G. Patrick O'Brien
@gpatrickobrien.bsky.social
Assistant Professor of History at the University of Tampa. Sharing my own thoughts on loyalism, loyalist refugees in Nova Scotia, teaching, and college basketball.
ut.academia.edu/GPatrickOBrien
ut.academia.edu/GPatrickOBrien
Reposted by G. Patrick O'Brien
Great to see @bryanbanksphd.bsky.social's Write to Return (2025) on display at the @historians.org book exhibit in Chicago! Please make sure your library has it!
January 11, 2026 at 3:28 AM
Great to see @bryanbanksphd.bsky.social's Write to Return (2025) on display at the @historians.org book exhibit in Chicago! Please make sure your library has it!
Reposted by G. Patrick O'Brien
Last year, Ask Me Anything posts received 10m views! If anyone at #AHA26 is interested in being an AMA guest on @askhistorians.bsky.social, I'm constantly scheduling on all topics!
January 10, 2026 at 3:02 PM
Last year, Ask Me Anything posts received 10m views! If anyone at #AHA26 is interested in being an AMA guest on @askhistorians.bsky.social, I'm constantly scheduling on all topics!
Reposted by G. Patrick O'Brien
From farming to forced removal, the story of Île Saint-Jean is one of hope, hardship, & heritage.
Join Ben Franklin’s World on a journey through 300 years of French settlement
🎧 benfranklinsworld.com/365
#FrenchHistory #VastEarlyAmerica #History #Canada #CanadianHistory #AcadianHistory
Join Ben Franklin’s World on a journey through 300 years of French settlement
🎧 benfranklinsworld.com/365
#FrenchHistory #VastEarlyAmerica #History #Canada #CanadianHistory #AcadianHistory
January 8, 2026 at 3:52 PM
From farming to forced removal, the story of Île Saint-Jean is one of hope, hardship, & heritage.
Join Ben Franklin’s World on a journey through 300 years of French settlement
🎧 benfranklinsworld.com/365
#FrenchHistory #VastEarlyAmerica #History #Canada #CanadianHistory #AcadianHistory
Join Ben Franklin’s World on a journey through 300 years of French settlement
🎧 benfranklinsworld.com/365
#FrenchHistory #VastEarlyAmerica #History #Canada #CanadianHistory #AcadianHistory
Reposted by G. Patrick O'Brien
Anne Marie Lane Jonah on Epekwitk / Île Saint-Jean / Prince Edward Island!
From farming to forced removal, the story of Île Saint-Jean is one of hope, hardship, & heritage.
Join Ben Franklin’s World on a journey through 300 years of French settlement
🎧 benfranklinsworld.com/365
#FrenchHistory #VastEarlyAmerica #History #Canada #CanadianHistory #AcadianHistory
Join Ben Franklin’s World on a journey through 300 years of French settlement
🎧 benfranklinsworld.com/365
#FrenchHistory #VastEarlyAmerica #History #Canada #CanadianHistory #AcadianHistory
January 10, 2026 at 1:41 PM
Anne Marie Lane Jonah on Epekwitk / Île Saint-Jean / Prince Edward Island!
Go Friars!
The Black Studies Department at Providence College invites applications for a full-time open-rank, tenure-track, faculty position, with consideration for appointment with tenure, beginning August 2026.
www.schooljobs.com/careers/prov...
www.schooljobs.com/careers/prov...
Providence College Job Opportunities | CAREER PAGE
www.schooljobs.com
January 10, 2026 at 10:00 AM
Go Friars!
Reposted by G. Patrick O'Brien
So check out the column if you would, share it widely if you’d like, & solidarity as we continue to fight for a nation in which the law is king, & we have no other. @hcrichardson.bsky.social
www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2026/01/cons...
www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2026/01/cons...
Considering History: Common Sense, Loyalists, and the Fight for American Ideals | The Saturday Evening Post
Thomas Paine’s pamphlet can offer a perspective on the overlooked Revolutionary community known as the Loyalists, who demonstrated that the Revolution was fought not by or for a particular culture or ...
www.saturdayeveningpost.com
January 9, 2026 at 9:29 PM
So check out the column if you would, share it widely if you’d like, & solidarity as we continue to fight for a nation in which the law is king, & we have no other. @hcrichardson.bsky.social
www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2026/01/cons...
www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2026/01/cons...
Reposted by G. Patrick O'Brien
♫ they’ll say it’s her fault instead, for getting shot in the head ♪
Good vs. Ice
YouTube video by Jesse Welles
youtu.be
January 8, 2026 at 5:07 PM
♫ they’ll say it’s her fault instead, for getting shot in the head ♪
Reposted by G. Patrick O'Brien
Post the cover of a book you love from the 90s. (Any century!)
