Culture

Historian Isaac Campos traces the origins of the idea that marijuana causes violent madness…and finds the trail leads south, to Mexico.

"Texas Jailhouse Music" explores a time when Texas prisons promoted rehabilitation through a wildly successful radio show.

Americans tend to think of Walt Whitman as the embodiment of democracy and individualism, but have you ever considered Walt Whitman, the brand?

How American landscape painters, seen as old-fashioned and provincial, gained cultural power by glorifying expansionism.

Christian, criminal or cowardly? People once thought your hair could hold the answer.

D&D attracted millions of players, along with accusations by some religious figures that the game fostered demon worship and a belief in witchcraft and magic.

"It's still white history. And no amount of casting people of color disguises the fact that they're erasing people of color from the actual narrative."

By all accounts, young Bill Owens was a natural song-catcher, trawling across Texas in the 1930s, the golden era of American field recording.

The revival and hidden treasure of Aretha Franklin.

Why Broadway's biggest villain is worth a second look.

What it was like to report on feminism for Playboy in 1969

How the hit musical allows those who have been left out of the story to claim the narrative of America as their own.

A disenchanted San Franciscan rides west with a motley crew of pioneers.

Throughout the long and pungent history of humanity, smelling healthy has been as delightful as it has disgusting.

Uncovering black newspapers from the 19th and 20th centuries can open up new possibilities for teaching African American history.

Why the campaign staple has been falling out of favor.

Who was the most prolific African American filmmaker of the silent film era? That’s a question that has us asking, “were there any?”

Who was Dave Prater?

Cold War modernists of the title do not seem to be the painters, sculptors, poets, and novelists who produced the original works.

We need literature that wrestles with the evils of slavery while confronting its complexity – especially when it’s written for children

The iconic fusion of country and rock in Gram Parsons' legacy.

Americans purchase approximately 1.6 billion holiday cards a year. Why is this tradition so popular?

A language of the air.

Reflections on the life of Little Richard, the star who mistook a satellite for a ball of fire.

Long before the gallery she built was famously robbed, Isabella Stewart Gardner was shocking 19th-century society with her disregard for convention.

How you, your friends, and Lin-Manuel Miranda all learned this catchy, state-naming tune.

He was said to have gone into decline, but his story is one of endurance—even of unlikely triumph.

The uncertain meaning behind a half-black, half-white, two-headed toy.

Walter Camp praised the sport as a way to toughen up élite young white men. Despite changes to the game and society, his legacy remains.

How the objects in the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia can help us understand today's prejudice and racial violence.