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amylsommers
Aug 19, 20241 min read
The U.S. Civil Rights Movement, Internationalism & Kamala Harris
Foreign Policy Magazine has published an article Dr. Keisha Blain and I coauthored " The Civil Rights Movement and Kamala Harris’s...
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amylsommers
Oct 17, 20233 min read
The Philosopher of the Movement: Howard Thurman in South Asia, 1935-36
Too often the story Americans assimilate about the Civil Rights Movement is that it sprang up spontaneously in the mid-1950's. A common...
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amylsommers
Oct 19, 20222 min read
Grieving, healing and finding hope together
As part of the Mourning Into Unity project, I was privileged to work closely with Rev Dr. Sheila Harvey. Earlier this year, she spoke...
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amylsommers
Feb 19, 20223 min read
80 years ago today Americans chose bigoted cruelty and that choice haunts us still
Eighty years ago today, America invoked a “greater good” as justification to use force against a targeted social group. The toxic...
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amylsommers
Feb 2, 20222 min read
Beyond the tagline: James Weldon Johnson in Japan
It's odd how often we *know* of a historical figure as the creator of X or the hero of Y ~ their endeavors, and indeed, their life,...
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amylsommers
Jan 25, 20221 min read
When skilled reader/writers ask interesting questions...
Authors and podcasters Wendy Kendell and Carl Lee interviewed me this month for their #ANovelTalk podcast. Both claimed zero knowledge...
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amylsommers
Dec 7, 20212 min read
80 years ago today: Japan attacks U.S. forces at Pearl Harbor
At 7:55 am Honolulu time on December 7, 80 years ago today America learned a tragic lesson about the danger of hubris and false...
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amylsommers
Oct 4, 20213 min read
Mystery Women/Men revealed!
In the countdown to Asia Society of Southern California event on September 28, I posted photos on social media posts of African Americans...
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amylsommers
Aug 30, 20213 min read
Two Events: Shanghai on the Eve of Pearl Harbor & Pre-WWII Black Internationalism in Asia
In September I get to present alongside people whose work I admire at two Rumors from Shanghai-related events. What a boon for a China...
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amylsommers
Jun 8, 20214 min read
An Introvert Sits Down to Write a Book...
As an introvert, the act of writing is right up my alley. Spend hours alone?✅ Reading and researching?✅ Imagining things? ✅ I’m all in!...
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amylsommers
Apr 15, 20211 min read
African Americans in Interwar Asia
Thrilled to see the final form of this essay I wrote for BlackPast! It considers the ambitious and varied endeavors of the African...
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amylsommers
Apr 8, 20211 min read
On Historic Shanghai's Bookshelf
Historic Shanghai has an interview up on their blog, discussing Rumors from Shanghai's beginnings and the influence my sojourn in...
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amylsommers
Apr 7, 20211 min read
NüVoices Collective Online Interview is up...
NüVoices, a collective of women China experts from a range of fields/professions, now has an online interview up about my historical...
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amylsommers
Apr 6, 20214 min read
Highly Improbable! And yet...
A Black American representing the diplomatic interests of the United States in the Russian Far East at the turn of the 19th century?...
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amylsommers
Mar 20, 20213 min read
Pre-WWII Seattle and the Japanese Community
In #RumorsFromShanghai, characters from Black, Chinese and Japanese backgrounds shape the protagonist's viewpoint and interests. These...
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amylsommers
Mar 10, 20214 min read
Early Pacific Northwest-China Ties
Early Chinese residents in Washington State most famously and numerously drew from Southern China's Taishan region. The impact of...
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amylsommers
Mar 1, 20214 min read
"Rumors from Shanghai" launched
March 1, almost a year to the day since the original planned launch date at the 2020 Shanghai International Literary Festival, is launch...
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amylsommers
Jan 23, 20213 min read
Post-Inauguration Reading...for Fun: "Remembering Shanghai"
The celebrations the last time America ousted a disastrous head of state is a fond memory. Michelle Garnaut, inimitable founder of M on...
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amylsommers
Dec 6, 20201 min read
No, Biden's China Policy Will Not Be Trump 2.0
The Seattle Times has an op-ed out "The path to a new China policy" from Michael Burke and me: We have no illusions that the US and China...
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amylsommers
Dec 1, 20204 min read
From beginning to end ~ Tyranny & Strongmen
With the thorough thumping delivered at the end of November by Republican-appointed justices in the Third Circuit, Trump's ...
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