rum Diaries.

The couple wed in 2015 on the Pirates of the Caribbean stars private Caribbean island.

Their marriage was seemingly doomed from the start, with Depp allegedly joking thatnow I can punch herto his best man as they walked from the ceremony to the reception on his wedding day.

Depp hasdenied ever physically assaulting Heard,and has repeatedly accused the Aquaman actress ofbeing violent herself.

Heard ultimately filed for divorce, which was finalized in 2016. In May 2022, the couple wereembroiled in a defamation lawsuitbrought forth by Depp against Heard for $50 million.

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Johnny Depp's complete dating history: All of his ex-wives and girlfriends - Page Six

LEWISTON In 1965, the same year that a wrecking ball demolished the historic DeWitt building on the corner of Park and Pine streets, which once hosted famous gunslinger Wild Bill Hickok, Lewiston received worldwide attention for a one-minute-long bout between Muhammad Ali and Sonny Liston.

The Ali-Liston fight would live on as a defining moment in sports history, covered by journalists around the globe, but it was also covered for weeks by local reporters before and after the fight.

It was among several notable events in local history that were closely watched and written about in the pages of the Sun Journal and its predecessors over the past 175 years, which was the subject of a Great Falls Forum on Thursday.

With help from David Chittim, director of the Androscoggin Historical Society, Sun Journal staff members Steve Collins and Judy Meyer discussed the role the daily newspaper has played in the history of Androscoggin County. Saturday marks the 175th anniversary of the first edition of the Lewiston Falls Journal, published on May 21, 1847.

As part of the celebration, the Sun Journal will be resurrecting some notable news coverage from over the years for this Saturdays edition, including the original coverage of the Ali-Liston fight.

During the discussion Thursday, Collins said the fight, held in the building that is now the Lewiston Colisee, was a title rematch that came to Maine due to concerns for violence against Ali. With many people still finding their seats, the Sun Journal said Ali winged Sonny with what was called a phantom punch because it happened so quickly many people missed it.

In the following days, the Journal sports editor said the match would be debated for years due to its record as the shortest heavyweight title fight in history. The paper questioned whether the fight was fixed, Collins said. Its since gone on to be part of local lore, and produced perhaps the most famous sports photo of all time.

Chittim shared another piece of local history concerning Ali that occurred years later: a letter Ali wrote to the many in one coalition in response to competing demonstrations over immigration fears. The letter is on display at the Androscoggin Historical Society.

It came in response to a 2002 letter to the Somali community from then-Mayor Larry Raymond. It appeared in the Sun Journal under the headline Maxed-Out and contained a plea for some breathing room for the city. It asked Somalis to stop coming to Lewiston, stating thecity had been overwhelmed and that more immigrants would lead to negative results for all.

The letter ultimately got the attention of white supremacists, and led to competing demonstrations though Chittim said it wasnt much of a competition. He said36 people attended the rally against immigration, and 4,200 people rallied in support of the Somali community at Bates College, calling it a very strong statement about the way we feel in Lewiston.

Collins said the moment and the Sun Journals coverage captured the communitys fears and showcased its hopes.

Chittim also hit on some lesser known history that received newspaper attention, including an infamous 1879 election involving Lewiston native Alonzo Garcelon. The incumbent governor came in a distant third in the election, and when no one received the required majority, he resorted to unseemly tactics like purging Republican votes, including that of Nelson Dingley, then owner of the Lewiston newspaper.

Chittim called it a black stain on Maines history and a puzzling chapter in Garcelons story, who was otherwise lauded for his public service.

Other pieces of history mentioned were the Lewiston City Hall fire in 1890. Chittim said the cause was believed to be from straw and refuse that had accumulated in an elevator from a poultry show held in the building. There was also a dog show at the same time. He said the dogs were rescued, but the fowl were not. At the time, the building also served as the city library, and only 300 books out of thousands were saved. The current City Hall was built on the same site.

Todays news is tomorrows history, Chittim said.

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Great Falls Forum: 175 years of recorded history through journalism - Lewiston Sun Journal

Urban and regional planning student LaToya Gray-Sparks' web-based project "Planned Destruction" shows a map of the current property values in Richmond as of 2020. "Notice how the values today are nearly identical to the red lined boundaries established years ago," Gray-Sparks' website tells readers. (Courtesy of LaToya Gray-Sparks)

By Tiff Murray-RobertsonL. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs

A Virginia Commonwealth UniversityL. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairsstudent project mapping the 20th-century displacement of communities of color in Richmond began with a personal tie and a passion. This summer, it will become part of a national collection of online teaching materials to further individuals understanding of Black and Indigenous peoples landscape-oriented social histories where communities live and the meaning of those places within the context of their histories in the United States.

