A representative sample of the capsules are shown below. To read the full capsules, please scroll down. If contributors have given permission, their names are attached but some capsules are anonymous. We thank all our contributors for their generosity in sharing their stories.
Individual capsules
Daina Ramey Berry
“Every Sunday, a multicultural group of women from my neighborhood and I went on a bike ride. We came to a complete stop when we saw this bus. Here we paid our respects to the many lives lost, honored, and remembered on this makeshift moving mausoleum.”
Daina Ramey Berry
“2020 was a year of protests against racial injustice. Citizens questioned law enforcement as well as statues and monuments. This article is a powerful indictment of Confederate Monuments and should be required reading for all.”
“You Want a Confederate Monument? My Body Is a Confederate Monument”
“The Century of Black Women Activists Who Paved the Way for Kamala Harris”
“A Black Women's History of the United States”
Monica Muñoz Martinez
“In late January 2020 I traveled to El Paso for my last work related trip before the coronavirus halted travel. After giving a lecture for the Border Network for Human Rights and the Ford Foundation, I traveled with a group for a tour of the border fence dividing El Paso from Cuidad Juárez. Along the fence line were abandoned backpacks, clothes, and food debris left by families. Just outside the frame of the picture the border fence ends abruptly. Pictured here next to the razor wire is a toddler’s sneaker. Throughout 2020 more reports shed light on the devastating consequences of the Trump administration’s family separation policies. In October, lawyers from the ACLU and other pro-bono law firms trying to reunite families announced that they could not locate the parents of 545 children separated by the Trump administration.”
Jeremi Suri
“Despite the fears of COVID infection, Americans showed up to vote early and in record numbers. From all backgrounds, many rose early in the morning and waited in line for hours to choose local, state, and national leaders. The crowds at the polls were friendly, hopeful, and idealistic. They cared deeply about their society. They believed in their civic duties. And they had faith in one another. The spirit of American democracy was alive and well, newly motivated by the challenges and attacks of our time.”
Jeremi Suri
“In 2020 I was part of a group of scholars, journalists, and activists who created a new media site, Urbanitus (https://www.urbanitus.com), to showcase historically informed analysis of changes in vibrant cities, especially Austin. I wrote an article, that became quite controversial, showing how leaders in Texas and other states were resurrecting Jim Crow practices to try and undermine progressive reforms in cities. Activists could fight back effectively, I argued, drawing on historical knowledge to call for necessary alternatives to the proposals from the governor.”
“This is Democracy” podcast episode 91 (23 April 2020) on mental health during a pandemic, with Dr. Stephen Sonnenberg
Washington Post, “When the President is More Like a Kid than a Leader” (17 April 2020)
This is Democracy” podcast episode 103 (24 June 2020) on Confronting the Legacies of the “Lost Cause” with Dr. Richard Reddick
Urbanitus, “Governor Abbott Return to Jim Crow” (10 September 2020)
Ashton Sauseda
“Above the beauty of returning to nature in quarantine and the ugliness of white supremacy around me, is the love I see between my parents in this picture. My dad worked away from home until this past March due to the pandemic. They have been married for over 25 years, but this is probably the most time they have spent together. The love I see in my momma's eyes reminds me of how grateful I should feel in this moment for the fact that I can reach out and hug those I love most.“
Adam Clulow
“This is the Johns Hopkins COVID tracker. I started monitoring it earlier than most because my friend and close collaborator was living in an early epicenter in Hong Kong. This was the tracker from the day I taught my last in-person class. It was an incredibly emotional moment for my students and myself - a plunge into the unknown. On that day, the United States had around 1300 confirmed cases. ”
Julie Hardwick
“The Worldometer COVID website. I have been checking this regularly, perhaps obsessively every day for months. I check here, the UK where my family is, France where I have many work colleagues and friends, and other places of whatever interest for me. I am not sure if it’s helpful or not. My professional specialty is harvesting information of course, so I think for me it’s helpful to have a lot of information even if it’s often worrying.”
Raymond Hyser
“As the world shut down around us, my partner and I started to go on daily walks around our neighborhood to escape the confines of our tiny apartment. As the pandemic worsened, we noticed that more and more “For Rent” and “For Lease” signs were popping up in yards and windows everywhere. Dozens of homes in our neighborhood currently sit vacant, victims of the economic consequences of COVID-19.”
