Co-Executive Editor, Public Seminar and Professor of History, The New School for Social Research

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National Identities, Popular Histories

Nations are built on both ideals and ugly contradictions – historians have an obligation to both

May 8, 2019 • by Claire Potter

This essay was originally published on May 8 2019. I want to begin with a confession, since it’s always better to admit the embarrassing thing that everybody knows: twentieth century United States historians like me are raised with minimal expectations that become glaringly apparent when we read a book that begins ...

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Reading the Mueller Report

You can’t always get what you want. But if you try sometime you just might find — you know how to read.

April 21, 2019 • by Claire Potter

I understand why you wouldn’t want to read the whole thing through: it’s really long, repetitive and dull. But most of all, you will want to react before reading because you just wanted the Trump presidency to be over, right? You wanted Robert Mueller to make the case for why ...

Exiles on 12th Street

The Fire This Time

Exiles on 12th Street, Episode Two

April 3, 2019 • by Claire Potter

Violence against African American people creates pain and outrage, but policy makers offer us few solutions. In this episode, we ask: how can the fight for racial justice be accelerated, even as racism remains as persistent today as it was before the modern Civil Rights movement? In the spirit of ...

Exiles on 12th Street

Graphic New York

Exiles on 12th Street, Episode One

February 13, 2019 • by Claire Potter

What does New York look like, feel like, sound like, smell like? In celebration of the city that Exiles on 12th Street calls home, the first episode of the podcast is dedicated to the stories of those who live here. Join us as we hit the streets to explore the ...

The Right

How I Knew the #CovingtonBoys Video Was Clickbait

And why you should care that it is

January 24, 2019 • by Claire Potter

I watched it through, aware of the retweet widget turning over rapidly. It was going viral. Because I did not really understand what the video meant to the thousands sharing it, I clicked on the response widget on the far left to look at comments. I learned Sandmann and Phillips’ names; ...

How I Knew the #CovingtonBoys Video Was Clickbait

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Remembering the Civil Rights Movement

An interview with poet Cheryl Clarke about the 1963 March on Washington

December 29, 2018 • by Claire Potter

In August 2013, the fiftieth anniversary of the March on Washington, I had the opportunity to interview African-American feminist and lesbian Cheryl Clarke about her participation in the March on Washington. A poet, essayist and literary critic, Cheryl has been an activist, a teacher and an artist for her entire ...

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Mahatma Gandhi: What Jesus Means to Me

A greeting to our readers from Public Seminar

December 25, 2018 • by Claire Potter

In December, 1931, when Mohandas K. Gandhi was voyaging back to India after attending the Second Round Table Conference in London, Christian passengers asked him to give a talk on Christmas Day. We at Public Seminar are consciously non-sectarian in our approach to all things religious and political; we also ...

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JFK’s Queer White House

What we can learn about a straight President by looking at the gay men in his orbit

December 13, 2018 • by Claire Potter

President John F. Kennedy has become infamous for his vivid, and some might say almost compulsive, heterosexual affairs. But straight men can have a gay side, and JFK’s life was filled with prominent gay men, friendships which open the door to other histories. At least one of these intimates, Kirk ...

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Making America Good Again

A few notes of thanks as Purple Wednesday closes a two-year run

November 21, 2018 • by Claire Potter

As I wrote that day, The message of The Poseidon Adventure was that we must not give in to despair, even in our darkest hour. In order to save our own lives, we must come to terms with, and fight back against, the new reality. The challenges faced by those on The Poseidon are ...

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LIVE BLOG: Election Day, 2018

Executive Editor Claire Potter rocked an old school blog post throughout the day

November 7, 2018 • by Claire Potter

This post will be periodically updated throughout Election Day, 2018, and will be featured as Purple Wednesday on November 7 2018. In true old school style, you will have to read this post backwards, as the most recent entries will be at the top. 10:23 p.m. NBC projects that Democrats will take ...

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We, the People, Must Vote

However imperfectly, the framers of the Constitution imagined the vote, not guns, as our most powerful right

October 31, 2018 • by Claire Potter

We the People of the United States… I have always been stirred by this phrase that begins the preamble of the United States Constitution: we, the people. What it meant was that this new chapter in politics would not be an extension of divine will and ruled by hereditary office ...

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Is Elizabeth Warren Native American?

What the DNA controversy reveals about race, identity politics, and the Native American present

October 17, 2018 • by Claire Potter

It’s Monday morning. I open up my Twitter feed and see the video Elizabeth Warren made to answer charges made by Donald Trump, taken up by Trump enthusiasts everywhere, that she has pretended to be a Native American. I thought: this video is pretty good. If you haven’t seen it, you ...

Claire Potter

National Identities, Popular Histories

Nations are built on both ideals and ugly contradictions – historians have an obligation to both

Reading the Mueller Report

You can’t always get what you want. But if you try sometime you just might find — you know how to read.

The Fire This Time

Exiles on 12th Street, Episode Two

Graphic New York

Exiles on 12th Street, Episode One

Mahatma Gandhi: What Jesus Means to Me

A greeting to our readers from Public Seminar

JFK’s Queer White House

What we can learn about a straight President by looking at the gay men in his orbit

Making America Good Again

A few notes of thanks as Purple Wednesday closes a two-year run

LIVE BLOG: Election Day, 2018

Executive Editor Claire Potter rocked an old school blog post throughout the day

We, the People, Must Vote

However imperfectly, the framers of the Constitution imagined the vote, not guns, as our most powerful right

Is Elizabeth Warren Native American?

What the DNA controversy reveals about race, identity politics, and the Native American present

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