Second-year urban and regional planning graduate student LaToya S. Gray-Sparks is among 25 scholars from across the country selected to participate in Toward a Peoples History of Landscape,aNational Endowment for the Humanitiessummer institute.The highly competitive professional development program supports research and exploration of the nations cultural and geographical landscape through social histories, centering on Black and Indigenous historical narratives in the founding of the United States.

Gray-Sparks is one of three postgraduates selected for the institute. Student selection is particularly rigorous as candidates compete alongside tenured and tenure-track faculty for entry.

"Being selected for the NEH summer institute is a reminder that all things are possible, she said.

Gray-Sparks has an abiding appreciation for her experiences at VCU and a burgeoning interest in a doctoral degree, studying the intersections of Black geography, heritage and critical cartography as well as the history of urban planning and its impact on Black spaces and communities.

Toward a Peoples History of Landscape, hosted by the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, will be held in Washington starting June 12. During the immersive three-week program, Gray-Sparks will collaborate with scholars to develop online, open-source curriculum modules that teach landscape-oriented social histories.

Mapping planned destruction of Black neighborhoods

Gray-Sparks was selected for the NEH summer institute to further her research project, Planned Destruction,an interactive digital story mapthat details the efforts of Richmond authorities during the 1930s and 40s to displace residents from the citys Black communities effectively destroying neighborhoods for generations. From depriving communities of grocery stores to dividing the city between Black and white communities, intentional tactics led to greater poverty and lower property values in Black areas.

The project examines the impact of Harland Bartholomews 1946 master plan for Richmond on the African American community by documenting the many victims of displacement whose homes and businesses were obliterated. The piece also visually captures the changing landscape with historic and contemporary maps of the entire city, including Black and white populations, median household incomes, poverty rates and property value.

In digitally reconstructing and repopulating Richmonds lost communities, Gray-Sparks hopes to lead the charge in centering the experiences of marginalized communities while reclaiming and preserving a part of African American history that has been forgotten.

Maps are powerful, said Gray-Sparks, who believes that cartography can be an important tool for reversing the negative impact of redlining. Maps can be used to promote and elevate a space or omit and destroy a space.

Sharing peoples history with passion

Gray-Sparks was working as a user support specialist in the University of Richmonds Boatwright Memorial Library and was completing a certificate in geographic information systems at the Wilder School when she began developing the map.

The research and energy she put into it, she said, started as an outlet for grief, anger and a feeling of powerlessness after the 2017 death of her cousin in Richmonds Whitcomb Court neighborhood. Around that time, Gray-Sparks was part of the Richmond 300 advisory council that was drafting the citys latest comprehensive plan. She learned how Whitcomb Courts development was rooted in urban planning theories and schemes that were discriminatory and patriarchal.

The experience propelled her to continue work on her story map, which is dedicated to her cousin and other childhood friends who lost their lives to violence in Richmond. They were young Black men whose lives were cut short due to boundaries and restrictions created and implemented by people who did not value Black lives, Gray-Sparks said.

She hopes the map and her work at Dumbarton Oaks will lead to actions and concrete changes that save Black lives.

I feel the spirits of my ancestors cheering me on in this work my great-grandparents, my grandparents, my cousin and so many others whose lives have influenced my work a great deal because their experiences were circumscribed by urban renewal, Gray-Sparks said.

In helping to center the lives of others, Gray-Sparks acknowledged that she has come to see herself differently.

Having the support and resources of faculty to complete a project like this has been such a blessing. The Wilder School has given me a platform for discovery and the confidence to launch my research into the world, where it can have the greatest meaning.

This story originally appeared on the Wilder School website.

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Investigating Richmond's history of displaced communities - VCU News - VCU News

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Love historical fiction? Whatever your favorite flavor, there is something for everyone in this guide to the best historical fiction.

Historical fiction, defined at its most basic level, is fiction set in the past. There is some kind of real basis for the story. The basis could be a period of time, such as antiquity or a more specific timeframe, such as the Jazz Age in America. Historical fiction can traverse styles and form, including verse novels or comics, and of course, historical fiction can be based on a single event, such as the launch of the Challenger or based on the life of an individual like Cleopatra. The only real limit to historical fiction is the definition of what is and what is not historical.

Are the 1990s historical? Are the 2000s historical? These are up for debate and make for especially fascinating rumination when it comes to reading books set in those eras. A convincing argument could be made either way, and even though historical fiction is not fact, it absolutely leads to knowledge and insight about what history is and who gets their stories told.

