Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Katy Telling @katytelling.bsky.social · 2h

And thank you so much for your kind words! 🙂

Katy Telling @katytelling.bsky.social · 2h

I've learned so much from @marcusrediker.bsky.social's immense work on Benjamin Lay! Pleasants never mentioned by Lay by name, but I can't imagine him being unaware of Lay's challenge and example to other Friends.

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Karin Wulf @kawulf.bsky.social · 7h

When people tell you that founders as enslavers was something we should see "in the context of their time." Great piece fr @katytelling.bsky.social abt a wealthy 18hc Virginian (and there were others) who thought Washington and co. risked their honor and more. ageofrevolutions.com/2025/10/13/a...

A Great Reputation Among Men: Race and Contested Masculinities in the Early American Republic

By Kathleen Telling In 1785, Robert Pleasants, a wealthy tobacco planter, abolitionist, and prominent member of Henrico County’s Quaker community, penned a letter to Virginia’s most famous son, Geo…

ageofrevolutions.com

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Katy Telling @katytelling.bsky.social · 6h

Thank you so much for sharing, Karin!! 🙂

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Jan McVicker @jmcvicker.bsky.social · 4d

Ned Blackhawk - How Native Nations Shaped the Revolution
The Founders were inspired—and threatened—by the independence and self-governance of nations like the Iroquois Confederacy.
www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...

How Native Nations Shaped the Revolution

The Founders were inspired—and threatened—by the independence and self-governance of nations like the Iroquois Confederacy.

www.theatlantic.com

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Reposted by Katy Telling

Age of Revolutions @ageofrevolutions.bsky.social · 1d

@katytelling.bsky.social explores how race and masculinity were contested and constructed in the early American republic. What did it mean to have “a great reputation among men”? Dive into the complexities of honor, identity, and power.

📖 Read here: ageofrevolutions.com/2025/10/13/a...

A Great Reputation Among Men: Race and Contested Masculinities in the Early American Republic

By Kathleen Telling In 1785, Robert Pleasants, a wealthy tobacco planter, abolitionist, and prominent member of Henrico County’s Quaker community, penned a letter to Virginia’s most famous son, Geo…

ageofrevolutions.com

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Katy Telling @katytelling.bsky.social · 1d

While thinking about Robert Pleasants' own legacy. And that of the Pembertons. And the Newbys. And all other Quaker abolitionists whose ability to appeal to enslavers was predicated upon the wealth and social prestige that their own enslaving facilitated.

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Katy Telling @katytelling.bsky.social · 1d

Also incredibly grateful to SHEAR for the conversations that got me thinking again about how Robert Pleasants and other Quakers used the rhetorical strategy of appealing to white men's anxieties about their own legacy to advance the abolitionist cause.

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Katy Telling @katytelling.bsky.social · 1d

So grateful to @ageofrevolutions.bsky.social for their time and care and for giving me space to have a verrrrrrry "thinking out loud" piece.

ageofrevolutions.com/2025/10/13/a...

A Great Reputation Among Men: Race and Contested Masculinities in the Early American Republic

By Kathleen Telling In 1785, Robert Pleasants, a wealthy tobacco planter, abolitionist, and prominent member of Henrico County’s Quaker community, penned a letter to Virginia’s most famous son, Geo…

ageofrevolutions.com

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Katy Telling @katytelling.bsky.social · 2d

I am so so sorry for your loss.

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Katy Telling @katytelling.bsky.social · 2d

And I? Love it.

Katy Telling @katytelling.bsky.social · 2d

i love that every other video of Tyler Childers on the Snipe Hunter tour is him laying down on the stage in his finest visiting assistant Professor cardigan just yapping and airing out his grievances.

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Katy Telling @katytelling.bsky.social · 6d

boygenius cover of Parting Glass bless this draft, bless this draft, boygenius cover of Parting Glass

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Katy Telling @katytelling.bsky.social · 7d

I love Richmond and I love Francine. ❤️

The Virginian-Pilot @pilotonline.com · 7d

Missing Lowe’s cat returns to Virginia store: ‘She’s part of our family’ trib.al/tzNZ7wR

Missing Lowe’s cat returns to Virginia store: ‘She’s part of our family’

The beloved Richmond cat had been missing since Sept. 18 when surveillance footage showed Francine walking onto a freight truck in the store’s receiving area and being accidentally carried to a Low…

trib.al

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Katy Telling @katytelling.bsky.social · 8d

I'm so excited for this!

