African-American GIs of WWII: Fighting for democracy abroad and at home

  Until the 21st century, the contributions of African-American soldiers in World War II barely registered in America’s collective memory of that war.

  The “tan soldiers,” as the Black press affectionately called them, were also for the most part left out of the triumphant narrative of America’s “Greatest Generation.” In order to tell their story of helping defeat Nazi Germany in my 2010 book, “A Breath of Freedom: The Civil Rights Struggle, African American GIs, and Germany,” I had to conduct research in more than 40 different archives in the U.S. and Germany.

Alabama legislators elevate guns over children. Again.

  The leading cause of preventable death for Alabama children is guns.

  Let me say that again in active voice.

  Guns kill Alabama kids more than anything else we can prevent.

  And we refuse to act.

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse: Governor Jim Folsom Jr. has a legacy

  Our Alabama Public Television system was one of the first public television networks in the nation. Today it is one of the best. They continue to produce premiere documentaries, especially surrounding Alabama history.

  Under the auspices of director/producers Pete Conroy and Seth Johnson, they are set to release “A Legacy of Progress. The Jim Folsom Jr. Story.” The premiere of the documentary on Folsom will be February 27 at the Stone Center at Jacksonville State University, Folsom’s alma mater, and a second will be on March 6 at the Hoover Library. 

Deporting millions of immigrants would shock the US economy, increasing housing, food and other prices

  One of President Donald Trump’s major promises during the 2024 presidential campaign was to launch mass deportations of immigrants living in the U.S. without legal authorization.

  The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency has said that, since January 2025, it is detaining and planning to deport 600 to 1,100 immigrants a day. That marks an increase from the average 282 immigration arrests that happened each day in September 2024 under the Biden administration.

Firing civil servants and dismantling government departments is how aspiring strongmen consolidate personal power – lessons from around the globe

  With the recent confirmations of Tulsi Gabbard and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. – two of the most controversial of President Donald Trump’s high-level administration nominees – the president’s attempt to remake government as a home for political loyalists continues.

  Soon after coming to office for a second term, Trump aggressively sought to overhaul Washington and bring the federal government in line with his political agenda. He is spearheading an effort to purge the government’s ranks of people he perceived as his opponents and slash the size of long-standing bureaucratic agencies – in some instances dismantling them entirely.

How cuts to NIH research funding would hurt states

  In recent weeks, the Trump administration has targeted the National Institutes of Health (NIH), a world-renowned research agency and the largest public funder of biomedical research, for drastic changes that would undermine scientific integrity, innovation, and public trust and, ultimately, harm health and economic security. Newly confirmed Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has also made clear his intentions to scale down staffing significantly at the agency, particularly staff whose research does not align with his opinions, and to essentially end investments in key areas such as drug development and infectious disease research.

If FEMA didn’t exist, could states handle the disaster response alone?

  Imagine a world in which a hurricane devastates the Gulf Coast, and the U.S. has no federal agency prepared to quickly send supplies, financial aid, and temporary housing assistance.

  Could the states manage this catastrophic event on their own?

  Normally, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, known as FEMA, is prepared to marshal supplies within hours of a disaster and begin distributing financial aid to residents who need help.

  However, with President Donald Trump questioning FEMA’s future and suggesting states take over recovery instead, and climate change causing more frequent and severe disasters, it’s worth asking how prepared states are to face these growing challenges without help.

That anti-transgender law is even worse than you think

  The Alabama Legislature rushed a bill to Gov. Kay Ivey last week. It was so important that House Republicans limited debate on the measure to 10 minutes on Wednesday. It was so urgent that Ivey signed it on Thursday.

  You would hope legislation passed so swiftly would address a major problem in the state. Like gun violence. The rural health crisis. Or the ongoing inequities in Alabama’s public schools.

The Cowboy Code

  I grew up in much simpler times. Television was in its infancy, and the idea of a hero was exemplified by a white-hatted cowboy. There was a clarity and simplicity to this hero’s moral code that left no doubt there is a right and wrong.

  As I became more sophisticated, it was easy to ridicule these simplistic approaches to ethics and living. Yet the more I’ve learned, the more I’ve come to think there’s just as much danger in muddying our choices into endless shades of gray.

60 years of progress in expanding rights is being rolled back by Trump − a pattern that’s all too familiar in U.S. history

  For many Americans, Donald Trump’s head-spinning array of executive orders in the early days of his second term looks like an unprecedented effort to roll back democracy and the rights and liberties of American citizens.

  But it isn’t unprecedented.

  As we have written, American history is not a steady march toward greater equality, democracy, and individual rights. America’s commitment to these liberal values has competed with an alternative set of illiberal values that hold that full American citizenship should be limited by race, ethnicity, gender, and class.