Find below wide-ranging guide to the best historical fiction you can read right now. This guide includes both adult and young adult titles, as indicted in each category. Categories below are arranged as follows: historical fiction about different eras, historical fiction about people, historical fiction from around the globe, historical fiction by sub-genre, YA historical fiction, and the historical fiction grab bag (i.e., anything that doesnt fit neatly in the other categories, including historical audiobooks). These are broad categories, used simply to organize, and theyre not meant to be definitive or representative of historical fiction as a whole. All of the lists are arranged alphabetically, rather than by time, and some lists also include nonfiction.

And if historical fiction is your jam, make sure you are getting our weekly Past Tense newsletter, dedicated to all things historical fiction.

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Historical Fiction about Different Eras || Historical Fiction About People || Historical Fiction from Around the Globe || Sub-genres of Historical Fiction || YA Historical Fiction || Historical Grab Bag

Whether you love Medieval history, the Tudor era, or the Roaring 20s, theres a wealth of great historical fiction to scratch those itches.

Set in Virginia, its about a former enslaved man who became a farmer and slave owner, and what happens to his estate when he dies. This is a fascinating, powerful novel about the horrors of slavery, and the various people and aspects of the world that thrived and functioned because of it. This novel won the Pulitzer for fiction, as well as a bunch of other prizes

A wonderful historical epic about a young midwife named yep, you guessed it Mary Sutter, who has big dreams of becoming a surgeon. She goes to D.C. to tend to the Civil War wounded, where she resists love and familial obligations in order to fulfill her dreams. Rich in detail, its a marvelous debut, and the follow-up is also great.

>>Find 8 Excellent Civil War novels here<<

Based on the life of legendary performer, activist, and spy,Josephine Bakers Last Dancebrings her incredible story to life. The novel begins with her early years impoverished in America and follows her rise to fame as a showgirl, showcasing her enduring spirit and passion for equality.

>>Find more Historical Fiction of the 1920s here<<

In Moscow, government official Tulayev is shot dead on the street. The investigation tracks across the world, the suspects all innocent of this crime, at least. Serge set out to explore Stalins purges and the story far surpasses any historical record.

>>Find more of the Best Soviet Union books here<<

For more historical fiction about different eras, check out:

While the book was made into a movie with Scarlett Johansson and Colin Firth, its a compelling look at 17th century Holland. Told from the point of view of Griet, a young servant in the household of the famous artist, Johannes Vermeer. It provides a delightful imagining behind the famous painting that the book gets its name from. But it also explores the perils of being a young servant woman at the time.

This book tells the story of the famous dancer, Isadora Duncan, after she tragically loses her children in a drowning accident. It presents a vivid portrait of the dancer in Europe after WWII. It was designated a NPR Great Read in 2017.

>>Find most Historical Books About Artists here<<

This novel imagines the diary entries of Vanessa Bell, Virginia Woolfs older sister. Along with writers like E.M. Forster, Vanessa and Virginia establish the famous Bloomsbury Group. This is a fascinating look into close but complicated relationships and rivalries between creative siblings.

>>Find More Authors as Characters in Historical Fiction here<<

Set during the Chinese Cultural Revolution of the late 1960smid 1970s, Dai Sijies novel is about two young boys who are exiled to a remote Chinese mountain village to be reeducated. Here, the boys meet a young seamstress and discover a hidden treasure: a secret stash of forbidden Western classics translated in Chinese. This is a novel about the transformative powers of literature.

The House of the Spiritsis Isabel Allendes debut novel, in part based on the authors own familial history. Allendes novel details the history of the Trueba family through four generations. Though the country and historical figures in the novel are never explicitly named, the novel examines real events in Chile, intertwining a personal family history with the political history of the country, and also more than little bit of magic.

This novel is set in Bulgaria during the 1920s and follows two historical figures: the poet Geo Milev andGeorgi Sheytanov, a notorious anarchist on the run. The two men start a politically charged literary magazine together in response to aa military coup that established Aleksandar Tsankov as the new leader of Bulgaria. Alternating between this historical period and contemporary Bulgaria, Karastoyanov examines this tale of resistance and the lasting effects it had on the country and the world.

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Tommy Tester is a hustler just trying to make ends meet in New York City, but when he unknowingly delivers an occult book to a reclusive old woman in Queens, he suddenly finds himself in a hell of a lot more trouble than he originally anticipated. Fans of Lovecraftian horror, this ones for you.

Most of us are familiar with the story of the ill-fated Donner Party, who took their covered wagons west but got caught in a mountain snow storm and had to resort to cannibalism to stay alive. Now imagine the story of the Donner Party, but with a diseased and hungry monster stalking the caravan as they make their way towards the mountains.

On August 4, 1892, Andrew and Abby Borden were found brutally murdered in their home by their daughter Lizzie. But for the police, there are more questions than answers, especially since Lizzies memories dont always match up with the reality of the scene in front of them. The horror of this story comes from the brutal imagery, told through fragmented and suspicious memories, and the evocative language that leaves the reader supremely unsettled. You havent heard the story of Lizzie Borden told quite like this.

