Please peruse the drawings and photos of Memorial Day from the Library of Congress; for more local observances, check out the pictures of how New York City celebrated this holiday (from the New York Public Library).
Archive for May, 2021
100 Years Ago: The Tulsa Race Massacre
In what is arguably the most brutally widespread destruction of Black life and property, the Tulsa Race Massacre burned through the “Black Wall Street” of Tulsa, Oklahoma, levelling vast portions of this part of the city as well as killing an estimated 300 souls along with leaving 10,000 homeless. It has been reported that aerial bombing was practiced.
The 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre from the Tulsa Historical Society and Museum contains online primary sources, interviews, and hundreds of photographs. (Includes annual report of the American Red Cross; it was the first time the Red Cross was mobilized outside of a natural disaster.)
The Tulsa Race Massacre from Oklahoma Digital Prairie give access to hundreds of sources.
The Tulsa Race Massacre from the online Oklahoma Encyclopedia of History & Culture gives a succinct overview of this event.
The Library of Congress has contemporary photos of the destruction as well as entry into hundreds of newspaper articles.
Photographing the Tulsa Massacre of 1921 from the Public Domain Review is a sobering read.
Tulsa Objects in the NMAAHC Collection from the National Museum of African American History & Culture provides additional resources and information.
NPR‘s podcast Blindspot: Tulsa Burning is a six-part series on this tragic event.
The History Channel‘s Tulsa Burning: The 1921 Race Massacre debuts on May 30.
National Geographic‘s Rise Again: Tulsa and the Red Summer (trailer) will air June 1.
Here are located Congressional activities revolving around this.
Dylan Thomas Online Collection
More than 6,000 images, including poetry, stories, radio broadcasts, plays, and film scripts, as well as correspondence, drawings, photographs, and some career and personal papers, are included in this online collection. Explore his earliest works as well as his more mature output.
Some of his poems may be read here.
Briefings on Current Events
The AP’s Explaining the News focuses on newsworthy stories and provides a critical overview of the event along with relevant links. Sometimes, there are more than one topic examined in a day. As of the date of this writing (May 26), there is a piece on the diversion of a jet to Belarus that happened on May 23. If you want to keep abreast with timely reports, this is a good place to be.
A Profile of the 117th Congress
Categories include race, ethnicity, gender, military service, religion, among others. This is an updated profile issued after every election cycle.
The First Global, Systematic Report on COVID-19
The Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response was established by the World Health Organization to provide an evidence-based examination of the response to this pandemic and ascertain what lessons can be learned for future pandemic occurrences. The diverse panelists encompass various fields of expertise and experiences all of which have a bearing on this topic.
The main report makes it quite clear that this was a preventable disaster, and that the slowness of the response coupled with understaffed/underfunded resources only accelerated the deleterious effects of this disease. The summary report presents the panel’s findings in a stark manner – there were failures at every level.
Among the many salient points addressed in this report is this one: “National governments are the primary duty-bearer in pandemic response, and the lack of accountability has been accompanied by a failure to learn from
mistakes and take up the opportunity for learning between countries.” (71)
Reviews/commentaries can be found in Science, The Lancet, and the BBC.
Here is How Much Each College Will Receive Under the American Rescue Plan
This is a comprehensive list arranged by state that details how much relief each college/university will receive, and how much must be distributed to students. Here is a Department of Education press release with some contextual information.
Major Nursing Report Just Issued
The National Academies Press has just released The Future of Nursing 2020-2030: Charting a Plan to Achieve Health Equity, the third number in the series of reports regarding the state of nursing and future trends. One stated goal:
“To build a future workforce that effectively provides the health and health care that society needs will require a substantial increase in the numbers, types, and distribution of the nursing workforce, as well as an education system
that better prepares nurses for practicing in community-based settings with diverse populations that face a variety of lived experiences. These improvements will occur more rapidly, more uniformly, and more successfully if programmatic, policy, and funding opportunities can be leveraged by health systems, governments, educators, and payers.” (59)
Numerous graphs/charts as well as extensive bibliographies lend credence to this important work.
A webinar discussing the contents of this impactful study has been held.
