Volunteer to Chair a Session at the next OHA Annual Meeting! The OHA Annual Meeting benefits from having volunteers serve as chairs for sessions that align with their expertise! To learn more, please click here and fill out the volunteer form! This form will remain open until June 3, 2026. If selected, you will be notified […]
The Oral History Association provides funding each year for domestic and international presenters, and for non-presenters traveling to the annual meeting. NOTE: THE DEADLINE FOR ALL ANNUAL MEETING SCHOLARSHIPS IS JUNE 22, 2026 Please click here to learn more about each scholarship opportunity and to apply!
Summary This position is located in the American Folklife Center, Special Collections Directorate, Researcher and Collection Services in the Library Collections and Services Group. This is a non-supervisory, bargaining unit position. The position description number for this position is 446809. The salary range indicated reflects the locality pay adjustments for the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan area. […]
The Oral History Review announces three CFP’s. To be considered for the Spring 2027 issue, submissions are due by July 2026, but all submissions are accepted on a rolling basis. Read below for more information and the links to view the full CFP’s: The Editors of the Oral History Review invite prospective authors to consider […]
Deadline: June 30, 2026 The Arab American National Museum is currently accepting applications for a research travel grant to facilitate access to the Museum Collection and/or the Russell J. Ebeid Library Resource Center. The grant is made possible through the support of Dr. Tareq A. Ramadan, an anthropologist, historic preservationist, and interdisciplinary adjunct professor of […]
From the inimitable Khalil Greene. Find his substack at
Every January, America trots out the same handful of Martin Luther King Jr. quotes. “I have a dream.” “Content of their character.” The safe ones. The non-controversial ones.
But here’s what they don’t show you:
In 1963, King wrote from a Birmingham jail that the “white moderate” was a bigger stumbling block to freedom than the Klan. He said people who preferred “order” over justice were the real enemy of progress.
That’s not in your textbook.
While schools teach that King “hated” violence, they skip the part where he told America: “A riot is the language of the unheard.”
By 1967, King wasn’t just fighting segregation anymore. He was calling out the “triple evils” of racism, extreme materialism, and militarism. He argued for a “radical redistribution of economic power.” He said capitalism itself was built on the exploitation of Black slaves.
He even wrote that a nation that did “something special against” Black people for centuries must now do “something special for” them.
Sound familiar? That’s reparations, in 1967.
This is the King they don’t want you to know.
This shift made him one of the most hated men in America. The FBI labeled him a “traitor” and the “most dangerous Negro in America.” His approval rating cratered to 25%.
And then, after he was killed, they sanitized him. They made his message safe enough for the same people who opposed him to quote him at ceremonies and celebrations.
This is what historical erasure looks like. It’s not always book burnings or dramatic censorship. Just … editing. Trimming the edges until a radical sounds like a moderate.
It’s the same playbook they’re using right now — on Harriet Tubman, on Indigenous history, on anything that makes America uncomfortable.
