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Identity

On the self and its many communities.

Featured Resource

Japanese-American man in a military uniform.

He Spent His Life Trying to Prove That He Was a Loyal U.S. Citizen. It Wasn’t Enough.

How Joseph Kurihara lost his faith in America.
by Andrew Aoyama via The Atlantic on July 9, 2025
Jewish activists hold Passover Seder outside ICE headquarters in New York City to demand an end to Israel's war on Gaza.

The Past, Present, and Future of Left Jewish Identity

Jewish-led Palestine solidarity demonstrations are part of a long history of Jewish identity being bound up in leftist politics.
by Benjamin Balthaser, Shane Burley via Jacobin on June 8, 2025
The logo for Canada Lumber.
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French Canadians in the New England Woods

French Canadians held a distinct position in an American labor landscape in which experts viewed different “races” as being suited to different kinds of work.
by Livia Gershon, Jason L. Newton via JSTOR Daily on June 5, 2025
Drawings of women authors

How Margaret Fuller Set Minds on Fire

High-minded and scandal-prone, a foe of marriage who dreamed of domesticity, Fuller radiated a charisma that helped ignite the fight for women’s rights.
by James Marcus via The New Yorker on June 2, 2025

Exhibits

Exhibit

Native Pasts

This exhibit showcases the cultural, political, and environmental histories of American Indians, from ancient civilizations to contemporary activism.

Exhibit

Nuestra América

This exhibit explores the diverse cultures and shared experiences of Hispanic Americans at the polls and in popular culture, at work and in movements for social change.

James Baldwin

The Many Lives of James Baldwin

A new biography shows that his life was more complex than his viral fame suggests.
by John Livesey via Jacobin on August 17, 2025
Four young women, the daughters of Sidonia Kahn, in fancy dresses and hats.

Southern Jews Have Always Debated Zionism

Conflicts over Israel’s founding encompassed religion, race, and politics.
by Shari Rabin via Zócalo Public Square on August 4, 2025
Mike Davis

The Marxism of Mike Davis

On the life, influences, and “sophisticated yet lucid brand of Marxism” of the late, great writer.
by Nelson Lichtenstein via Jacobin on July 31, 2025
Mike Gold fading into a field of stars of David.

On the Decades-Long Erasure of Jewish Working-Class Anti-Zionism

Mike Gold, Alexander Bittelman, and the paradoxes of left-wing Zionism.
by Benjamin Balthaser via Literary Hub on July 23, 2025
55th Massachusetts marches through Charleston, 1865.
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Elevating the Few

What J.D. Vance excludes from the history of the Civil War and immigration.
by Elizabeth R. Varon via HNN on July 16, 2025
Elaine Yoneda superimposed on an American flag.

The Tale of Elai Yoneda, a Jewish Woman in a Japanese American Concentration Camp

The strange fate of mixed-race families in prisons during World War II.
by Tracy Slater via Literary Hub on July 10, 2025
Japanese-American man in a military uniform.

He Spent His Life Trying to Prove That He Was a Loyal U.S. Citizen. It Wasn’t Enough.

How Joseph Kurihara lost his faith in America.
by Andrew Aoyama via The Atlantic on July 9, 2025
Fabric with stars on one side and George Washington on the other.

The ‘Dirty and Nasty People’ Who Became Americans

How 13 colonies came together.
by Lindsay M. Chervinsky via The Atlantic on July 4, 2025
New citizens at a naturalization ceremony.

Our Cherished Values and Ideals

Celebrating immigrants on the nation's birthday.
by Marc Stein via Political Junkie on July 4, 2025
Pages from Eve Adams' Polish passport.

Deported From the U.S. for Publishing 'Lesbian Love,' She Was Later Killed by Nazis

Eve Adams was imprisoned for disorderly conduct and obscenity, then sent back to Europe, where she became a target of the Holocaust.
by Kellie B. Gormly via Smithsonian Magazine on June 26, 2025
Color lithograph advertisement showing the interior of a Pullman dining-car, with the Pullman factory out the window, 1894.
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Walking the Race Line on the Train Line

Investigators never reached a conclusion about the death of Pullman porter J. H. Wilkins, but his killing revealed much about the dangers of his profession.
by Matthew Wills, Rosemary Pearce via JSTOR Daily on June 21, 2025
William F. Buckley during a press interview in Buenos Aires, Argentina, circa 1970s. (Alamy)

Steering Right

Sam Tanenhaus’s biography of William F. Buckley has certain limitations, but it captures the character of conservatism’s founding father.
by John O. McGinnis via Law & Liberty on June 19, 2025
William Buckley stands behind a podium, surrounded by a throng of people, and waves.

