Culture

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.

A musician who released a tribute album of Joe Hill's songs discusses Hill's music, politics, and legacy.

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

On the occasion of Halloween, an exploration of previous generations' fascination with ghosts, spirits, and witches.

A primary source set and teaching guide created by educators.

Why Americans living in uncertain times bought so many sensational images of shipwrecks and fires.

Americans’ enthusiasm for reheating last night’s dinner has faded as the nation has prospered.

Deadly fogs, moralistic diatribes, debunked medical theory in what is considered to be the first modern tale of urban apocalypse.

Segregation, separatism, and the history of black barbershops.

Where coloring books came from says something about what they are today.

New information on Henry Box Brown, an enslaved man who would turn escape into an art form.

A brief discussion of the fierce 19th century debates over beards, and how booming American cities created the perfect climate for all that facial hair to grow.

A discussion of the patriotic attempt to spurn European fashion and spin cloth at home in the time leading up to the Revolutionary War.

Ten years after Hurricane Katrina, the legend’s showpiece symbolizes the city's resilience.

A lifelong fan reflects on how sexual exploitation is part of rock's DNA.

The menu of Emancipation Day.

Coleman’s approach to improvisation shook twentieth-century jazz. It was a revolutionary idea that sounded like a folk song.

After World War II, canned foods became more and more common, along with a smorgasbord of pre-prepared, processed foods such as SpaghettiOs.

In a more accepting world, homosexual men can leave their campy, cruising past, but the price of equality shouldn't be conformity.

Like most cultural shifts in language, the rise of white, upper-middle class women who call themselves ‘mama’ seemed to happen slowly, and then all at once.

The origins of the Hallmark holiday are rooted in a much greater cause.