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An unlikely alliance between two freedmen and a farmer couple in Georgia grieving the loss of their only son runs parallel to the story of two Confederate soldiers embroiled in a forbidden romance. Amidst an already tenuous peace, when their tryst is discovered, the resulting chaos and violence rock the community to its core. Harris weaves a tale of the violence of the Reconstruction era while emphasizing the bonds we can build, finding love and humanity even in the most harrowing of circumstances.

>>Find more Queer Historical Fiction here<<

Spies in the Civil War! Elle Burns, who was previously enslaved, returns to the South to spy for the Union Army. There, she meets Malcolm McCall, a detective for the Pinkerton Secret Service. The two join forces (in more ways than one) to help turn the tide of the war. Fiery, forbidden love!

>>Find more Steamy Historical Romance here<<

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Its 1965, and 17-year-old Victoria has just escaped her unstable home and run away to the circus in the hopes of creating a better life for herself. Fifty years later, Callie, Victorias teenage granddaughter, is a gifted tightrope walker and dreams of becoming a legend like her grandmother. But when her mother accepts a new job after Victorias death, Callie is pulled away from everything she knows, and her whole life changes.

In their days on the road to their new home, Callie becomes immersed in a box of her grandmothers memorabilia, finding notes Victoria had written to herself, and soon, Callie is using her grandmothers advice to navigate an entirely new setting public high school.

>>Find more Compelling Historical Fiction for Teens here<<

Bolden, who is a long-time writer for young people, brings readers to 1919 Washington, D.C. in this story about an upper-class Black girl who wants nothing more than to make something interesting of her life. Savannah knows shes privileged in her wealth. But shes worried shell never do something important or powerful in her life. Her brother has moved to New York City and has a photography shop, and shes bored by her long-time friend and neighbor, Yolande. When the housekeepers daughter steps in to clean the Riddles home, Savannah forms a quick bond with her, and its through her that she finds her way to a school on the other side of town that helps less-privileged girls gain a solid education. Here she volunteers, but more, its here she meets someone who introduces her to the concepts of radicalism, socialism, and anarchy. At this pivotal time in history, Savannah finds herself with a few close calls to trouble, but when it getstoo close, she and her mother connect over a history her mother never had shared with Savannah before. A great read about a Black girl who is privileged far too rare in YA and rarer still in YA historical fiction.

>>Find more Girls of Color in History here<<

Beverly Jenkins feature Black characters in prominent roles. Her Old West series highlights strong women in steamy situations. They are certainly making their presence known.

Books in Series:Forbidden,Breathless,Tempest

Sujata Massey writes about India in the 1920s. During this period, women observe purdah (very limited contact with men), and educated females are unheard of. Enter Purveen Mistry, the only female lawyer in Bombay. She comes to the aid of her female compatriots, while living uphill battles of her own.

Books in Series:The Widows of Malabar Hill,The Satapur Moonstone,The Bombay Prince

This historical fiction series revolves around early 20th century China. R.F. Kuang holds nothing back while writing about Rin, a war orphan with the gift of shamanism. Kuang highlights a strong woman facing unspeakable violence.

Books in Series:The Poppy War,The Dragon Republic,The Burning God,The Drowning Faith(digital novella)

>>Find more of the Best Historical Fiction Series here<<

Backdrop: World War II

In order to protect a natural history museum collection during the war, Hetty is sent to Lockwood Manor to oversee the contents as they wait it out. Hetty isnt prepared for the hostile Major Lockwood, who is not thrilled with her presence, and she is equally unprepared for his daughter and her enthralling presence. But when parts of the collection start to go missing, Hetty must start confronting the Lockwoods.

Time Period: 18th century Ghana

Homegoingtells the story of two half-sisters, Effia and Esi, and how their lives take on completely different paths. Effia marries a wealthy Englishman and is whisked off to Cape Coast Castle to live in comfort. Effia is unaware of the fact that Esi is imprisoned in her castles dungeon and is eventually sold into the slave trade and sent to America, where her future family will be raised in slavery.

Time Period: Vietnam War

Nguyn Phan Qu Mai is a celebrated Vietnamese poet, and this book is her first in English. This story spans generations of the Tran family, starting with Tran Dieu Lan who was forced to flee her family farm with her six children as the Communist government gained control and ending with her granddaughter, Hng, who is coming to age as her family sets off along the Ho Ch Minh Trail.

