Author Archives: Dennis Lifsted
Blog Post 10: Memory
The start of the pandemic felt surreal. The unsettling, anxious feeling I had felt multiplied by the unfamiliar setting I found myself in…. Just a week prior to the essential shutdown of the country, I mean exactly a week, I sat in my living room, mocking those I had overheard earlier that day discussing the …
Blog post #9: Our Current Moment
My topic, police brutality perpetrated by the Philadelphia Police Department, not only has significant connections to current events, but was in fact inspired by those very events. Anyone not living under a rock has bore witness to the atrocities committed by police upon African Americans in the United States. The prevalence of these killings, combined …
Blog Post #8: Subjectivity
It is very important, not only as a historian but as a human, to be subjective when approaching historical topics. In other words, it’s essential to be aware of who you are, where you come from, and how it applies to the topic at hand. I personally believe every single individual person on this planet …
Midterm: Project Proposal
My Research Question: Do the examples of abuse of authority perpetuated by the Philadelphia Police Department reflect the individuals who took part, the leadership of the department, or the organization as a whole? For my final project, I have decided that I will make a podcast episode where the overarching topic of discussion is the …
Blog post 7: Venus in Two Acts
This week, we read ‘Venus in Two Acts” by Dr. Saidiya Hartman. She writes of the absence of narratives and accounts of enslaves people, how there story was not told. Her example is the story of Venus, one of two girls on board the slave ship “Recovery” who were killed by the captain John Kimber. …
Blog Post 6: Secondary Source
Source: “The Burning of Rebellious Thoughts; Move as Revolutionary Black Humanism Citation: Floyd-Thomas, J.M. 2002. “The Burning of Rebellious Thoughts; MOVE as Revolutionary Black Humanism.” Black Scholar 32 (1): 11. doi:10.1080/00064246.2002.11431166. Basic Info: This article is a secondary source which analyzes the history, ideology, and influence of the MOVE organization. Additionally, it covers their strained relationship with …
Blog Post 5: Secondary Sources
Source Citation: “‘Both Spectacular And UNREMARKABLE:” a Letter to the United Nations on Police Violence in Philadelphia,” December 9, 2020. https://www.aclupa.org/en/UN-report. S: The scope, or purpose of this article was to file a formal complaint by the United Nations against the Philadelphia Police Department. The complaint was written after the Black Lives Matter protests in …
Blog post 4: Narrowing Down My Topic
The topic that stood out to me, and the one I will be pursuing, is the history of police violence in Philadelphia. I will use several questions to guide my research, and the writing process. These include: Why do the officers involved rarely face consequences? Does the history of no consequences motivate officers to use …
Blog Post 3: Potential Topics for Final Project
there are three topics that I am interested in pursuing for my final project. My first choice is to focus on the history of brutal and racially motivated practices by police in the city of Philadelphia. Since the inception of the police force here in 1830, there are countless cases of police wrongdoing and misconduct, …
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