News about History in June

President Grant’s statue torn down in San Francisco—because he briefly owned (and freed) a slave? On The Hill. 

Cancel the Democratic Party for a history of racism? Manhattan Contrarian offers a list.

Portland protesters topple a statue of George Washington; University of Portland removes statue of York, the slave who accompanied  Lewis & Clark, citing fears of vandalism.

Quillette tells the libertarian history of science fiction.

A timeline of pandemics, courtesy of the Carolina Journal (see pp. 12-13).

Is the attack on statues a ‘cultural revolution’? Yes, says Brendan O’Neill in Spiked.

‘Racism and the Early History of the American Economic Association’: Phillip Magness discusses Richard Ely and his students on aier.org.

David Kaiser discusses the decline of history departments. On the Martin Center site.

Horatio Nelson was both war hero and supporter of the slave trade, says History Extra. (Hat-tip to Mark Brady.)

Matt Ridley:  The Russian pandemic of 1899 offers clues about COVID-19.

Statue honoring Robert Shaw and his African-American soldiers during the Civil War is defaced.

He was an accidental hero and he helped create the International Red Cross. On Military History TodayRobert E. Wright explains how Americans protected themselves before police forces. On aier.org.

The Economist discusses Leonard Wantchekon, the Benin-born economist who co-wrote one of the world’s most-cited economic papers. It explained current Benin citizens’ lack of trust through their experience of the slave trade. The Economist story is behind a paywall, but the American Economic Review is making its articles temporarily available to all  during the pandemic.

Bristol, U.K., protestors tear down a statue of Edward Colston, 17th-century slave trader.

Anthony Roberts explains ‘Why We Must Teach Western Civilization’ in National Review.

Vincent Geloso finds that in the 1918 flu pandemic the countries with the most economic freedom suffered the least.

The Washington Post tells what is known about one Virginia teenager who died in Normandy on June 6, 1944.  On Retropolis.