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Articles by Ed Tant
A 1906 Race Riot Shook Atlanta and the Entire South
During the rise of the civil rights movement in the South in the early 1960s, Atlanta billed itself as “the city too busy to hate”—in contrast to Birmingham, an Alabama city that earned the nickname “Bombingham” because of its long history of white supremacist violence toward Black citizens there.
As Ossoff’s Campaign Takes Off, Trump Has a Midterm Meltdown
Midterm elections are only weeks away, and already Athens has basked in the glow of the national political spotlight. On Sept. 13, Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff campaigned alongside gubernatorial candidate Keisha Lance Bottoms at the historic Georgia Theatre in downtown Athens. Ossoff is a rising star in the Democratic Party, and his speech here brought loud applause and rowdy shouts of enthusiasm from the audience inside the packed venue.
As Ossoff’s Camp Takes Off, Trump Has a Midterm Meltdown
Midterm elections are only weeks away, and already Athens has basked in the glow of the national political spotlight. On Sept. 13, Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff campaigned alongside gubernatorial candidate Keisha Lance Bottoms at the historic Georgia Theatre in downtown Athens. Ossoff is a rising star in the Democratic Party, and his speech here brought loud applause and rowdy shouts of enthusiasm from the audience inside the packed venue.
The Overlooked Assassinations of James Garfield and William McKinley
“April is the cruellest month,” wrote poet T.S. Eliot. September is a cruel month for American presidents. Two U.S. chief executives died in September after being shot by assassins. President James Garfield was shot in 1881 and President William McKinley was targeted in 1901. The two died sad and lingering deaths that plunged Americans into grief and anger all across a growing country. Many citizens during that Gilded Age time could still recall the 1865 murder of Abraham Lincoln.
Anarchists Blew Up New York City 80 Years Before 9/11
It was just another September workday in New York City when terror came to town. A mad and malevolent act of political mayhem left a gory tableau of bleeding bodies and screaming survivors on the streets of the Wall Street financial district. The bells of nearby Trinity Church were tolling the noon hour when a hundred pounds of dynamite exploded, bringing death and devastation to New York. It was Sept. 16, 1920.
The People’s Historian, Howard Zinn, Celebrated Dissidents and Underdogs
Before his death at the age of 87 in 2010, historian Howard Zinn said he wanted to be remembered as “somebody who gave people a feeling of hope and power that they didn’t have before.” Zinn achieved that goal during his long and eventful life as an author, an academic and an activist. His best-known book, A People’s History of the United States, has sold more than two million copies since its original publication in 1980. Zinn was born on Aug.
Bye Bye, Boom Boom: 'Palisades Park' Singer Freddie Cannon Has Died
He called his work “happy music,” and it was. Singer, songwriter and guitarist Freddy “Boom Boom” Cannon died on July 17 at age 89, leaving behind a legacy of upbeat tunes from his heyday in the late 1950s and early ‘60s. Cannon made a long life of music—writing, recording and performing until his death last month.
The History of Athens’ ‘Moon Tree,’ Threatened by New Courthouse Project
“He who plants a tree plants a hope,” wrote poet Lucy Larcom during America’s Gilded Age of the late 19th century. Today, hope may be running out for a historic tree that was planted here in Athens during the 1976 U.S.Bicentennial celebration. The Athens Moon Tree has grown from a seedling to a stately tree in the half-century since it was planted, but it may soon be destroyed by construction of a courthouse where the tree now grows near downtown.
New Book Details Biden’s Blunders That Led to Trump Retaking Power
On July 4 the United States celebrated 250 years since its birth in 1776. This year the mood of America’s citizenry is a mixture of celebration and cynicism as economic uncertainty stalks the land and two important elections loom on the political horizon. This year’s midterm elections will be a suspenseful contest leading into the presidential campaign in 2028. Political junkies are sure to be captivated by electoral battles waged this fall and in 2028.