Brittany Erwin
“Now, many months since the start of the pandemic response in Spain, I continue to find comfort in the beauty and resilience of the natural world around me, such as these tiny flowers sprouting over a neighbor's wall.”
Erika Bsumek
“Nothing is normal" - Covid disrupted not only our everyday lives in dramatic ways, it also changed the way we marked milestone events. My son's high school graduation was initially cancelled. Late in June, the school held a socially distanced ceremony. There were no parties or celebratory dinners with friends. But, we still marked the occasion.”
Cynthia Lopez
“In March of 2020, the majority of people had to work and study from home. My room turned into an office. It took me a while to adapt to this new environment but I was able to adjust thanks to the Cares act that provided money to students that did not have the equipment or internet service.”
“When I looked out my window in the midst of quarantine and the BLM Movement, it was the first time in a while that I felt a sense of hope. Businesses were doing as much as they could to stay open and pay their employees. Countless times I heard strangers say, “We will get through this, together.” I saw ‘BLM’ signs everywhere. There is a long way to go, and a lot of change that still needs to happen, but I believe America is on the right track.”
Alana Massar
“With ample time and the feeling of loneliness, I adopted a puppy! My puppy, Rigatoni, has been the best addition to my time amidst Covid-19. He brings love, energy, and structure to my days - things that were slowly fading away during my quarantine. In addition, I adopted from Austin Pets Alive! which provided support for a no kill shelter that has been inundated with rescue animals during this year. Win win!”
Hannah McSherry
“This picture shows the half empty stadium of the Cotton Bowl of 2020. Even though many events were cancelled this year, we were still able to keep the Red River Rivalry and attend a football game. This was light compared to all of the normal things Seniors would have during their school year.”
“This picture basically sums up the year 2020 as this is the logo for the Zoom app. Now for me Zoom has been up and down as sometimes I enjoy using it but other times I don't. I enjoy using it sometimes as it is a great alternative to going out but other times I just find it annoying since I use it a whole lot.”
“This is my office. It's a big difference from the PCL, I can feel it everyday when I struggle to collect myself. It's distracting with 2 dogs and a girlfriend in a house not big enough for us or an office space. But there is also lots of beauty and love in this photo. As much as they distract me, they remind me of why I work and why I go to school, to make life better for us all.”
Milia Daher
“The aftermath of the explosion in Downtown Beirut, Lebanon, the home of my grandparents and my family. A tragic example of negligence and corruption.”
Leonardo Armendariz
“This is how my year started. At a beautiful concert with great music. This is how I was thinking I would set the mood for the rest of the year. At that time, I would have never expected the year to turn out how it did. At that time, I was on cloud 9 and I had little to no worries about my future or the future of my family. I was just...happy.”
Coby Cruz
“In late January, news had broke that Kobe Bryant had died in a helicopter crash. Growing up, Kobe was my favorite basketball player and a role model of mine. I remember being in my apartment in Austin when I heard the news. It was different than any other celebrity death, since it was so unexpected. To hear that others, including his daughter Gianna was involved was a terrible. Mamba Forever.”
Megan Carithers
“My best friend making the best out of our COVID situation and making me laugh as always.”
Indrani Chatterjee
“The first images of the lockdown from India from March 24th 2020 onwards triggered memories of refugee and migrant movements of 1947. As a historian of South Asia who was committed to teach Partition in both my undergraduate courses in the Fall semester, I struggled on a personal and an intellectual level with the visual and historical records...”
Photo Credit: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-52672764
Madeline Hsu
Yellow Peril Lives
For those accustomed to the extreme crowds and hustle of New York Chinatown in normal times, the echoingly empty streets depicted in this New Yorker short convey the devastation of yellow peril profiling of Chinese and the "China virus" and the spiraling fortunes of restaurants and bars
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/video-dept/how-the-coronavirus-has-changed-chinatowns-restaurant-business
Photo Credit: The New Yorker
Stephanie W Cawthon
Walking through neighborhoods was my main way of getting out of the house and out of my head. Among all of the things I appreciated the most, especially my beloved trees, was the love rocks that appeared in many places throughout the year. Some of these were on trails, some just in front of a neighborhood house. Happy to see the splash of color and care of big and little hands sharing love in this simple way.