>>Find more Compelling Historical Fiction Audiobooks here<<

Kaoru Mori loves her historical fiction, as evidenced by her previous series,Emma.A Brides Storytakes us fromEmmasBritain setting to late 19th century Central Asia. The manga begins with Amir, who travels from a faraway village to meet her new, much younger husband. But while their developing relationship forms the spine of the series,A Brides Storyintroduces us to a multitude of other brides and the men they eventually marry. The true star of the manga, however, is the cultural detail. Mori lovingly captures falconry, woodcarving, embroidery, and bread baking in stunning, intricate detail. If you need a soothing series, this is the historical manga for you.

>>Find more Historical Manga here<<

Cora is an outcast even among her fellow enslaved Africans. She is quickly approaching womanhood, which inevitably means that bigger pains await her. When Caesar makes her aware of the Underground Railroad, a secret network of actual tracks and tunnels,the duo risk everything to escape from the clutches of their oppressors.

>>Find more of the Most Influential Historical Fiction of All Time here<<

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50 of the Best Historical Fiction Books

The Best Historical Fiction Authors Writing Today

Epic Historical Fiction

Feminist Historical Fiction

Historical Fiction About Books

Historical Fiction to Read (If You Dont Like Historical Fiction)

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Got History? A Guide to the Best Historical Fiction in Several Genres, Eras, and Styles - Book Riot

As Ms. Winfreys comments suggest, appearing on such shows was part of a deliberate media strategy by white-power groups. In these mainstream appearances, men like Mr. Metzger and the ex-Klan leader David Duke showed up in suits, speaking in cleaned-up language in an attempt to present their violent ideologies as mere political differences. Mr. Duke, for instance, spoke the language of white rights, attempting to launder his beliefs with a kind of legalistic advocacy language at odds with his former membership in a domestic terrorist organization, a mission that succeeded well enough for him to be elected as a Louisiana state representative and run as a candidate for senator, governor and president.

Part of the strategy was to present white-power ideas as more palatable. Another was to draw in new recruits attracted, or at least intrigued, by the ideas they heard. Potential recruits could, even in the 1980s and 1990s, find their way to a wide array of alternative media: newsletters, VHS tapes, internet message boards, radio shows. The arrival of more sophisticated digital and social media has made accessing this material easier, but the basic process of the mainstream bait luring recruits onto the hook of radicalism has remained the same.

To understand all this, it is useful to think about traditional and social media in tandem, part of an infrastructure of radicalization. Not only because they are part of the same strategy, but also because they overlap more than we generally think.

For instance, while Fox Newss audience skews much older, younger people encounter Tucker Carlsons content on social media, where clips circulate regularly in right-wing and far-right spaces, and ideas from the more extreme parts of the internet often find their way on to the show. That such a prominent and charismatic media figure gives voice to those conspiracy theories gives them a power and legitimacy they might not have if they were just random ideas presented on 4chan or a meme-cluttered subreddit.

So how should we think about Mr. Carlsons show and the radicalization around the great replacement conspiracy theory?

As a prime-time host on Fox News, Mr. Carlson has refashioned himself into a right-wing economic populist who emphasized and empathizes with peoples financial struggles, then offers pungent conspiracy theories to explain their plight. Its a familiar figure in American politics. There was Tom Watson, the Georgia congressman who, after first attempting to build biracial alliances in the South, became an ardent white supremacist and antisemite in the early 20th century. And there was Father Charles Coughlin, who fought for a bountiful economic security program during the Great Depression while becoming increasingly antisemitic.

By arguing that white Americans face economic and cultural decline purposefully engineered by political elites, Mr. Carlsons show plays an important role in spreading and legitimating the great replacement conspiracy theory and other white-supremacist ideas. He has regularly invoked great replacement, even after that same theory inspired a number of massacres. Rather than backing away, he has doubled down, insisting that white supremacy does not exist and that the great replacement conspiracy theory isnt racist. On his Tuesday night show, Mr. Carlson first professed ignorance of the conspiracy theory, then said it was true, then insisted, The great replacement theory is coming from the left.

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Opinion | What Oprah Winfrey Knows About American History That Tucker Carlson Doesnt - The New York Times

InAll About History issue 117, on sale now, you can uncover the origins of the Olympian gods and learn how the myths the Ancient Greeks built around their deities helped to inform their civilization.

Breaking down the stories of Zeus, Athena, Hades, Poseidon and more, All About History connects the dots between Greece and its neighboring cultures. You can also find out why these gods were so important to regional identity, such the important connection between Athena and her namesake city of Athens.

Annette Giesecke is your guide through the twisted tales of Greek mythology, giving you a crash course in the origins of the Greek gods, from the Titans to the Olympians and then explaining the role some key gods played in people's daily lives.

Also in All About History 117, you can learn about the militant life of Emmeline Pankhurst and her fight for women's suffrage, discover the dark side of Ludwig van Beethoven, read about the origins of popular superstitions and find out who Africa's greatest (but often forgotten) queens have been through the centuries.

