Full Pardon and Amnesty

Considering the treatment of Confederate veterans in light of the treatment of undocumented immigrants in the South today.

Aaron Burr — Villain of ‘Hamilton’ — Had a Secret Family of Color, New Research Shows

The vice president is best known for killing rival Alexander Hamilton in an 1804 duel. But he was also a notorious rake, historians say.

The Assassin Next Door

My family’s immigrant journey and James Earl Ray’s path to targeting MLK, Jr., intersected at a corner of East Hollywood.

This Long-Ignored Document by George Washington Lays Bare the Legal Power of Genealogy

In Washington’s Virginia, family was a crucial determinant of social and economic status, and freedom.
African men in slave pens in Washington D.C. circa 1849-1850.
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How Ancestry.com Has Failed African American Customers

The genealogy site fails to understand the fundamental differences between white and black history.

For Some, School Integration Was More Tragedy Than Fairy Tale

Almost 60 years later, a mother regrets her decision to send her 6-year-old into a hate-filled environment.

Slavery and the Family Tree

How do you make a family tree when you may not know your family history?

Beyond Romantic Advertisements: Ancestry.com, Genealogy, and White Supremacy

On Ancestry's dangerous move to make it harder to discern which white families owned slaves.
Lithograph of Black wet nurse nursing a white baby.

The Double-Edged Sword of Motherhood Under American Slavery

How did enslaved mothers contend with the possibility that their children could be sold away from them?
Portrait photograph of Harriet Jacobs as an older woman

Incidents in the Life of Harriet Jacobs

A virtual tour of "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl."

Her Ancestors Fled to Mexico to Escape Slavery 170 Years Ago. She Still Sings in English.

The oldest living member of the Mascogos still sings songs in a language she doesn't understand.
Illustration of birth certificate and coin necklace

Ghosts In My Blood

Regina Bradley searches for truths about her great-grandfather and his murder.

America’s Most Famous Family Feuds

Many of America’s most notorious feuds have their roots in the Civil War.

The Lucky Ones

I told her we were brought over the Rio Grande on a raft. I never called it a smuggling.

The Experience That Taught Me Blackface and Klan Hoods Are Forms of Racial Terror

A childhood lesson in the backseat of a 1973 Mustang.

How Jackie Robinson’s Wife, Rachel, Helped Him Break Baseball’s Color Line

At some point, Jackie began to refer to himself not as “I” but as “we.”

One Family’s Story of the Great Migration North

Bridgett M. Davis tracks her mother's journey from Nashville to Detroit.

The History Before Us

How can we be sure the atrocities of the past will stay in the past?

In the 19th Century, Miscarriage Could Be a Happy Relief

A new book shows the remarkable contrast between 19th-century women’s views of miscarriage and the loss-focused rhetoric of today.
Illustration of Arthur Estabrook taking a photograph of Carrie and Emma Buck.

Finding Carrie Buck

Doctors who sterilized Carrie Buck said she was a “feeble-minded” woman whose future offspring posed a threat to society. Her life paints a different picture.

My Grandfather Was Welcomed to Pittsburgh by the Group the Gunman Hated

He came to this country a refugee, and paid his debt forward.

Did George Washington ‘Have a Couple of Things in His Past’?

A historian assesses Donald Trump’s claim that the first president faced his own allegations of sexual assault.

Slave and Free Black Marriage in the Nineteenth Century

During and after slavery, some whites considered legal marriage too sacred an institution to be offered to black Americans.

My Great-Grandfather, the Nigerian Slave-Trader

White traders couldn’t have loaded their ships without help from Africans like my great-grandfather.

Jefferson and Hemings: How Negotiation Under Slavery Was Possible

In navigating lives of privation and brutality, enslaved people haggled, often daily, for liberties small and large.

My Dad and Henry Ford

My father was pro-Jewish propaganda when the country had an anti-semitism problem - he even met the man that inspired much of the hate. But is history repeating itself?

An Irrevocable Separation

When the government executed Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, the welfare of their two boys was a secondary concern.

Donald Trump's Grandfather Came to the U.S. as an Unaccompanied Minor

President Trump's grandfather made the choice to leave his German family for the U.S. all the way back in 1885.

The Unromantic, Untold Story of the Great US Divorce Spree of 1946

The war brought many couples together. It also drove many apart.
Laura Bush and Michelle Obama.
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Why Laura Bush Speaking Up on Separating Families Matters So Much

The language that has long been critical to covertly mobilizing activism.