#BookSky #bookchallenge #readingchallenge #readingcommunity #booktok #bookish #books
#BookSky #bookchallenge #readingchallenge #readingcommunity #booktok #bookish #books
January 8, 2026 at 11:42 PM
Post the cover of a book you love from the 90s. (Any century!)
#BookSky #bookchallenge #readingchallenge #readingcommunity #booktok #bookish #books
#BookSky #bookchallenge #readingchallenge #readingcommunity #booktok #bookish #books
Reposted by G. Patrick O'Brien
Ex-Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura: “We’re a 3rd world country now. I know. I’ve been to ‘em. I spent 17 months in SE Asia while the draft dodger was playing golf… that’s what happens in a dictatorship. In comes the military. That’s what’s happening here.” 🇺🇸
January 9, 2026 at 12:43 AM
Ex-Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura: “We’re a 3rd world country now. I know. I’ve been to ‘em. I spent 17 months in SE Asia while the draft dodger was playing golf… that’s what happens in a dictatorship. In comes the military. That’s what’s happening here.” 🇺🇸
Where are my medievalists at? I’ve got a newborn, so last night during his contact sleep I started “King and Conquerer.” What’s the collective opinion??
January 8, 2026 at 6:40 PM
Where are my medievalists at? I’ve got a newborn, so last night during his contact sleep I started “King and Conquerer.” What’s the collective opinion??
Reposted by G. Patrick O'Brien
It’s 1990, I’m 1 years old, and the republican president of the US is attacking a petrol state
It’s 2004, I’m 15 years old, and the republican president of the US is attacking a petrol state
It’s 2026, I’m 37 years old, and the republican president of the US is attacking a petrol state
It’s 2004, I’m 15 years old, and the republican president of the US is attacking a petrol state
It’s 2026, I’m 37 years old, and the republican president of the US is attacking a petrol state
January 3, 2026 at 10:21 PM
It’s 1990, I’m 1 years old, and the republican president of the US is attacking a petrol state
It’s 2004, I’m 15 years old, and the republican president of the US is attacking a petrol state
It’s 2026, I’m 37 years old, and the republican president of the US is attacking a petrol state
It’s 2004, I’m 15 years old, and the republican president of the US is attacking a petrol state
It’s 2026, I’m 37 years old, and the republican president of the US is attacking a petrol state
Anyone from Marblehead, MA? Where exactly in town was "Training Hill" and what was considered "at the bottom of Training Hill"? I know it's where the militia trained, but I'm trying to find which hill it was because I want to locate a historic property. MACRIS is great, but very dense in town!
January 3, 2026 at 6:00 PM
Anyone from Marblehead, MA? Where exactly in town was "Training Hill" and what was considered "at the bottom of Training Hill"? I know it's where the militia trained, but I'm trying to find which hill it was because I want to locate a historic property. MACRIS is great, but very dense in town!
I was prom king. 👑
How else can professors prove "merit" besides SAT scores? Wrong answers only. I'll go first: ability to do sixth-grade geometry homework (two professors in my house fail)
January 2, 2026 at 8:52 PM
I was prom king. 👑
“I fear that in every assembly, members will obtain an influence by noise, not sense. By meanness, not greatness. By ignorance, not learning. By contracted hearts, not large souls.” -John Adams to James Warren, April, 22, 1776.
January 2, 2026 at 3:00 AM
“I fear that in every assembly, members will obtain an influence by noise, not sense. By meanness, not greatness. By ignorance, not learning. By contracted hearts, not large souls.” -John Adams to James Warren, April, 22, 1776.
Reposted by G. Patrick O'Brien
Nova Scotia:
First flown in the late-19th century, it was the first flag in the overseas Commonwealth to be approved by Royal Charter, and it is the oldest provincial flag in Canada. It was not officially adopted as the provincial flag until 2013.
🧵 10/15
First flown in the late-19th century, it was the first flag in the overseas Commonwealth to be approved by Royal Charter, and it is the oldest provincial flag in Canada. It was not officially adopted as the provincial flag until 2013.
🧵 10/15
January 1, 2026 at 3:01 PM
Nova Scotia:
First flown in the late-19th century, it was the first flag in the overseas Commonwealth to be approved by Royal Charter, and it is the oldest provincial flag in Canada. It was not officially adopted as the provincial flag until 2013.
