Revolution or Nostalgia? The Story of Urban Renewal, Victor Gruen, and Knoxville

October 8, 2026.Reading time 17 minutes.

This is the sixth entry in our 10th Annual Graduate Student Blogging Contest, “Revolution.” By Sara Naghibizadeh In the summer of 2026, Knoxville’s Mountain View neighborhood feels emptied of life. Walking through, I had the Knoxville Auditorium & Coliseum on my right and, on my left, a parking lot stretching the length of two city […]

“La Révolution Est Morte. Vive La Révolution!”: The Battles Lost in New York City

October 6, 2026.Reading time 17 minutes.

This is the fifth entry in our 10th Annual Graduate Student Blogging Contest, “Revolution.” By Deborah Wolfson New York City likes to tilt itself towards the future—ever upwards, always remaking itself and its history. New Yorkers, too, in popular imagination, are self-styled strivers who are never satisfied without new victories. I would not as a […]

From the Bomb to the Beat: How Civil Defense Turned to Urban Unrest in Cold War America

September 22, 2026.Reading time 14 minutes.

This is the fourth entry in our 10th Annual Graduate Student Blogging Contest, “Revolution.” By Heather N. Jahrling White police in white helmets. Jimmy Breslin spotted them in Harlem in July 1964, as protests over the fatal police shooting of fifteen-year-old James Powell spiraled into six days of fiery disorder: “The cops were everywhere, four […]

Turning the Camera on the City: Women, Youth, and a Media Revolution in Milwaukee

September 17, 2026.Reading time 17 minutes.

This is the third entry in our 10th Annual Graduate Student Blogging Contest, “Revolution.” By Maria Rose Francis During a community-led walk through Milwaukee’s Midtown neighborhood in the summer of 2023, Ms. Betty Glosson, Ms. Talibah Mateen-Hooper, and Prof. Portia Cobb brought an earlier landscape back into view. At one corner, Ms. Betty recalled neighborhood efforts […]

The Rain God in Monrovia, and in Mérida

September 15, 2026.Reading time 23 minutes.

This is the second entry in our 10th Annual Graduate Student Blogging Contest, “Revolution.” By Vanessa Christman I must have driven my husband insane when we first tuned into Apple TV’s The Studio. Instead of enjoying the comedic hijinks, I went heavy on the pause button to examine the fictional Continental Studios headquarters. A tour guide […]

Grassroots vs. Burned Grass: A History of Wheat, Pollution, and Advocacy on the Palouse

September 10, 2026.Reading time 25 minutes.

This is the first entry in our 10th Annual Graduate Student Blogging Contest, “Revolution.” By Sarah Daisy Amador Farmers in the Palouse, a pastoral region encompassing southeastern Washington and central Idaho, burned 11,057 acres of Kentucky bluegrass stubble after harvest on September 12, 1994. The following morning, an acute asthma attack claimed the life of […]

10th Annual Graduate Student Blogging Contest!

May 26, 2026.Reading time 4 minutes.

Revolution The Metropole/Urban History Association Graduate Student Blogging Contest is marking its tenth anniversary this year! The blogging contest exists to support graduate students in exploring short form, publicly oriented history writing as a way to teach beyond the classroom, develop marketable skills, and promote the enduring value of the humanities. This year’s theme is […]