I just read an article describing how the White House fired most members of the board of the national Council on the Humanities. The National Council on the Humanities advises the NEH (National Endowment for the Humanities} on grant-making decisions). Instead of a board of 26 members, there are now four members. The board has lost essential diversity and with it, most likely, the ability (or perhaps inclination) to entertain and fund a broad scope of grant requests.

I haven’t even had time to wrap my mind around the list of possible outcomes of this move, but I am devastated.

The humanities help us learn what it is to be human, to participate in the human experience, to celebrate what makes us more alike than different. And we are now chipping away at the opportunities to help us enjoy and express that.

So to my fellow humanities enthusiasts, I’m in your corner. Research. Write. Share. Find a way. Support one another. Because if we don’t, who will?

Let’s share what we’re working on. I’ll start.

I’m in the middle of several projects. I’m not sure which ones will have traction yet, but the topics on my mind are Frances Ellen Watkins Harper and her legacy in modern politics, Black women preachers of the 19th Century, and William Wells Brown. Y’all, William Wells Brown has me in a choke hold. I can’t stop thinking about his writing, especially Clotel. When I first read it many moons ago, I had no idea I would still be thinking about.

What about you? Put in a comment with what ideas are occupying your thoughts right now.