Issues Raised by ‘The Peoples’ Bicentennial’ in 1976 Are Still Relevant Today
“For too long, patriotism has been used by the power holders to manipulate and exploit. It is time for all decent Americans who love their country… to take back the flag.” So said a manifesto by the People’s Bicentennial Commission in 1976, when this nation celebrated its 200th birthday. The organization’s words from half a century ago resonate more than ever today as the United States marks its 250th anniversary on July 4.
Better Things to Celebrate in June Than Trump’s Birthday
“June is bustin’ out all over” sang the exuberant cast of the hit Broadway show Carousel in 1945. The song is an earthy appreciation of the month when summer begins and love blossoms. Its songwriters, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein, encapsulated the joys of June into a catchy tune that stands the test of time. In Washington, D.C., President Donald Trump turns 80 years old on June 14.
Trump the Tacky President Is Physically Transforming Washington
In 1960, crusading Atlanta newspaperman Ralph McGill rhapsodized that Washington, DC is “a wondrous, beautiful city.
Inequality Similar to Today’s Led to the 1896 Haymarket Riot
It was a cloudy night in May, and Chicago police stood ready as speakers addressed a dwindling crowd at a left-wing political rally. Just days before, police had killed protesters at a Chicago factory, so the whole city was on edge. Fiery orators stirred the audience at the rally, but the event remained peaceful. Then the police moved in. Cops waded into the crowd, and screams echoed through the streets of Chicago. Police appeared able to disperse the small gathering of about 250 people.
Turnout for Athens Event Was JD Vance’s Latest Humiliation
How do you handle a Hungary man? Vice President JD Vance flew to Budapest early in April to campaign for Hungary’s authoritarian leader, Viktor Orban, a Trump administration ally whose 16-year repressive reign was ended by voters on Apr. 13. The day after Orban was defeated despite Vance’s fawning endorsement, the vice president received an underwhelming public response here in Athens.
Artemis II Mission Advances a Lifelong Love of Space Exploration
It was a cold December night in 1959. I was 12 years old and eager to try out the new telescope that I got for Christmas. The moon beckoned across the vastness of space as I pointed the instrument at its luminous face. My heart leaped and my jaw dropped as I beheld the mysterious moon in the telescope’s eyepiece.
Martin Luther King Jr. Linked the Vietnam War to Civil Rights
Before he was murdered in Memphis on Apr. 4, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. had become not only a champion of civil rights, but also a leading light in an American peace movement that protested this nation’s long, disastrous war in Vietnam. Two speeches that King gave a year apart in 1967 and on the eve of his assassination in 1968 still have relevance in today’s world of war abroad and growing authoritarianism at home. On Mar.
Trump’s Attack on Iran Is Another Reason to Protest
“It’s one-two-three, what are we fightin’ for?” was the musical question asked by singer Country Joe McDonald nearly 60 years ago. McDonald died at 84 on Mar. 7, but his rollicking musical satire of the Vietnam War has relevance today during American and Israeli warfare against Iran.
Civil Rights Icon Jesse Jackson Kept Hope Alive
He was loved and hated, revered and reviled, lionized and lambasted, but when civil rights icon Jesse Jackson died on Feb.18 at the age of 84, he was remembered as a Black leader who called for racial unity and as a fiery orator who could leaven soaring rhetoric with earthy humor. Jackson began his political activism as a college student in the early 1960s, just as the civil rights movement focused the eyes of America on the segregated South.
Book Recommendations for Black History Month
Black History Month began a century ago, in 1926. Historian Carter Woodson started the observance as a week-long event each February. Woodson’s choice of February was fitting since President Abraham Lincoln and civil rights firebrand Frederick Douglass were born during February in the 19th century. In the 20th century Black activists Rosa Parks and John Lewis were born in February, underlining the appropriateness of the month as a time to remember what the Rev.
40 Years Ago, the Space Shuttle Challenger Exploded as Children Watched
“Ad astra per aspera” is an ancient Latin phrase meaning “to the stars through hardships.” Forty years ago, the harrowing hardships of questing for the stars were seen in cold Florida skies when the space shuttle Challenger exploded 8 miles above its Cape Canaveral launch site, killing its crew of seven astronauts, including Christa McAuliffe, who had hoped to be the first schoolteacher to orbit Earth. McAuliffe planned to teach lessons from space and show experiments to students.
