Entries by Brian Halpin

Indians on the Run (the other kind of Indians)

  Virginia Gazette Williamsburg April 15 to April 27, 1737   “RAN away…an East-Indian, belonging to Mr. Heylin, Merchant, in Gloucester: He is a well-made, small young Fellow, wore his own Hair (which he may have cut off in order to disguise himself:)…He went away on a strong well-made Grey Stallion, branded with a Dott, […]

“Scientific Racism”

  In various blogs shared on this page over the past year, I have attempted to connect the dots between J. D. Vance and Trump, and the nexus of tech billionaires who are backing them financially. I have recently mentioned a thing called “Scientific Racism”, which is a term used by various academics to describe […]

Unpicking Threads in the American Cultural Tapestry

  “The Left Banke” had a smash hit in 1966 with “Walk Away, Renée“, a song co-written by Michael Brown, son of Russian-Jewish immigrants named “Lookofsky” who had first fetched-up in America in…Paducah, Kentucky. Brown’s father Harry Lookofsky was an accomplished bebop violinist who relocated to New York, running a small recording studio and working […]

Why the Ethnicity of Christopher Columbus Matters

  Note: The word “lynching” in the text below does not necessarily refer to hanging, as is often thought.  A lynching is the execution of an accused criminal (often wrongfully accused) by members of the public without that person having received due process of the law.  The method of execution can vary. This post includes […]

RAISE me up…

  Early in February 2017, the administration of Donald Trump introduced the Reforming American Immigration for Strong Employment (RAISE) Act. Americans of every political hue love their acronyms… This was one of Trump’s earliest efforts to begin the “re-whitification” of the USA, by clamping-down on what is known as “chain migration”. This is when members […]

Columbus, scoundrel

  This should be interesting. Later today, a team of geneticists is due to announce the results of a comprehensive analysis of DNA samples – taken from the purported remains of Christopher Columbus, and a number of his descendants. Columbus’ true identity and ethnic background have remained a bone of contention among scholars for centuries. […]

Elvis and Identity Politics

  I have been meaning to write something about identity politics (and its hazards) for ages. Last night I dug out an old article from 2002, published in a well-known left-leaning newspaper, in which the writer asserted baldly that Elvis Presley had appropriated the songs of Black artists such as Little Richard and Chuck Berry […]

Born a Woman

  People are distillers of information, with anything meaty getting cooked-down to its bare bones. Nowhere is this more true than in our understanding of history – even recent history. Entire decades of events, trends, and changes are reduced to a shortlist of manageable icons and symbols. Take the 1960s USA. Ask anyone who wasn’t […]

Colorism, Past and Present

  There is a trend, particularly widespread among the amateur genealogical community, to share historical photos which have been colorized. There are a myriad reasons why this practice is at best misguided, and at worst, a vector for ethnic whitewashing. Most non-professionals probably assume that cameras and video recording devices are inherently “neutral” instruments for […]

1864, 1964, and Beyond

  In the heat of post-emancipation excitement, men like the one pictured could never have imagined that it would be another 100 years until the Civil Rights Act would finally enshrine the rights of all US Americans in law. And this soldier would have probably been shocked (or not?) to learn that 160 years later, […]