Related: Read a free issues of All About History

Plus there's a breakdown of the history of the Space Race, insight into why medieval writers were obsessed with dragons and a walkthrough the childhood home of Anne Boleyn.

According to Herodotus it was the poets Homer and Hesiod, writing in the 8th century B.C., who gave the Greeks their gods. Herodotus, who lived in the 5th century B.C., was himself a Greek from the city ofHalicarnassus in what is now Turkey. He was right about Homer and Hesiod, or more properly, the works attributed to them. Homers Iliad and Odyssey, together with Hesiods Theogony, are the oldest existing works of literature inthe Western world.

In both of these book-length poems, allthe major gods appear as characters with distinct personalities and powers. In his Theogony, which translates as Origin of the Gods, Hesiod explains how exactly the Greek gods came into being. Hesiods divine-creation myth is also a cosmogony, a story of the origins of Nature and the Universe. The first gods were elemental. They were deified physical parts of the Universe, but they gradually became anthropomorphized, believed at least sometimes to have human emotions and form. Zeus, Hera, Aphrodite, Poseidon and the other familiar Olympian gods did not at first exist, onlycoming into being after the creation of Earth and Sky, which also were considered gods.

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According to Hesiod, the Universe existed first as a vast nothingness, a vacant space for which the Greek word is Chaos. From Chaos arose Gaia, who was conceived both as our planet Earth and as a great mother goddess. More primordial elemental gods would follow. Eros, the force of desire, also arose from Chaos, and next came Erebos (Darkness) and Nyx (Night). Erebos and Nyx together bore Aether (the bright upper sky) and Hemera (Day). Wanting companionship and protection, Gaia herself produced Ouranos (Sky) to cover her on all sides.

Read more inAll About History 117.

Alongside figures such as Johann Sebastian Bach and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven is widely regarded as one of the worlds greatest classical composers. In his lifetime Beethoven crafted some 722 works, comprising string quartets, sonatas and symphonies. Yet like many artistic geniuses, Beethovens personal life was tumultuous and he himself developed a reputation as a difficult individual. An upbringing with an alcoholic and abusive father, who was determined for his son to become a musical prodigy, deeply affected the young man.

As the composer entered the final few decades of his life and faced increasing health issues and depression, he became involved in a bitter battle for the custody of his nephew perhaps seeking a musical prodigy of his own. These events reveal an often overlooked side to the life of the renowned composer, particularly when remembering masterworks such as Fr Elise. Its a troubled and distressing side the dark side of Beethoven.

Delve deeper into the dark side of Beethoven inAll About History 117.

As Britain entered the 20th century, the list of things British women werent allowed to do was depressingly long: among other things, they couldnt serve on juries, they couldnt open bank accounts or apply for loans, they couldnt take on certain professional roles like lawyer or accountant, and they werent allowed to vote. At the time, most single women had little to no social standing and married women had to surrender all of their property and earnings to their husbands upon saying, I do. Many people believed women had smaller brains than men and were therefore unprepared for the world of work and politics.

Countless activists campaigned to bring about change for the countrys female citizens, with varying degrees of success. One particular fight that frequently hit the headlines was that in favour of womens suffrage the right to vote in political elections and a mixture of persistent parliament pressure and unusual demonstration techniques helped to bring about the victory. A key player in the campaign was Emmeline Pankhurst: activist, feminist and the original suffragette. Fueled by an unmatchable passion for voting equality, she dedicated much of her life to the cause and, almost a century after her death, is still remembered as one of Britains most influential womens rights advocates.

Read more about the incredible life of Emmeline Pankhurst inAll About History 117.

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All About History 117: Where did the Greek gods come from? - Livescience.com

If the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that legalized abortion in the U.S., the nation may find itself on a path similar to that trod by the Irish people from 1983 to 2018. A draft decision signed by the majority of conservative justices was leaked in May 2022, and indicates the court may do just that.

Abortion was first prohibited in Ireland through what was called the Offenses Against the Person Act of 1861. That law became part of Irish law when Ireland gained independence from the U.K. in 1922. In the early 1980s, some anti-abortion Catholic activists noticed the liberalization of abortion laws in other Western democracies and worried the same might happen in Ireland.

READ MORE: Whats next for abortion rights after Supreme Court leak?

Various Catholic organizations, including the Irish Catholic Doctors Guild, St. Josephs Young Priests Society and the St. Thomas More Society, combined to form the Pro Life Amendment Campaign. They began promoting the idea of making Ireland a model anti-abortion nation by enshrining an abortion ban not only in law but in the nations constitution.

As a result of that effort, a constitutional referendum passed in 1983, ending a bitter campaign where only 54% of eligible voters cast a ballot. Irelands eighth constitutional amendment acknowledges the right to life of the unborn and [gave] due regard to the equal right to life of the mother.