Two Trump Administration Invasions Kick Off 2026
Keeping up with the mad machinations of the Trump regime is like trying to put out a wildfire with a water pistol. The new year was barely a week old on Jan. 7 when the city of Minneapolis was again the scene of tragedy after an ICE agent named Jonathan Ross shot and killed a woman named Renee Good not far from the street where George Floyd was killed by a Minneapolis policeman six years ago.
Reiner's Murder and Sydney Massacre Ended 2025 in Bloodshed
January is named for Janus, the two-faced Roman god of gates and doorways. One of his faces looked backward toward the past while the other gazed forward toward the future. The year 2025 was fraught with war, assassination and political chicanery, but it was also a year that showed glimmers of hope amid the horror. The new year 2026 is a blank slate upon which will be written tales of hope and heroism along with scenes of fear and folly.
Seventy Years Ago, Rosa Parks Sparked the Civil Rights Movement
She took a stand by sitting down in a segregated bus in Montgomery, AL on Dec. 1, 1955. She was arrested and jailed but didn’t surrender. Today, 70 years later, Rosa Parks is hailed as “the mother of the movement” that brought the eyes of the world to the heart of Dixie, and catapulted a young Baptist minister named Martin Luther King Jr. into the forefront of the campaign against racial injustice in the Jim Crow South and nationwide.
Ken Burns' Documentaries Remain as Relevant as Ever
Ken Burns has a shining reputation as the documentary filmmaker who created such memorable television fare as his 1990 series, The Civil War. His latest series on PBS, The American Revolution, takes viewers back to a time long ago that has relevance today. “Patriotism means loving your country enough to tell its whole story,” said Burns. In his work over a span of decades, Burns has told stories of America’s bold ideas and its bad mistakes.
The Larceny at the Louvre and Other Art Heists
A brazen break-in at the famed Louvre Museum shocked Paris and the world on Oct. 19. Art thieves easily thwarted security systems at the world’s most-visited museum during daytime operating hours. Within minutes, the criminals made off with works of art including necklaces and earrings worn by 19th century French Empress Eugenie, the wife of Napoleon III.
Millions 'Manifest' Their Dissent Against Trump at No Kings Protests
In France, protest demonstrations are called “manifestations.” On Oct. 18 in the United States, millions of Americans manifested their love for this country and their dismay at President Donald Trump’s rapacious regime by attending No Kings rallies in some 2,700 cities, towns and campuses across this nation. The turn-out for the recent events was even larger than the attendance at similar marches and rallies back in June. The millions who gathered on Oct.
From Malcolm X to 'My Girl,' 1965 Was a Year to Remember
Sixty years ago, in October 1965, a majestic comet glowed in the pre-dawn darkness. Named for two Japanese amateur astronomers who first discovered the celestial visitor, the Ikeya-Seki Comet was seen by millions of observers here on Earth as it careened close to the sun and sprouted a ghostly and ethereal tail of gases stretching some 75 million miles long.
Fight Censorship By Reading a Newspaper or a Book
News happens quickly in today’s America, but even in the age of the internet, newspapers are needed more than ever. The shocking assassination of right-wing organizer Charlie Kirk came at a time when news media and freedom of speech were already under attack by President Donald Trump’s increasingly authoritarian regime.
Trump Targets Liberal Cities While Releasing Right-Wing Rioters
While President Donald Trump is haunted by the ghost of party pal and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, there is no hesitation in his regime’s march toward authoritarianism. Still, all across this nation citizens are rallying against the specter of autocracy in America. Along with some politicians, judges and juries, millions are trying to save our fragile democracy from Trump’s treachery.
Donald Trump Is Trying to Rewrite American History
“Being an American means reckoning with a history fraught with violence and injustice. Ignoring that reality in favor of mythology is not only wrong, but also dangerous,” said documentary filmmaker Ken Burns in 2021. Today a tide of anti-intellectualism and authoritarianism is sweeping across America as museums, libraries and bookstores are under attack from the White House down to local school boards.
