When the 2016 Academy Award acting nominations all went to white performers for the second consecutive year, a trending hashtag - #OscarsSoWhite - swept Twitter. But in the span of just a few years, things seem to have changed. Professor Nancy Yuen explains the state of diversity in Hollywood, what challenges persist today, and how to reform the industry.

• Check out Yuen’s book, Reel Inequality: Hollywood Actors and Racism
• Read her SSN brief, How Racial Stereotypes in Popular Media Affect People - and What Hollywood Can Do to Become More Inclusive

When politicians run for local office, they try to appeal to lots of different kinds of voters. And one way they do this is by collecting endorsements from public figures and organizations those voters trust. But does that actually influence the way people vote? Professor Andrea Benjamin explores the role of endorsements in local elections, how race plays into the equation, and what this means for campaigns both big and small.

For more on this topic:

• Check out Benjamin’s book, Racial Coalition Building in Local Elections
• Read her SSN brief, The Impact of Endorsements in Racially Mixed Elections

The CIA has become an almost mythical government agency, viewed as full of super spies who carry out the US government’s wishes across the globe. And perhaps one of the most infamous of these accounts is the CIA’s supposed orchestration of the 1973 coup in Chile. But Professor James Lockhart’s new research casts doubt on this common narrative. He digs into the CIA’s actual influence in Chile, why this narrative has become so ingrained, and what it all means for the US today.

For more on this topic:

• Check out Lockhart’s book, Chile, the CIA and the Cold War: A Transatlantic Perspective
• Read his SSN brief, How Getting History Right Can Improve Relations between America and the Global South
• Find his article with the Marine Corps University Press, How Effective Are Covert Operations?: The CIA’s Intervention in Chile, 1964–73