Abigail Swingen
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abigailswingen.bsky.social
Abigail Swingen
@abigailswingen.bsky.social
3.8K followers 2.6K following 1.2K posts
EM British & Atlantic history. Competing Visions of Empire (Yale, 2015). Now: Britain's Financial Revolution & Moral Crisis. She/her. New Englander (usually) in Texas. Views my own. Latest article: https://doi.org/10.1017/jbr.2023.74
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Reposted by Abigail Swingen
jonathanslaght.com
"ICE OUT" on Lake Nokomis in Minneapolis, as seen from my flight leaving MSP airport
January 26, 2026 at 6:28 PM
abigailswingen.bsky.social
Censorship comes to the University of Arkansas Little Rock: arktimes.com/arkansas-blo...
UPDATE: Lectures on race and history canceled in latest assault on academic freedom in Arkansas - Arkansas Times
Two planned lectures on race and history have been canceled at UALR after campus leadership was apparently concerned conservative lawmakers might take offense and withhold future funding.
arktimes.com
January 26, 2026 at 3:55 PM
abigailswingen.bsky.social
In 1974, my parents lived less than a mile from here, on South Colfax and 26th. They used to eat at this restaurant. When I lived in St Paul last year, my dad visited and showed me around this area, near-ish to the Minneapolis Institute of Art.
startribune.com Minnesota Star Tribune @startribune.com · 2d
An overhead view of protesters gathering at the scene of the shooting.

Live coverage: www.startribune.com/ice-raids-mi...

📽️ Aaron Lavinsky/The Minnesota Star Tribune
January 24, 2026 at 10:01 PM
Reposted by Abigail Swingen
williamcavert.bsky.social
The minimum moderate position is not abolishing or defunding ICE, it's Trump's removal. He is a tyrant, he has declared war against peaceful people, he is a criminal, he is corrupt, and he has violated his oath of office innumerable times.
January 24, 2026 at 8:34 PM
Reposted by Abigail Swingen
drewmagary.bsky.social
With that mind, here’s some righteous leadership from someone who didn’t ask to lead bsky.app/profile/cjze...
cjzero.bsky.social CJ Fogler @cjzero.bsky.social · 2d
The whole interview is worth it
January 24, 2026 at 9:01 PM
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joshuajfriedman.com
"The gentleman I was standing next to was focused on helping people who were coming into Nicollet Avenue understand that they needed to take it slow and helping them get through. ...

"Next thing I knew, they shot him." www.mprnews.org/story/2026/0...
Stella Carlson said that before the shooting, the man was helping vehicle traffic get around the area where ICE agents and observers had started to gather. "The gentleman I was standing next to was focused on helping people who were coming into Nicollet Avenue understand that they needed to take it slow and helping them get through. The ICE agents approached us, told us to back up, back up. I'm not even sure why we were helping them, if anything. And I got on the snow bank, and next thing I knew, they shot him," Carlson said.
January 24, 2026 at 5:56 PM
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startribune.com
Tomorrow's front page of the Minnesota Star Tribune: Jan. 24, 2026
January 23, 2026 at 11:45 PM
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jztidecat.bsky.social
I don’t know, ICE taking babies off the street and imprisoning them seems like a kitchen table issue.
January 24, 2026 at 12:01 AM
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abigailswingen.bsky.social
My goodness these pictures from the Twin Cities today. ❤️ Don't fuck with Minnesota.
January 23, 2026 at 9:46 PM
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ziibiing.com
this photo. minneapolis. 💜

📷️ Alex Kormann/Star Tribune
photo of march, signs for renee good and against ICe, crowded street.
January 23, 2026 at 10:04 PM
Reposted by Abigail Swingen
startribune.com
Anti-ICE protesters fill the streets of downtown Minneapolis during an "ICE Out" rally on Jan. 23.

