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Timeline showing BC and AD dates

Timeline showing BC and AD dates

A history blog naturally spends a lot of time thinking about time: how do we break up time into blocks? Does it make sense to talk about “Late Antiquity” or the “Early Middle Ages”? Does either term make sense for Tang Dynasty China or Guptan India? What should we call that same span of years in Mayan Central America? These divisions of time can reinforce who’s got the power and who doesn’t.

Earth's moon (about 239,000 miles from Earth) (That's almost ten times as far as going all the way around the Earth)

Earth’s moon (about 239,000 miles from Earth) (That’s almost ten times as far as going all the way around the Earth)

But this blog post by MacArthur Grant winner Tressie McMillan Cottom goes way beyond these issues. She’s written this excellent blog post (don’t miss the video!) on the ways white people use time to buttress their own privilege: as historians, but also as people moving in this world now, and as activists planning for the future. Check it out!

Conciergerie clock (1370 AD)

Conciergerie clock (1370 AD)