Experts in the News | Miller Center

As Confederate statues come down, what about Columbus?

The horrors of slavery can’t be scrubbed from America’s past, said Douglas Blackmon, a historian and senior fellow at University of Virginia’s Miller Center, but it can be fully factored into the remembrances of figures like Columbus. And if doing so brings enough dishonor, Blackmon said, it’s OK to stop celebrating them. “The one argument that has absolutely no validity is that simply because a monument has been standing for a long time, it is ‘a part of history’ and therefore can never be changed,” he said.

Douglas Blackmon

Miller Center experts aid PBS production of 'The Vietnam War'

With its sweeping look at one of the most tumultuous periods in American history, the PBS documentary “The Vietnam War” captivated viewers around the country when it debuted in late September. The epic 18-hour documentary series by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick takes a deep dive into the conflict with perspectives and reflections from people on all sides of the war. Experts at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center worked as consultants on the project to ensure that those perspectives included the private musings of three American presidents.

Marc Selverstone and Ken Hughes

Historians’ Scholarship Making Headlines

A popular new blog launched this summer by The Washington Post offers academic historians a chance to explore parallels between the current political climate and its historic parallels. First proposed by Brian Rosenwald last year after completing his Ph.D. dissertation in the Corcoran Department of History, the “Made by History” blog is edited by Rosenwald and Nicole Hemmer, a professor and writer in the University of Virginia’s Miller Center.

Nicole Hemmer

Analysis: Trump offers the expected rhetoric of gun massacres, but little is expected to change

Barbara Perry, director of presidential studies at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center, noted that the circumstances of the Las Vegas shooting contradicted one of Trump’s and the NRA’s arguments for gun ownership: that the counterpoint to a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with one. “If every single one of the [audience members] carried a weapon, they weren’t going to take out that man on the 32nd floor,” she said.

Barbara Perry

Here's how major recent hurricanes could affect US job growth

Chris Lu, former deputy U.S. labor secretary, provides insight to the jobs data ahead of Friday's report.

Chris Lu

Michael Froman appointed Schlesinger Professor at Miller Center

Michael Froman, a veteran diplomat and trade expert who served as the U.S. trade representative in the Obama Administration, has been appointed as the next James R. Schlesinger Distinguished Professor at the Miller Center for Public Affairs at the University of Virginia.