History in the Headlines

Connecticut College Professor of History Jim Downs moderated a discussion on voting rights with former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams.

The New York Times covered the discussion, which was a two-hour conversation about the history of voter suppression with four leading scholars, including Downs, who is also the director of Conn’s American Studies Program.  

The other scholars on hand were: Carol Anderson, the author of One Person, No Vote; Heather Cox Richardson, an expert in the history of the Republican Party; Heather Ann Thompson, the author of a Pulitzer Prize-winning account of the Attica prison revolt; and Kevin M. Kruse, who has become famous for his epic Twitter threads smiting the dubious historical claims of pundits and politicians.

The gathering, held at the the Library Company of Philadelphia, founded in 1731 by Ben Franklin, was part of a new series by the University of Georgia Press called “History in the Headlines,” which aims to bring historical expertise to bear on today’s most hotly debated issues, according to The New York Times.