This religiously motivated anti-abortion measure is similar to anti-abortion laws already on the books in some U.S. states, including Texas, which has a ban after six weeks of pregnancy, and Kentucky, which limits private health insurance coverage of abortion.

What happened over the 35 years after the referendum passed in Ireland was a battle to legalize abortion. It included several court cases, proposed constitutional amendments and intense advocacy, ending in 2018 with another referendum, re-amending the Irish constitution to legalize abortion up to 12 weeks gestation.

Even before 1983, people who lived in Ireland who wanted a legal abortion were already traveling to England on what was known as the abortion trail, as abortion was also criminalized in Northern Ireland. In the wake of the Eighth Amendment, a 1986 Irish court ruling declared that even abortion counseling was prohibited.

A key test of the abortion law came in 1992. A 14-year-old rape victim, who became pregnant, told a court she was contemplating suicide because of being forced to carry her rapists baby. The judge ruled that the threat to her life was not so great as to justify granting permission for an abortion. That ruling barred her from leaving Ireland for nine months, effectively forcing her to carry the pregnancy to term.

On appeal, a higher court ruled that the young womans suicidal thoughts were in fact enough of a life threat to justify a legal termination. But before she could have an abortion, she miscarried.

The case prompted attempts to pass three more amendments to Irelands constitution. One, declaring that suicidal intentions were not grounds for an abortion, failed. The other two passed, allowing Irish people to travel to get an abortion, and allowing information to be distributed about legal abortion in other countries.

Even with these adjustments, the Eighth Amendment sometimes restricted the ability of medical professionals to offer patients life-saving care during a pregnancy-related emergency.

In 2012, Savita Halappanavar, age 31 and 17 weeks pregnant, went to a hospital in Galway, Ireland. Doctors there determined that she was having a miscarriage. However, because the fetus still had a detectable heartbeat, it was protected by the Eighth Amendment. Doctors could not intervene in legal terms, ending its life even to save the mother. So she was admitted to the hospital for pain management while awaiting the miscarriage to progress naturally.

Over the course of three days, as her pain increased and signs of infection grew, she and her husband pleaded with hospital officials to terminate the pregnancy because of the health risk. The request was denied because the fetus still had a heartbeat.

By the time the fetal heartbeat could no longer be detected, Halappanavar had developed a massive infection in her uterus, which spread to her blood. After suffering organ failure and four days in intensive care, she died.

This was likely not the only time someone had suffered, or even died, as a result of being denied abortion in Ireland. But the publicity surrounding the case prompted a new wave of activism aimed at repealing the Eighth Amendment. In 2013, the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act was signed into law, which did not fully repeal the Eighth Amendment but legalized abortions that would protect the mothers life.

It is estimated that about 170,000 people traveled from Ireland to seek a legal abortion between 1980 and 2018.

In 2018, a referendum repealing the Eighth Amendment passed overwhelmingly by a margin of 66% to 34%. As a result of the repeal, legal abortions are now allowed during the first trimester, with costs covered by the public health service.

As a social work professor who researches reproductive health care, I see many parallels between what happened in Ireland between 1983 and 2018 and the present U.S. situation.

People in the U.S. are already traveling long distances, often to other states, in a manner similar to the Irish abortion trail.

In both the U.S. and Ireland, the people who need help paying for abortions are mostly single people in their 20s who already have an average of two children, according to research I conducted with some abortion funds, which are charitable organizations that help people cover often-unaffordable abortion expenses.

In contrast to the United States, Ireland is moving away from political control over private life. Its history offers some lessons. For decades before 2018, pregnant people in Ireland faced forced pregnancy, suffering and even death, a cautionary tale for what pregnant people in the U.S. could face if Roe is reversed.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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What Irelands history with abortion might teach us about a post-Roe America - PBS NewsHour

Pennsylvania Republicans have nominated state senator Doug Mastriano to be the next governor. Mastriano is one of the most radical gubernatorial candidates ever to receive a major party nomination.

Many Republicans have indulged Trumps claims that Democrats stole the 2020 presidential election. But few have gone as far as Mastriano has to try to justify Trumps fever dream.

On 25 November, Mastriano staged a faux legal hearing in Gettysburg, in which Giuliani played prosecutor before a panel of Republican state senators and representatives. Mastriano introduced a number of poll watchers who told unsubstantiated stories of phantom ballots, hacked machines, and dead voters, which they claimed had all led to an election stolen from Trump.

Five days later, after all of Trumps legal challenges had failed and the Pennsylvania secretary of state had formally certified Biden the winner, Mastriano introduced a resolution urging Congress to ignore the official results. His plan was for the Pennsylvania legislature to ignore millions of votes and directly appoint electors pledged to Trump.