RIP Apollo 13 Astronaut Jim Lovell
“Astronaut” is Greek for “star sailor.” Jim Lovell was a Navy officer who sailed the eternal ocean of space. He died at the age of 97 on Aug. 7, an astronaut whose exploits in Earth orbit and around the moon brought science fiction to life during a surging “space race” between the United States and Russia. “The real friends of the space voyagers are the stars,” Lovell said.
This Week Marks 80 Years Since the First Atomic Bombs Dropped
“First we got the bomb and that was good/ ‘Cause we love peace and motherhood/ Then Russia got the bomb, but that’s OK/ ‘Cause the balance of power’s maintained that way/ Who’s next?” So sang musical satirist Tom Lehrer in 1965, blending mordant comedy with the serious threat of nuclear proliferation.
The Scopes 'Monkey Trial' Exemplified American Anti-Intellectualism
It was called “the trial of the century,” and it brought a circus-like atmosphere and a compelling cast of characters to a small-town courthouse in Dayton, TN during the sweltering July of 1925. The state had passed a law prohibiting teaching the theory of evolution in Tennessee’s public schools. A young teacher named John Scopes volunteered to challenge the statute.
John Lewis' Legacy of 'Good Trouble' Lives On
Civil rights icon and American hero John Lewis died five years ago, on July 17, 2020, but his legacy of making “good trouble” in the pursuit of justice lives on. Born in rural Alabama on Feb. 21, 1940, Lewis devoted his life to making positive changes in the South, across America and around the world.
In L.A. and Minnesota, the Trump Administration Breeds Chaos and Violence
“Better to be a dog in times of tranquility than a human in times of chaos,” says an old Chinese proverb. These are indeed times of chaos, but there are also signs of hope. While President Donald Trump sends National Guard troops to Los Angeles against the wishes of the city’s mayor and the state’s governor, and while the president claims to support police officers but pardons MAGA mobsters who attacked cops on Capitol Hill during the infamous Jan.
A Summer Reading List for Athens' Slow Season
“So many books, so little time,” said Frank Zappa. The musician ran out of time in 1993 when he died too soon at the age of 52, but for “we the living” of any age, books are one of the great pleasures of Earthly existence. Any time of the year is a time to enjoy good books, but summer is here, and the sultry season is a prime time for prose and poetry.
Tell Trump 'No Kings' at Day of Defiance Protest
President Donald Trump surrounds himself with Gilded Age splendor and covets replacing the all-American Air Force One presidential aircraft with an opulent sky-high Versailles jet from Qatar. On June 14, Trump plans to host a military parade in Washington, D.C. that will fall on the 248th anniversary of the adoption of the American flag, on the 250th birthday of the U.S. Army and on Trump’s own 79th birthday—but it may rain on Trump’s multi-million dollar parade.
Kent State and the End of Vietnam: Two Key Anniversaries for the Peace Movement
Two rivers of history converged recently: Apr. 30 was the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War in 1975. May 4 was the 55th anniversary of the day in 1970 when Ohio National Guard troops gunned down four students during an antiwar protest on the campus of Kent State University. The shooting war in Vietnam and the political war at home were juxtaposed then and now.
Why Protest? Taking to the Street Can Change History
“There is nothing more powerful to dramatize a social evil than the tramp, tramp of marching feet,” civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. once said. Millions of marching feet have hit the streets of America in the nearly 100 days since President Donald Trump was inaugurated for a second term on Jan. 20. Here in Athens, protests continued on Apr. 19, when about 400 people rallied at City Hall downtown to say no to the policies of the Trump regime.
Unlike Trump, Past Presidents Protected the Environment
Earth Day, an annual event to foster awareness of our planet’s imperiled environment, began in 1970. Today, 55 years later, our natural world is under attack from policies of plunder and plutocracy, and Earth Day 2025 is more relevant than ever. On Apr. 22, concerned citizens across America will take part in Earth Day 2025 observances to call for protection of our home planet. Never has Earth Day been as necessary as now.
