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jimdowns.bsky.social
Dr. Jim Downs
@jimdowns.bsky.social
2.1K followers 590 following 110 posts
Author of Author of Maladies of Empire & Sick from Freedom; Stand by Me: The Forgotten History of Gay Liberation; Gilder Lehrman NEH Prof at Gettysburg College; Editor of Civil War History; Partenr at History Studio.
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jimdowns.bsky.social
Dr. Jim Downs @jimdowns.bsky.social · 3d
Excellent article by John Witt on the virtually unknown history of the Garland Fund that “sponsored research, education and news sources that would be outside the influence of the wealthy few. It supported Black civil rights…” nytimes.com/2025/10/06/opi… via @NYTOpinion
https://nytimes.com/2025/10/06/opi…
jimdowns.bsky.social
Dr. Jim Downs @jimdowns.bsky.social · 8d
The Trump administration spent over $6 million on the eve of a government shutdown—triggered by concerns over excessive spending—to host a meeting that could have just as easily been held over Zoom.
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jimdowns.bsky.social
Dr. Jim Downs @jimdowns.bsky.social · 21d
Library Company of Philadelphia is hosting an excellent panel on Black photography during Reconstruction on October 21. Please register for this in person event! support.librarycompany.org/event/the-fo...
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Reposted by Dr. Jim Downs
kevinmkruse.bsky.social
Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · Sep 6
So much efficiency!
kristin-wilson.bsky.social
Kristin Wilson 📎 @kristin-wilson.bsky.social · Sep 6
Fascinating - and frustrating - read. To change the name of the Department of Defense will mean changing all 700,000 seals, letterhead, signage, etc around the world. At a cost of potentially billions.

subscriber.politicopro.com/article/2025...
POLITICO Pro: White House to rebrand Pentagon the Department of War
The name change would likely require an act of Congress, although the White House is looking for ways to avoid a vote.
subscriber.politicopro.com
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jimdowns.bsky.social
Dr. Jim Downs @jimdowns.bsky.social · Aug 21
Trump Admin Removed Rainbow Crosswalk Honoring LGBT Victims Murdered at Pulse Nightclub.
I worried this would vanish from memory when I wrote this op-ed. Thanks to the NYT, for being an archive. We are witnessing an erasure of gay history www.nytimes.com/2016/06/13/o...
Opinion | Before Orlando, There Was New Orleans (Published 2016)
www.nytimes.com
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jimdowns.bsky.social
Dr. Jim Downs @jimdowns.bsky.social · Aug 21
Thanks for posting this!
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Reposted by Dr. Jim Downs
anchistjournal.bsky.social
American Nineteenth Century History Journal @anchistjournal.bsky.social · Aug 20
NEW ARTICLE: @jimdowns.bsky.social explores the fascinating history of queer history in a recent article for ANCH: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Fellow time travelers: creating queer heritage in the detritus of untold genealogies
The invitation to provide an assessment of the growing, outstanding historiography on nineteenth-century queer sexuality is an honor. I immediately imagined writing an essay that would span from Je...
www.tandfonline.com
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jimdowns.bsky.social
Dr. Jim Downs @jimdowns.bsky.social · Aug 18
Thank you!!!!
jimdowns.bsky.social
Dr. Jim Downs @jimdowns.bsky.social · Aug 14
Congrats
jimdowns.bsky.social
Dr. Jim Downs @jimdowns.bsky.social · Aug 14
Thrilled to publish this article on queer heritage in the 19th Century and beyond
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Reposted by Dr. Jim Downs
yaleclassicslib.bsky.social
Yale Classics Library @yaleclassicslib.bsky.social · Aug 11
Making the Medieval Archive: Celebrating Elizabeth A. R. Brown at Penn In-person & online conference Sept. 12 2025 Penn Libraries www.library.upenn.edu/events/makin...
Making the Medieval Archive: Celebrating Elizabeth A. R. Brown at Penn
This day-long symposium will commemorate Elizabeth (Peggy) A. R. Brown’s extraordinary legacy in the field of Medieval Studies and will mark the official launch of the Elizabeth A. R. Brown Medieval H...
www.library.upenn.edu
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Reposted by Dr. Jim Downs
governor.ca.gov
Governor Gavin Newsom @governor.ca.gov · Aug 11
Donald Trump, if you will not stand down, California will be forced to lead an effort to redraw our maps to offset the rigging of maps in red states.

