NYU professor. NYT contributing writer. Author of THE 272: the harrowing origin story of the Catholic Church and one family's indomitable will to survive. I write about history, race, life.https://bsky.app/profile/rachelswarns.bsky.socialhttps://bsky.app/profile/rachelswarns.bsky.social/post/3lrlhm7wqqs2dFor those of us shaken by the news today and searching for some historical context to make sense of it all, I’m re-listening to this interview with Steven Hahn, the Pulitzer Prize winning historian of Reconstruction and, more recently, the author of Illiberal America. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/23/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-steven-hahn.html14 Jun 2025 17:21 +0000at://did:plc:nwe7zmut2rb5npflft2spyxb/app.bsky.feed.post/3lrlhm7wqqs2dhttps://bsky.app/profile/rachelswarns.bsky.social/post/3lrimg3vxak26Debra Bruno loved telling stories about her Dutch ancestors in upstate New York...until a historian told her: “If you have Dutch ancestors in the Hudson Valley, they were probably slave owners.” https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/13/us/enslavers-family-history.html13 Jun 2025 14:09 +0000at://did:plc:nwe7zmut2rb5npflft2spyxb/app.bsky.feed.post/3lrimg3vxak26https://bsky.app/profile/rachelswarns.bsky.social/post/3lrimg3vxak26Debra Bruno loved telling stories about her Dutch ancestors in upstate New York...until a historian told her: “If you have Dutch ancestors in the Hudson Valley, they were probably slave owners.” https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/13/us/enslavers-family-history.html13 Jun 2025 14:09 +0000at://did:plc:nwe7zmut2rb5npflft2spyxb/app.bsky.feed.post/3lrimg3vxak26https://bsky.app/profile/rachelswarns.bsky.social/post/3lotb2iegqc2vPope Leo’s ancestors had roots in Black Catholic communities that were deeply impacted by the Church’s involvement in and support of slavery/segregation. That they held on to their faith and worked to make the Church responsive to a diverse flock – and produced our new pope! -- inspire me.10 May 2025 15:29 +0000at://did:plc:nwe7zmut2rb5npflft2spyxb/app.bsky.feed.post/3lotb2iegqc2vhttps://bsky.app/profile/rachelswarns.bsky.social/post/3lotb2iegqc2vPope Leo’s ancestors had roots in Black Catholic communities that were deeply impacted by the Church’s involvement in and support of slavery/segregation. That they held on to their faith and worked to make the Church responsive to a diverse flock – and produced our new pope! -- inspire me.10 May 2025 15:29 +0000at://did:plc:nwe7zmut2rb5npflft2spyxb/app.bsky.feed.post/3lotb2iegqc2vhttps://bsky.app/profile/rachelswarns.bsky.social/post/3loou2cqf722tHidden legacies! Our new American pope was born in Chicago, but his maternal ancestors were Creoles of color from New Orleans, according to Jari Honora, a genealogist and family historian at the Historic New Orleans Collection. #PopeLeoXIV08 May 2025 21:26 +0000at://did:plc:nwe7zmut2rb5npflft2spyxb/app.bsky.feed.post/3loou2cqf722thttps://bsky.app/profile/rachelswarns.bsky.social/post/3loou2cqf722tHidden legacies! Our new American pope was born in Chicago, but his maternal ancestors were Creoles of color from New Orleans, according to Jari Honora, a genealogist and family historian at the Historic New Orleans Collection. #PopeLeoXIV08 May 2025 21:26 +0000at://did:plc:nwe7zmut2rb5npflft2spyxb/app.bsky.feed.post/3loou2cqf722thttps://bsky.app/profile/rachelswarns.bsky.social/post/3lobt23rup22oJoin us! Hope to see you there! [contains quote post or other embedded content]03 May 2025 17:03 +0000at://did:plc:nwe7zmut2rb5npflft2spyxb/app.bsky.feed.post/3lobt23rup22ohttps://bsky.app/profile/rachelswarns.bsky.social/post/3lngdytk6wk2bWhat does hate look like in New York City? My undergraduate students at nyu.edu have been poring over court records, interviewing lawyers, victims and scholars as they report on hate crimes – and the battle to combat them -- across the city.22 Apr 2025 18:52 +0000at://did:plc:nwe7zmut2rb5npflft2spyxb/app.bsky.feed.post/3lngdytk6wk2b