Astronaut Rescue Turns Political Under Trump and Musk
— from Flagpole “What a long, strange trip it’s been” were words of a Grateful Dead song, but those lyrics may have been on the minds of astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore when they finally returned to Earth last month. What was to have been a short space trip turned into a 21st century space odyssey lasting over nine months after their Boeing-built Starliner spacecraft malfunctioned and was brought home automatically—minus its crew.
Astronaut Rescue Turns Political Under Trump and Musk
“What a long, strange trip it’s been” were words of a Grateful Dead song, but those lyrics may have been on the minds of astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore when they finally returned to Earth last month. What was to have been a short space trip turned into a 21st century space odyssey lasting over nine months after their Boeing-built Starliner spacecraft malfunctioned and was brought home automatically—minus its crew.
March Is Women's History Month; Here Are Some Book Recommendations
March is Women’s History Month, and on Mar. 8—International Women’s Day—rallies for women’s rights happened worldwide. Here in Athens, women’s rights supporters gathered at City Hall in a local manifestation of a global movement that began in 1911, when the first International Women’s Day drew hundreds of thousands of participants during times of workplace uprisings and women’s suffrage campaigns in Europe and the United States. The struggle for women’s rights is a long battle that continues today.
An Asteroid Won't Destroy Life on Earth in 2032, but It Will Eventually
It came from outer space! In the early morning of June 30, 1908, people in the remote Tunguska region of Siberia beheld an event of Biblical intensity. A speeding stone from the sky exploded miles above the heavily-forested landscape with a force many times more powerful than the atomic bomb that blasted the Japanese city of Hiroshima in World War II. “The sky split in two, and high above the forest the whole northern part of the sky appeared to be covered in fire.
Trump's First Month Was Even Worse Than You Thought It Would Be
President George H. W. Bush called for “a kinder, gentler nation.” His son, President George W. Bush, claimed to be a “compassionate conservative.” Comes now President Donald J.Trump, who pushes plutocratic policies that are not kind, gentle or compassionate, and that can scarcely be called conservative. Traditional conservative Republicans at least paid lip service to ideals like personal responsibility, respect for the rule of law and conservation of America’s natural beauty.
February Is a Month That's Rich in Black History
February is Black History Month, an appropriate time for celebrating the struggles, triumphs and contributions of this nation’s African American citizens. Born in February were President Abraham Lincoln, 19th century civil rights crusader Frederick Douglass, “Mother of the Movement” Rosa Parks and John Lewis, a youthful disciple of Martin Luther King Jr. who went on to be elected a U.S. congressman called “the conscience of Capitol Hill” before his death in 2020.
Like Trump’s, Presidential Inaugurations Often Draw Protests
— from Flagpole Donald J. Trump made history on Jan. 20 when he became the first convicted felon to take the presidential oath of office. Speaking from the Capitol in Washington—the same building that was infamously attacked by a howling mob of his supporters on Jan.
Like Trump's, Presidential Inaugurations Often Draw Protests
Donald J. Trump made history on Jan. 20 when he became the first convicted felon to take the presidential oath of office. Speaking from the Capitol in Washington—the same building that was infamously attacked by a howling mob of his supporters on Jan.
Donald Trump's Inauguration Jan. 20 Will Fall on MLK Day
When Donald J. Trump is inaugurated as president on Jan. 20, millions of Americans will be commemorating the life and legacy of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. Here in Athens, MLK Day events will begin downtown at the historic “Hot Corner” area that has long been a center of African American history, commerce and entertainment in this city. For more information, see aadmovement.org or Calendar Picks.
Dinosaurs, Desegregation and More Holiday Gift Book Ideas
It’s the holiday season, and this year Christmas and the beginning of Hanukkah coincide on Dec. 25. During the upcoming holidays or at any time of the year, books make lasting gifts to give or receive, plus they’re easy to wrap, and they don’t break if you drop them. Here are just a few books new and old that I find relevant, entertaining and informative. Children’s books are popular this year and every year.
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