Martha Newman
A toddler and his 4 year old sister live across the street. They love to work in their mom’s garden. Violet often picks flowers to give away but she can no longer hand them to me, so she puts them on the ground where I can pick them up. She gave me these zinnias. I play hide-and-go-seek and chase with her little brother, but it is hard not to pick him up. Both have learned to back off when people come too close.
Ananya Dwivedi
“Past in Process is the journal and engagement initiative I founded in Summer 2020. I work with professors, the History department, and 50+ team members completely remotely due to COVID-19.”
Kevin Barajas
My grandmother made this mask for me a few weeks after the pandemic hit. It was right at the beginning, so it was quite difficult to find any medical masks available when the mandates started. She took a bit of elastic and cut up an old bed sheet that I used when I was a kid. The method is from a Facebook video she found on her tablet. One year into the chaos, I still find myself using it daily
Amy Shreeve
The photo on the left is a mason jar filled with a sourdough starter. To its right you can see half a loaf of bread with a cup to the right. During the pandemic, many people began participating in activities that take more time and care. Additionally, some people feared not being able to access food, so they began baking and cooking. I made (and ate) a lot of bread in 2020.
Maria Aina (Aina) Ongcheap
In this photo, I am wearing the typical laboratory safety goggles to conduct my experimentation. Now, that apparatus is accompanied by a face mask and a face shield, which caused my goggles to fog up. In a pre-COVID semester, I would work with a partner to experiment and collaborate together. However, this was not possible due to social-distancing guidelines. Sometimes, I felt isolated and alone in my experimentation. Words and speech lessened, as we collaborated through google docs and emails.
This is just some of the leftover medicinal stuff I have after my struggle with covid-19. Unfortunately, it was right before the 2021 Spring semester, so I was still tired and recovering during my first couple weeks of class.
Madison Tuley
In the beginning of March 2020, many students were told that spring break would be extended. This came as a shock to all of us but at first we celebrated the extra week off of school. It wasn't until later that month did we understand the seriousness of the situation. Many students living in dorms were told to pack up and leave without much warning. In this picture, I had just recently packed up my whole dorm room in under an hour and shoved it all in my car with the help of my parents. This was the time when many of the people my age began to understand that things were not just gonna go back to normal and the pandemic was here to stay.
Louis
Living in the countryside was a blessing during lockdown. Unable to see my friends who lived in other towns and villages, sunset walks around my Kentish village provided not only an opportunity to stretch my legs but to enjoy nature as well. The country roads were serene all day long, as no-one had anywhere to go other than their homes. These cows (pictured) became familiar faces in a time where I saw few people other than my immediate family.
Francisca Linardi
Arriving in Uruguay, a country who had managed to really control the spread of cases from the beginning, I went to stay with my grandparents while I figured out how to get into Argentina. Despite numerous conversations and visits to the Argentine Embassy in Uruguay, the possibility of being reunited with my parents were nonexistent. I ended up living with my grandparents for 6 months while the border remained closed. This was definitely my COVID silver-lining. I was able to spend 6 joyous months with my grandparents, whom I had not seen for a long time and really grow close to them in a way that I had never had the opportunity to before.
Sofia Uceda
Throughout the entirety of the pandemic, I made it a habit to pick up bandanas along the way to commemorate different events in my life. I remember actively searching for new colors and styles, so much so that I made it a part of my day-to-day fashion sense. Many times throughout my different Zoom classes my classmates and professors would note on the different color bandana I was wearing.
Elise McMahan
This was after my high school graduation! The date for our ceremony was changed about 3 times and at times we weren't even sure we were going to have one at all. They spaced out all of the seating and kicked everyone out immediately afterward, this is one of the only photos I was able to get from that night. Seeing everyone at graduation for a couple of hours was so incredible after not seeing them for months, but sad because we couldn't mingle around after the ceremony. Nevertheless, I'm glad a graduation ceremony was possible for us.
February 6, 2021. Still have not seen my family in Corpus since March 2020! I took the pandemic very seriously and was scared to go anywhere. At this time, my mental health was not great and I began to feel lonely. I spent the entire pandemic with my boyfriend and he was pretty much the only person I saw for a whole year. I was too scared to go anywhere and would only go to outdoor places with a mask. As someone who suffers with anxiety, this year was very hard for me. I was scared of contracting the virus, I was scared of the long-term effects, and I was scared for my family. I was in a constant state of worry and lucky to have my boyfriend here and my family virtually.