If the other states call off their redistricting efforts, we will do the same. And American democracy will be better for it.
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jimdowns.bsky.social
Dr. Jim Downs @jimdowns.bsky.social · Jul 22
Excellent—me too, let me know what they say
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jimdowns.bsky.social
Dr. Jim Downs @jimdowns.bsky.social · Jul 22
Thanks for teaching my book on Jan 6 in your course @ugapress.bsky.social
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jimdowns.bsky.social
Dr. Jim Downs @jimdowns.bsky.social · Jul 9
An absorbing article by Salamishah Tillet, which features Erica Armstrong Dunbar's brilliant work as a historical consultant who is also my colleague at HISTORY STUIDO.Erica has the inimitable talent to translate a corpus of scholarrship into legible storyline. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/09/a...
‘The Gilded Age’ Enriches Its Portrait of Black High Society
www.nytimes.com
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jimdowns.bsky.social
Dr. Jim Downs @jimdowns.bsky.social · Jul 5
Thea was born on July 4. I think about her almost every day. I still deeply miss our friendship, her beautiful mind, and her uproarious laughter. www.theatlantic.com/education/ar...
The Death of an Adjunct
Thea Hunter was a promising, brilliant scholar. And then she got trapped in academia’s permanent underclass.
www.theatlantic.com
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jimdowns.bsky.social
Dr. Jim Downs @jimdowns.bsky.social · Jun 29
newrepublic.com/article/1324...
Out of the Bathhouse and Into the Bookstore
How the Oscar Wilde Memorial Bookshop created a new space for gay New Yorkers.
newrepublic.com
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jimdowns.bsky.social
Dr. Jim Downs @jimdowns.bsky.social · Jun 29
lareviewofbooks.org/blog/essays/...
Uncovering a Queer Renaissance, Fifty Years Later | Los Angeles Review of Books
Jim Downs commemorates the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots with a recovery of LGBT figures of the past.
lareviewofbooks.org
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jimdowns.bsky.social
Dr. Jim Downs @jimdowns.bsky.social · Jun 29
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
Before Stonewall, There Was a Bookstore
Networks of activists transformed Stonewall from an isolated event into a turning point in the struggle for gay power.
www.theatlantic.com
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jimdowns.bsky.social
Dr. Jim Downs @jimdowns.bsky.social · Jun 29
www.neh.gov/article/writ...
Writing Gay History
Though sometimes forgotten, the history of gay liberation was written with the history of African Americans in mind.
www.neh.gov
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jimdowns.bsky.social
Dr. Jim Downs @jimdowns.bsky.social · Jun 29
www.newyorker.com/culture/cult...
The Gay Marriages of a Nineteenth-Century Prison Ship
What seemed to enrage a former inmate most was the mutual consent of the men he lived with.
www.newyorker.com
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jimdowns.bsky.social
Dr. Jim Downs @jimdowns.bsky.social · Jun 29
For PRIDE, here are some articles that I wrote over the years on queer history. www.newyorker.com/culture/cult...
Rediscovering Eve Adams, the Radical Lesbian Activist
How Jonathan Ned Katz retraced the story of the woman who wrote what might be the first ethnography of American lesbian life.
www.newyorker.com
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Reposted by Dr. Jim Downs
sethcotlar.bsky.social
Seth Cotlar @sethcotlar.bsky.social · Jun 28
“For 30 or 40 miles…I staggered on, fearing every instant I should be …crushed within the jaws of some disturbed alligator. The dread of them now almost equalled the fear of the pursuing hounds.” -Solomon Northrup, Twelve Years a Slave
Homeland Security & @DHSgov Coming soon! An AI generated image of alligators wearing ICE hats
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jimdowns.bsky.social
Dr. Jim Downs @jimdowns.bsky.social · Jun 27
SCOTUS ruled parents can remove their children from class when gay is mentioned. Yesterday, Andrew Sullivan wrote a historically inaccurate NYT OpEd about gay radicalism that justified his transphobia. Unsure if it’s worth responding, esp to Sullivan, who misrepresents the past.