The Real Bill Buckley

Even some liberals toasted William F. Buckley Jr. as a patrician gentleman. A long-awaited new biography corrects that record.
by Nicole Hemmer via Democracy Journal on June 17, 2025
Illustration equating Israel's “Who is a Jew?” policy with the Nazi selection process.

Jew? Not a Jew?

The untold story of how American Jewry and the Jewish state almost resolved the question of who is a Jew.
by Tracy Frydberg via Arc: Religion, Politics, Et Cetera on June 10, 2025
Jewish activists hold Passover Seder outside ICE headquarters in New York City to demand an end to Israel's war on Gaza.

The Past, Present, and Future of Left Jewish Identity

Jewish-led Palestine solidarity demonstrations are part of a long history of Jewish identity being bound up in leftist politics.
by Benjamin Balthaser, Shane Burley via Jacobin on June 8, 2025
The logo for Canada Lumber.
partner

French Canadians in the New England Woods

French Canadians held a distinct position in an American labor landscape in which experts viewed different “races” as being suited to different kinds of work.
by Livia Gershon, Jason L. Newton via JSTOR Daily on June 5, 2025
Drawings of women authors

How Margaret Fuller Set Minds on Fire

High-minded and scandal-prone, a foe of marriage who dreamed of domesticity, Fuller radiated a charisma that helped ignite the fight for women’s rights.
by James Marcus via The New Yorker on June 2, 2025
William F. Buckley Jr. surrounded by piles of books in his office.

What Made William F. Buckley So Unusual

The author of a new biography talks about the conservative journalist’s life and legacy.
by Sam Tanenhaus, Cullen Murphy via The Atlantic on June 1, 2025
Walt Whitman photographed with a cardboard prop of a butterfly. Library of Congress

Walt Whitman Used Photography to Curate His Image – but Ended Up More Lost than Found

Whitman curated his image through photography, blending truth and artifice, but like today’s selfies, found more confusion than clarity.
by Trevin Corsiglia via The Conversation on May 29, 2025
The all seeing eye reveals that the American flag is melting.

America’s Broken Commonwealth

The nation’s founding myth was based on faith and solidarity – but it also contained the roots of today’s democratic crisis.
by Rowan Williams via New Statesman on May 22, 2025
Walt Whitman

Brag and Humblebrag: Walt Whitman’s Encounters

Walt Whitman was a champion self-advertiser, maven of the brag and the humblebrag.
by Maureen N. McLane via London Review of Books on May 22, 2025
Old man and young boy.

The Perils of Generational Thinking

By assigning personal attributes to birth cohort, generationism tends to undermine personal responsibility.
by Richard Gunderman via Law & Liberty on May 16, 2025
V. Ramirez's Army Corps badge.

How Real ID Excludes Real Americans

My dad’s birth certificate said Vicente. His passport said Vince. New legislation would have disenfranchised him.
by Catherine S. Ramírez via Zócalo Public Square on May 12, 2025
Mark Twain

Mark Twain and the Limits of Biography

The great American writer witnessed the forging of his nation – but Ron Chernow’s portrait cannot see beyond its subject.
by Erica Wagner via New Statesman on May 12, 2025
A contact sheet of portraits of James Baldwin, 1972.

For Those Who Would Be Real

James Baldwin’s testimony in images.
by Harmony Holiday via Harper’s on April 29, 2025
Belle da Costa Greene at her desk in the Morgan library.

Ambition, Discipline, Nerve

The qualities that enabled Belle da Costa Greene to cross the color line also made her a formidable negotiator and collector for J.P. Morgan’s library.
by Heather O’Donnell via New York Review of Books on April 24, 2025
Coretta Scott King sitting in front of a portrait of Martin Luther King Jr.

America Has Gotten Coretta Scott King Wrong

Her ghostwritten autobiography diminishes her, and I found out why.
by Jeanne Theoharis via The Atlantic on April 7, 2025
Josephine Baker and a soldier.

The Superstar Turned Spy Who Fought the Nazis and for Civil Rights

A new book highlights Josephine Baker’s wartime contribution, and how she used her fame to provide cover and promote equal rights.
by Jon Henley via The Guardian on April 6, 2025
Two women smiling together.
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Lesbians and the Lavender Scare

Lesbian relationships among government workers were seen as a threat to national security in the 1950s. But what was a lesbian relationship?
by Livia Gershon, Robert Byron Genter via JSTOR Daily on April 6, 2025
George Kennan

The Enigma of George Kennan

An exploration of the contrast between the supreme confidence of Kennan's policy prescriptions and the perpetual turbulence of his inner life.
by Benjamin Nathans via New York Review of Books on April 3, 2025
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