📷️ Alex Kormann/The Minnesota Star Tribune

Continuing coverage: bit.ly/3ZsrBxQ
January 23, 2026 at 9:40 PM
Reposted by Abigail Swingen
simplyskye.bsky.social
Ben Damberg protest volunteer: “None of us want to be doing this — I don’t, but we simply cannot stand by as other Minnesotans are being hurt — we will march, we will protest, & we will do it all peacefully above all else”
January 23, 2026 at 8:58 PM
abigailswingen.bsky.social
My goodness these pictures from the Twin Cities today. ❤️ Don't fuck with Minnesota.
January 23, 2026 at 9:46 PM
Reposted by Abigail Swingen
maxnesterak.bsky.social
It’s -9 degrees. Downtown Minneapolis is packed for the anti-ICE rally and the crowd keeps growing
January 23, 2026 at 8:16 PM
Reposted by Abigail Swingen
anamariecox.bsky.social
It is -9 degrees without windchill. I have retreated to the Skyway. But the streets are full and they keep coming. There have been larger protests but I can’t think of that’s been more hazardous to bare skin.
January 23, 2026 at 9:19 PM
abigailswingen.bsky.social
Good thing all those universities stood their ground and didn't preemptively shutter offices and programs. Oh, wait...
January 23, 2026 at 1:49 PM
abigailswingen.bsky.social
Teaching a grad class via Zoom this semester and tonight my dog barfed at my feet while a student was talking and I made a face and had to write in the chat "sorry my dog just threw up." 😬
January 23, 2026 at 3:39 AM
Reposted by Abigail Swingen
adamrothman.bsky.social
Here's one of the panels that Trump just removed from the President's House site in Philadelphia. (I took this picture of it last March. A couple of weeks later I led a walking tour that included the site.) Does this information "disparage" the United States?
MOUNT VERNON TO PHILADELPHIA: A Path to Freedom-For Some The nine enslaved men and women of the President's House were chosen by Washington to accompany him to Philadelphia. They were separated from their families back in Mount Vernon and rotated out of state regularly to prevent them from gaining freedom under Pennsylvania law. CHARACTERS Christopher Sheels, enslaved attendant to Washington Hercules. enslaved cook Richmond, Hercules' enslaved son Giles, enslaved stable hand Oney Judge, enslaved maid and seamstress to Martha Austin, Ona's enslaved half brother, house servant Paris. enslaved stable hand Moll, enslaved maid to Martha Joe Richardson, enslaved postillion for the presidential coach [Floor plan] SERVANTS' EATING HALL
January 23, 2026 at 3:08 AM
abigailswingen.bsky.social
My great grandmother's hometown.
marisakabas.bsky.social Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 4d
From someone on the ground in Lewiston, Maine:
An update, such as it is: raids have definitely picked up in frequency here, but still no large/concentrated/ sustained presence The community is in full terror response mode, though. Businesses are ghost towns, people are in hiding and/or fleeing the city, and every person and their brother is taking legal observer training or otherwise organizing
January 22, 2026 at 7:31 PM
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drsurekhadavies.bsky.social
#StealingIsntInnovation

Graphic provided by The Authors Guild.
January 22, 2026 at 6:52 PM
Reposted by Abigail Swingen
biblioraptorphd.bsky.social
If an auditorium full of middle aged white people in Hickory NC exploded into sustained applause because an author criticized ICE then the Dems need to get on board
January 22, 2026 at 2:37 AM
Reposted by Abigail Swingen
abigailswingen.bsky.social
Sorry for the screenshot, but here's info about how to donate to the Community Aid Network of MN, which distributes food and other necessities to folks in the Cities. Got this from my favorite bookstore in St Paul, Next Chapter.
Information about the Community Aid Network of MN, including Venmo address: CANMN.
January 19, 2026 at 12:53 AM
Reposted by Abigail Swingen
texasaaup.bsky.social
📢📢 On this MLK Day, a reminder that faculty at Texas public colleges and universities are now uncertain whether or not they can legally teach Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter From Birmingham Jail.” ⬇️

thebarbedwire.com/2026/01/19/w...
What Can I Teach? Will Martin Luther King’s Work Be Censored Next?
I’ve taught “Letter From Birmingham Jail” more than 100 times and have never questioned whether I’d be violating university policy. Now I am.
thebarbedwire.com
January 19, 2026 at 4:25 PM
Reposted by Abigail Swingen
lfelizleon.bsky.social
Breaking: Three unions are calling on the University of Minnesota to shut down for Jan. 23. They include the Graduate Labor Union Electrical Workers Local 1105, AFSCME 3800, & Teamsters Local 320. Campus undergraduate organizations are joining the call. labornotes.org/2026/01/will...
You are invited to attend a press conference where the University of Minnesota Graduate Labor Union (GLU-UE Local 1105) and other UMN campus workers and students will call on the president of the UMN to close all campuses on January 23rd for the ICE OUT! Day of Action. WHAT: GLU-UE Local 1105 and other University of Minnesota workers and student groups are calling for the UMN to shut down on January 23rd so that workers and students can participate in the ICE OUT! Day of Action march in Minneapolis on 1/23/26. WHO: Executive board of GLU-UE Local 1105, worker leaders from AFSCME 3800, Teamsters 320, and campus undergraduate organizations. WHEN: Wednesday, 1/21/26, at 11AM. WHERE: Eastern Steps of Johnston Hall. WHY: ICE is terrorizing our communities and killing people in our streets. Over 50 unions and other Twin Cities organizations have called for a general strike on 1/23 to kick ICE out of MN and end the racists attacks on our communities. Workers and students at the UMN want to participate in this Day of Action and if UMN cancelled classes, closed campuses, and provided a paid holiday to workers, it would enable this community to participate in this momentous march to get ICE out of MN.
January 20, 2026 at 1:58 AM
abigailswingen.bsky.social
Sorry for the screenshot, but here's info about how to donate to the Community Aid Network of MN, which distributes food and other necessities to folks in the Cities. Got this from my favorite bookstore in St Paul, Next Chapter.
Information about the Community Aid Network of MN, including Venmo address: CANMN.
January 19, 2026 at 12:53 AM