June 2020 - CONTINGENT

How Kate Shuster Does History

Through her work at SPLC, Kate Shuster helps educators teach hard histories.

Well before there was heat, there was hing.

How is the pandemic shaping the work of history and the lives of those who do that work?

This is the first time I write the exact words of one of my biggest fears.

It is ironic that my job is all about helping educators but now I find myself at a loss.

Even if you had told me then, I probably wouldn’t have changed my plans.

It turns out that a high-school Digital History class is hard to teach digitally.

Evidently, reproducing the endowment is more reliable—less disruptive—than investing in students or research.

Having access to childcare during the school year smoothed over certain realities.

Seven years into my grad program at Berkeley, seven months into my pregnancy, and three weeks into the statewide lockdown, I filed my dissertation.

What gives coherence to my days?

My body has been a tool for storytelling—now it is a weapon.

Johny Pitts’s travelogue is a counter to historical narratives that erase the black European experience.