Ultimately, Mastrianos resolution didnt go anywhere in the Republican-controlled state legislature because Pennsylvanias Democratic governor, Tom Wolf, did not yield to demands to call a special session. But Mastriano was not deterred. On 10 December 2020, Mastriano signed on to an amicus brief supporting Texass effort to convince the US supreme court to throw out the results in Pennsylvania and several other states. That effort also failed.

In the lead-up to 6 January 2021, Mastriano was reportedly in regular communication with Donald Trump. On the day, Mastriano was at the US Capitol and was captured on video walking through police lines with a crowd of people.

In a statement, Mastriano said that police lines did shift throughout the course of the day and he followed those lines as they existed. (In February, Mastriano was subpoenaed by the January 6 committee. It is unclear if he complied.)

In July 2021, Mastriano sent a letter to several counties requesting information and materials needed to conduct a forensic investigation of the 2020 general election and the 2021 primary. Mastrianos conduct, however, was so extreme that he was removed from the process by the Republican leadership of the Pennsylvania senate. The senate president, Jake Corman, said that Mastriano was only ever interested in politics and showmanship and not actually getting things done.

During his candidacy for governor, Mastriano has been clear that he will use his power including his authority to appoint the Pennsylvania secretary of state to influence the administration of future elections. He said the following on 30 March:

Im Doug Mastriano, and I get to appoint the secretary of state whos delegated from me the power to make the corrections to elections, the voting logs and everything. I could decertify every machine in the state with the stroke of a pen via the secretary of state. I already had the secretary of state picked out. Its a world-class person that knows voting integrity better than anyone else in the nation, I think, and I already have a team thats gonna be built around that individual.

Yesterday, with Trumps endorsement, Pennsylvania Republicans put him one step closer to the governors mansion.

In April, Mastriano spoke at a far-right Christian conference, Patriots Arise for God and Country, which was organized by Francine and Allen Fodsick, self-described prophets who have long promoted QAnon, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. At the outset of the event, organizers played a video claiming the world is experiencing a great awakening that will expose ritual child sacrifice and a global satanic blood cult. The QAnon conspiracy alleges that top Democratic officials and celebrities are Satan-worshipers running a secret child sex-trafficking ring. The video also featured allegations that 9/11 was a false flag, vaccines are genocide therapy, and Hitler faked his death.

Last year, the Fodsicks promoted Mastriano on promotional material for the event, but Mastriano said he would not attend. At the time, a spokesman said Mastriano strongly condemns the Q anon conspiracy theory and never committed to speak at this event but sadly was used to help promote it with his picture on the invite.

Last month, Mastriano attended as a featured speaker, using his remarks to complain about the persecution and oppression he was subjected to for contesting the 2020 presidential election. The Fodsicks auctioned a portrait of Trump for $4,000 during the event, with the proceeds going to Mastrianos campaign. This year, his campaign did not respond to a request for comment by the Philadelphia Inquirer.

In a 31 March appearance at the PA Pro Life Coalition, Mastriano said supporters of abortion rights wanted to wipe out Black and Latino communities. He said he believed thats a baby from Day 1 at conception. Mastriano said my objective, of course, is to save life at conception and not play games.

In a 27 April debate, Mastriano said opposition to abortion is his No 1 issue. The first bill he introduced in the Pennsylvania senate was a heartbeat bill which would ban abortion after six weeks, before many women know they are pregnant. But Mastriano said that, as Pennsylvanias governor, he would work our way toward a total abortion ban from conception. Mastriano made clear that he doesnt support any exceptions to abortion bans for rape, incest or life of the mother.

Mastrianos position on abortion reflect his Christian nationalist worldview. Christian nationalism, the New Yorker reports, is rooted in the idea that God intended America to be a Christian nation. During his time as a military intelligence officer in Iraq and Afghanistan he developed a dim view of Islam. He has frequently spread Islamophobic memes online, including a conspiracy theory that Ilhan Omar, the Democratic congresswoman from Minnesota, directed fellow-Muslims to throw a five-year-old over a balcony.

After retiring from the military and successfully running for office in 2019, Mastriano began attending events held by a movement called the New Apostolic Reformation. Members of the New Apostolic Reformation believe that God speaks to them directly, and that they have been tasked with battling real-world demons who control global leaders. (Mastriano says he has not worked directly with the group.)

In the legislature, Mastriano has supported a bill that would have mandated teaching the Bible in public schools and would have made it legal for adoption agencies to discriminate against same-sex couples.

Judd Legum is the founder and author of Popular Information, an independent newsletter dedicated to accountability journalism, where this post originally appeared

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Republicans just nominated one of the most radical governor candidates in history - The Guardian