On Tuesday, August 12th at 5:00PM ET, BigTentUSA was thrilled to welcome back civic strategist and former Georgia State Representative, Stacey Abrams, and renowned historian, Heather Cox Richardson for a discussion moderated by Kimberly Atkins Stohr. Their discussion focused on how the Trump administration & MAGA are using America’s education system to entrench authoritarian power. From rewriting history to gutting diversity and issuing sweeping Executive Orders targeting higher education, these actions are part of a broader strategy to consolidate control. That same authoritarian playbook is at work in Texas, where Republicans are attempting to redraw congressional maps to dilute representation and lock in political power.
Together, these efforts reveal a coordinated plan to undermine democratic norms — and Stacey and Heather unpacked what’s at stake and how we can fight back.
ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
STACEY ABRAMS is a political leader, business owner and New York Times bestselling author. A tax attorney by training, Abrams served eleven years in the Georgia House of Representatives, seven as Minority Leader, and became the Democratic nominee for governor of Georgia in 2018 and 2022. Over the course of her career, she has launched multiple organizations devoted to democracy protection, voter engagement, tackling social issues, and building a more equitable future in the South. Committed to the pursuit of equity, she works to break barriers for young people, people of color and the marginalized through her work in the public, nonprofit and corporate sectors.
HEATHER COX RICHARDSON is a renowned historian, writing widely about Reconstruction, the Civil War, and the history of the Republican Party. She is the author of seven books including, most recently, Democracy Awakening, as well as the award-winning How the South Won the Civil War: Oligarchy, Democracy, and the Continuing Fight for the Soul of America. She writes the popular newsletter, Letters from an American, a daily chronicle of the history behind American politics.
KIMBERLY ATKINS STOHR is a senior opinion writer and columnist at The Boston Globe. She is also an MSNBC contributor, a frequent panelist on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” and co-host of the weekly Politicon legal news podcast #SistersInLaw. Previously, Kim was the inaugural columnist for The Emancipator, a collaboration between The Boston Globe and Boston University’s Center for Antiracist Research that reframes the conversation about racial justice and equality.
