Akim Reinhardt is a professor of History at Towson University in Maryland. Born and raised in the Bronx, he has also lived in Michigan, Nebraska, and Arizona. He currently resides in a Baltimore row home that he shares with one skinny, old mean cat and one fluffy, young sweet cat. He is the author of several books and blogs regularly at ThePublicProfessor.com. Email: yankeeslim [at] gmail.com
by Akim Reinhardt I have very fond memories from the 1990s of listening to a friend’s Gujarati Indian immigrant family butcher Christmas carols. It was an annual Christmas Eve tradition for these religious Hindus. Each year, with women on one side of the room and men on the other, the genders separated by the large,…
by Akim Reinhardt There is scientific evidence indicating that Asiatic peoples migrated from Siberia to America many millennia ago via a land bridge that was submerged by the Bering Sea after the Ice Age ended, or by island hopping the Pacific cordillera in coastal water craft. But when I teach American Indian history, I don’t…
by Akim Reinhardt I’ve never voted for a major party presidential candidate. In 1988, the first time I was old enough to cast a ballot, I declined. Just shy of my 21st birthday, I was an angry young man living in a Midwestern college town. I was cynical. I was determined not to be anyone’s…
by Akim Reinhardt Historian Francis Jennings (1918-2000) didn’t take the fast track to academic fame. His first career was teaching high school English and Social Studies. After serving in World War II, he returned to the classroom and also became president of his union. Soon thereafter, he became a victim of the Red SCare; the…
by Akim Reinhardt As the Republican Party begins its national convention today in Florida, I offer this brief history of political conventions and examine their relevance to modern American politics. The generation of political leaders who initiated and executed the American Revolution and founded a new nation, believed in the concept of republican virtue. That…
by Akim Reinhardt I had come to suspect that Hillary Clinton was betraying us. That she was in fact a foreign agent, in service of a rival power. And those poor fools who think Barack Obama was born in Kenya? It’s a red herring! Why couldn’t they see that? Clinton herself was probably behind it,…
by Akim Reinhardt Last week, U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts stunned much of America. Normally associated with the court’s Conservative bloc, he jumped ship and cast the deciding vote in the 5-4 case of Florida v. Department of Health. His support allow the court to uphold the constitutionality of the individual mandate portion…
Akim Reinhardt I have taken several famous political passages from American History and run them repeatedly through Google Translator. I present them here in verse form. An explanation follows, but first, please enjoy these poems. Join the Team (The Declaration of Independence: Opening)He joined the team and they have a separate equal station to understand…
by Akim Reinhardt Since the Civil War, the American South has mostly been a one-party region. However, by the turn of the 21st century, its political affiliation had actually swung from the Democrats to the Republicans. Here’s how it happened. It is not an oversimplification to say that slavery was the single most important issue…
by Akim Reinhardt I don’t believe in gods. I believe in metaphors. Once upon a time, people all around the world had many gods, lots of metaphors for the experiences of their lives. And by sacrificing or praying to each god, they acknowledged the forces that shaped their existence. Gods of luck, of thunder, of…
by Akim Reinhardt Last month, the national newspaper-cum-multi media endeavor Indian Country Today released its list of the worst five U.S. presidents vis a vis American Indians. As a professor of American Indian history, I was immediately curious about what they had come up with. The list, in order, reads: Andrew JacksonDwight EisenhowerGeorge W. Bush,…
by Akim Reinhardt I first met Alfred nine years ago, shortly after moving into my current home. I was brand new to the neighborhood and had only been there a week when Baltimore was blanketed with a fresh coat of snow eight inches deep. Around here, that’s well more than enough to shutter schools and…
by Akim Reinhardt When is role playing an innocent expression of playfulness, and when does it cross over into a form of unconscious catharsis that is born of and reinforces either personal psychological trauma or problematic social norms? Role playing is something we do from a very early age. Pretending to be someone else, particularly…
by Akim Reinhardt We may now be gazing upon the fading days of the Occupy movement as an actual episode in which numerous, large scale occupations are taking place and having immediate impact. Then again, maybe not. But if so, it is perhaps time to begin reflecting upon the movement and how we might measure…
by Akim Reinhardt On the morning after Mayor Michael Bloomberg had the New York City police expel the Occupy Wall Street Protestors from Zuccotti Park in the middle of the night, I wrote that the next 24-48 hours could very well be pivotal. Well, it’s now been forty-eight hours since I woke up to hear…
by Akim Reinhardt I’m currently at work on a book about the decline of community in America. I won’t go into much detail here, but the basic premise is that, barring a few possible exceptions, there are no longer any actual communities in the United States. At least, not the kinds that humans have lived…
by Akim Reinhardt I was eating a slice at one of my neighborhood pizzerias the other day. Well actually it was two slices and a drink: either a plastic bottle of corn syrup, or a large styrofoam cup with ice and corn syrup, your choice. That’s their lunch special for five and change. I went…
by Akim Reinhardt On Thursday I will put a summer of research and writing behind me and return to my professorial duties in the classroom. When I do, I will greet a fresh crop of college students, as I have done every year since 1999. I often get asked if I notice any difference, if…
by Akim Reinhardt Over the last twenty years or so, there has been a proliferation of food shows on television, both here in the U.S. and abroad. In America, The Food Network has been dedicated to that format sincethe 1990s, and a host of other channels also dabble in the genre. It’s not going out…
Sometimes I don’t stand during the national anthem at baseball games. I often do not remove my cap, and almost never place my hand over my heart. Why? Because deep down I believe that group-think is actually antithetical to freedom.