John Carter Brown Library @jcblibrary.bsky.social · 8d

Join us Thursday, October 9 at 5 p.m. EDT in person or via Zoom for the 2025 Bromsen Lecture!

Details at jcblibrary.org!

The image contains a photo of Bianca Premo and the text "Thursday at the JCB- The John Carter Brown Library Presents - The 2025 Bromsen Lecture- Children in the Early Modern Spanish Empire: Ethical Lessons from the Present."

Reposted by Katy Telling

Erin Grievances @erinbartram.bsky.social · 8d

If you are a supporter and reader of @contingent-mag.bsky.social one of the biggest things you can do to help us at the moment is get this CFP to the NTT folks in your life. The fracturing of social media has made it very difficult to get the word out esp. to adjuncts and VAPs.

CFP: A Time of Monsters

The monster has been here all along. It is a historical constant that manifests in wildly different ways across time, place, and culture. Whatever form it takes, the monster claws at categories; it un...

contingentmagazine.org

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Brooke Newman @brookenewman.bsky.social · 13d

The stories of enslaved African people and more than 1,000 British plantation owners who were compensated after abolition have been brought together in a searchable archive for the first time.

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...

‘This is strength’: stories of enslaved Africans in Grenada made into searchable archive

Depths of Paradise project backed by British family and created by Stephen Lewis, a descendant of survivors

www.theguardian.com

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NPR @npr.org · 13d

Today marks the first day in public media’s history without federal funding. And we’re not going anywhere.

Listeners like you keep our mission alive. Protect one of the last places where America comes together to hear itself.

Stand with us today. Donate at this link: n.pr/46wamAj

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Katy Telling @katytelling.bsky.social · 13d

Whomst do I know here who has access to or else knows how to make a zograscope?

Reposted by Katy Telling

Jesse Goes to Hell @killgoldfish.bsky.social · Jun 2

ME: yeah could i get the impossible burger with cheese.
THE VIZIER WHO'S BEEN ADVISING ME: ahh, an excellent choice sire. an imitation of the genuine article. there are some "friends" of yours to whom it bears a passing similarity
ME: you want anything
VIZIER: [chuckles] what i want is of no import

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Katy Telling @katytelling.bsky.social · 19d

Trying to place where I know the song from, when suddenly, I realize

a man with a beard is looking at a screen with math equations on it .

Alt: GIF of Zach Galifianakis looking at a screen with math equations dancing in front of his face.

media.tenor.com

Katy Telling @katytelling.bsky.social · 19d

Getting some writing done at a local brewery and when I heard a song that was on the Twilight soundtrack come over the loudspeakers, every single sense activated.

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Bryan Edward Stone (שָׁלוֹם) @bestonetx.bsky.social · 21d

We have to keep saying it: There is "nothing* that Texas college faculty are prohibited by law from teaching.

Do not believe politicians who demand restrictions they never passed. Do not obey unconstitutional college policy. Do not self-censor. Do not comply.

ghostly gwen howerton @kissphoria.bsky.social · 21d

NEW: Angelo State University in San Angelo, TX has told faculty that they can't discuss trans people in curriculum. When I asked the justification for the policy, they referenced Texas state law - but Texas law doesn't forbid discussions of trans people in higher ed.
www.chron.com/culture/arti...

Texas school threatens to fire faculty if they discuss this topic

ASU says the new policy is in response to Texas law. But no such law banning discussions of trans people exists.

www.chron.com

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Reposted by Katy Telling

Liz Covart @lizcovart.bsky.social · 21d

I’ve quietly been working on a new project: The History Explorers Club. I opened it in early August & intentionally started with a small group of 40 Members who are helping shape the experience.

It’s been a lot of fun to work on & today, we’re starting our first mini-challenge!

Explore the Past with Curious Minds | History Explorers Club

A community for history lovers who crave deeper stories, expert insights, and connection. Join us to explore the past—together.

www.historyexplorers.club

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Alejandra Caraballo @esqueer.net · 22d

Under pressure from Texas government officials, Angelo State University in Texas is banning all discussion or mention of the existence of trans people along with banning the LGBTQ pride flag from campus and forced misgendering of trans people.

conchoobserver.com/2025/09/19/a...

Alt text: Screenshot of a document outlining a new university policy. The bullet points state:

No discussion of transgender topics or anything suggesting more than two genders.

All information in syllabi about transgender topics must be removed.

Instructors must use students’ given names, not preferred names.

Safe-space stickers, LGBTQ flags, etc. are banned and must be removed.

Employees must remove pronouns from email signatures.

The university will not support faculty who teach or discuss these topics in class.

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