New Jersey Funding for Higher Education to be Reviewed
At least that is the intent of this proposed legislation – NJ S1230 – that calls for the establishment of a New Jersey Higher Education Funding Formula Commission that would examine how other states fund their higher education systems. The state’s recent funding has been severely curtailed to the extent that calling New Jersey-sponsored IHEs “state” institutions borders on ludicrous. Here is a brief interview with one of the bill’s sponsors – Senator Tom Kean – along with facts and figures detailing the parlous state of funding for higher education.
Topical Briefings on Current Affairs
CFR Backgrounders are authoritative primers on a wide variety of topics, such as security, diplomacy, health, human rights, and government among the various regions of the world. Recent writings have dealt with detention of child migrants and global climate agreements: successes and failures. Each essay is replete with links as well as a section on “recommended resources”. These are well worth a perusal to keep abreast of ongoing events.
Global Vaccine Hesitancy
The difficulties/roadblocks in getting people vaccinated is the major topic of this NAP monograph – The Critical Public Health Value of Vaccines – the published proceedings of a 2020 workshop. Causes for reluctance range from socioeconomic barriers to structural impediments to gender-based decisions and as is pointed out – “While
there exists a vocal minority of people who are entirely opposed to vaccination, the majority of vaccine-hesitant people fall somewhere on a spectrum from vaccine acceptance to vaccine denial’.(1) How to overcome these blockages forms a good portion of this work.
While not specifically related to COVID-19, this 2020 article from the Lancet is still informative – Mapping global trends in vaccine confidence and investigating barriers to vaccine uptake: a large-scale retrospective temporal modelling study
This 2021 study from Vaccines deals with COVID-19 – COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy Worldwide: A Concise Systematic Review of Vaccine Acceptance Rates.
Go to PMC (PubMed Central) to find hundreds of full-text articles on this subject.
Mapping of U.S. vaccine hesitancy is presented here by the CDC.
100 Top TV Comedy Shows
At least according to Rolling Stone. It lists the criteria employed, essentially covering English-language shows from the United States, Canada, and England. What is your opinion? I am suspect about an “all great comedy” list that omits Monty Python, Red Green Show, As Time Goes By, and To the Manor Born.
National Security Reports – April 2021 Update
Integrated Review 2021 (UK Parliament Library); Engineering for Pandemics: Preparedness, Response, and Recovery: Proceedings of a Forum (NAP); Community Safety and Policing: Proceedings of a Workshop–in Brief (NAP); Assessing the threat from accelerationists and militia extremists : hearing before the Subcommittee on Intelligence and Counterterrorism of the Committee on Homeland Security, House of Representatives, One Hundred Sixteenth Congress, second session, July 16, 2020; Compendium of Central Asian Military and Security Activity (Foreign Military Studies Office, Fort Leavenworth); Electricity grid resilience : climate change is expected to have far-reaching effects and DOE and FERC should take actions : report to congressional requesters.(GAO); America’s Broken Civil-Military Relationship Imperils National Security (Foreign Affairs); Global Trends 2040 (National Intelligence Council); Plasma Science: Enabling Technology, Sustainability, Security, and Exploration (NAP); Annual Threat Assessment of the US Intelligence Community (DNI); The Domestic Extremist Next Door (Digital Citizens Alliance); Beijing’s Military-Heavy Approach to Taiwan Locks the US and China in a Security Dilemma (The Diplomat); Nuclear Proliferation and Arms Control Monitoring, Detection, and Verification: A National Security Priority: Interim Report (NAP); and The Security of America’s Medical Product Supply Chain: Considerations for Critical Drugs and Devices: Proceedings of a Workshop—in Brief (NAP).
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Caribbean Basin Security Initiative; Russia: Foreign Policy and U.S. Relations (updated 4-15-21); The United Arab Emirates (UAE): Issues for U.S. Policy (updated 4-15-21); North Korea’s Nuclear Weapons and Missile Programs; National Emergency Powers (updated 4-8-21); Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA): An Overview;National Security Implications of Fifth Generation (5G) Mobile Technologies; Bahrain: Unrest, Security, and U.S. Policy (updated April 20, 2021); |China’s New Semiconductor Policies: Issues for Congress; Handguns, Stabilizing Braces, and Related Components; and International Discussions Concerning Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems.
Congressman Frank J. Guarini Library Blog 