🧵 10/15
First flown in the late-19th century, it was the first flag in the overseas Commonwealth to be approved by Royal Charter, and it is the oldest provincial flag in Canada. It was not officially adopted as the provincial flag until 2013.
🧵 10/15
I don’t understand all the hand-wringing on MTG. She’s a huckster who has realized the tide is turning on one of her ploys (Trump) but is going to continue to peddle all her other BS until the tide turns against them too.
And if you refuse to give someone credit for standing for liberal democracy just because they don’t agree with your policy preferences, you’re missing the big picture. www.thebulwark.com/p/why-marjor...
Why Marjorie Taylor Greene Gives Me Hope
People don’t change—but they can remember who they are.
www.thebulwark.com
December 31, 2025 at 4:50 AM
I don’t understand all the hand-wringing on MTG. She’s a huckster who has realized the tide is turning on one of her ploys (Trump) but is going to continue to peddle all her other BS until the tide turns against them too.
I'm constantly torn between "Did bullying make these guys like this?" and "We need to bring bullying back."
Decades of the white nationalist movement evolving to adapt to current political trends has brought them to this moment.
December 30, 2025 at 2:47 PM
I'm constantly torn between "Did bullying make these guys like this?" and "We need to bring bullying back."
Reposted by G. Patrick O'Brien
On this day 302 years ago, the Old North Church celebrated its first worship service.
Remarkably, construction of the church had begun only nine months earlier in April. In his inaugural sermon, Rev. Dr. Timothy Cutler preached that Old North “shall be called a house of prayer for all people.”
Remarkably, construction of the church had begun only nine months earlier in April. In his inaugural sermon, Rev. Dr. Timothy Cutler preached that Old North “shall be called a house of prayer for all people.”
December 29, 2025 at 9:51 PM
On this day 302 years ago, the Old North Church celebrated its first worship service.
Remarkably, construction of the church had begun only nine months earlier in April. In his inaugural sermon, Rev. Dr. Timothy Cutler preached that Old North “shall be called a house of prayer for all people.”
Remarkably, construction of the church had begun only nine months earlier in April. In his inaugural sermon, Rev. Dr. Timothy Cutler preached that Old North “shall be called a house of prayer for all people.”
Amid an outbreak among the loyalist refugees of Halifax, Nova Scotia, nineteen-year-old Mary Robie watched an enslaved girl die of measles. "The Child had lain for more than a week in most inconceivable agony as is evident from strong convulsion fits she had the latter part of the time."
December 29, 2025 at 2:05 PM
Amid an outbreak among the loyalist refugees of Halifax, Nova Scotia, nineteen-year-old Mary Robie watched an enslaved girl die of measles. "The Child had lain for more than a week in most inconceivable agony as is evident from strong convulsion fits she had the latter part of the time."
There is a fairly simple cause: course instructors, both those on the tenure track and those who are not, are increasingly evaluated by students’ course evaluations, which are heavily influenced by, among other things, the students’ grades in the course.
On the surface, grade inflation might seem simple to address, Ian Bogost writes. But it’s a strange and wicked problem on campus, with no single cause or obvious solution: theatln.tc/yjoGnzFM
December 28, 2025 at 10:28 PM
There is a fairly simple cause: course instructors, both those on the tenure track and those who are not, are increasingly evaluated by students’ course evaluations, which are heavily influenced by, among other things, the students’ grades in the course.
Reposted by G. Patrick O'Brien
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has stated that the 1918 flu pandemic was caused by a lab virus from vaccine research, a defective influenza vaccine. Let’s analyze what a lie this is. First, in 1918, 107 years ago, virology was in its infancy
December 27, 2025 at 11:42 PM
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has stated that the 1918 flu pandemic was caused by a lab virus from vaccine research, a defective influenza vaccine. Let’s analyze what a lie this is. First, in 1918, 107 years ago, virology was in its infancy
(I always enjoyed a blue book exam.)
December 24, 2025 at 5:57 PM
(I always enjoyed a blue book exam.)
More accessible than Locke. More provocative than Dickinson.
“In America, the Law is king.” Probably my favorite piece of political writing, and one I regularly had students read. Rezek’s article ignores, btw, the significant way Paine wielded the Bible to attack monarchy — Paine knew his audience. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/17/b...
The Pamphlet That Has Roused Americans to Action for 250 Years
www.nytimes.com
December 24, 2025 at 2:28 PM
More accessible than Locke. More provocative than Dickinson.
It’s pronounced “treacher-eh.”
December 24, 2025 at 1:33 AM
It’s pronounced “treacher-eh.”