Crowd of Black and White workers walking.

Affirmative Action Never Had a Chance

The conservative backlash to the civil-rights era began immediately — and now it’s nearly complete.
Whistleblower Edward Snowden addresses an audience at a conference in Lisbon, Portugal, 2019.

Ten Years Ago, Edward Snowden Blew the Whistle on the US’s Most Secretive Spy Agency

The government responded with ruthless persecution — just one egregious example in the NSA’s long, sordid history of fiercely guarding its secrecy.
Student protestor speaking at a microphone.
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How a 1968 Student Protest Fueled a Chicano Rights Movement

A massive protest by Mexican American high school students was a milestone in a movement for Chicano rights.

The Busboy

Witness to the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy.
Painting of a girl with a basketball looking out a window.

Lady Vols Country

How college basketball coach Pat Summitt transformed women's sports.
U.S. Supreme Court building where "Equal Justice Under Law" is written in stone.

The Originalist Case for Affirmative Action?

The argument made recently by Kim Forde-Mazrui may not be in good faith, but it does raise important questions about the meaning of the Constitution.
Lithograph sketch of a large manor surrounded by trees

"They Were Added to the List of Unfortunates": French Caribbean Refugees in Philadelphia

On the mobility controls faced by refugees, and who had the right to remain in American cities and states in the Early Republic.
Mural depicting Charlotta Bass and victims of Zoot Suit Riots.

The Untold Story of the Zoot Suit Riots: How Black L.A. Defended Mexican Americans

The unity of two long-neglected communities during trying times is a reminder of what we desperately need in Los Angeles.
U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist testifies to a House Financial Services subcommittee about minting coins in commemoration of former Chief Justice John Marshall on March 10, 2004.

There’s Unsettling New Evidence About William Rehnquist’s Views on Segregation

The Supreme Court Justice's defense of Plessy v. Ferguson in a 1993 memo continues to influence the court's interpretation of the 14th amendment.
Tulsa, Oklahoma on fire during the Tulsa Massacre.

How World War I Inspired Black Americans to Fight for Dignity at Home

The war marked a sea change in how black men viewed their own citizenship.
Ethel and Julius Rosenberg leaving the courthouse in a prison van, 1951.

Not How He Wanted to Be Remembered

Two decades passed before the ghosts of the Rosenbergs came back to haunt Irving Kaufman, the judge who sentenced them to death.
Transgender woman marching in a pride parade.
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Transgender Rights, Won Over Decades, Face New Restrictions

More than 50 years after the Stonewall uprising marked the birth of a movement for LGBTQ+ rights, transgender activists continue to push for inclusion.
A black-and-white frame of a crowd of police officers confronting strikers - beating them with clubs.

When Unions and Police Clash: The Memorial Day Massacre You May Not Know About

Decades ago, labor protests, picketing and strikes often led to violent confrontations between activists and police, although that almost never happens today.
Soldier in foliage drawing

How Prisoners Contributed During World War II

Prisoners not only supported the war effort in surprising ways during World War II, they fought and died in it.
Two female U.S. Army soldiers relax on an army vehicle in Iraq.

The Iraq War’s Legacies for Women in Combat

The armed forces continue to grapple with integrating women into an institution historically designed for men.
Jonathan Big next to cover of "King: A Life."

Restoring the Real, Radical Martin Luther King Jr. in “King: A Life”

A new biography of King emerges at a "critical juncture" for his legacy.
Collage showing people gathering at the site of school shootings.

The Second Generation of School Shootings

The fear that overtook us that day in 1988 was unfamiliar to most Americans. Now all too many know how it feels.
A woman behind bars, and hands writing.

A History of Incarceration by Women Who Have Lived Through It

The members of the Indiana Women’s Prison History Project scrutinize official records not only for what they reveal, but also for what they omit.
U.S. Supreme Court building, left, and Kurt Vonnegut, right.

The Largely Forgotten Book Ban Case That Went Up to the Supreme Court

Library book bans are fueling national fights and a new Florida lawsuit. But only one case has come before the Supreme Court: Island Trees v. Pico.
Hari Kondabolu and Hank Azaria.
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What’s Missing in the Discussion About Race Sparked by Apu in ‘The Simpsons’

The history of Sephardic Jews challenges our ideas about race in America.
Linda Brown Smith, Ethel Louise Belton Brown, Harry Briggs, Jr., and Spottswood Bolling, Jr., 1964

Brown v. Board of Education: Annotated

The 1954 Supreme Court decision, based on the Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution, declared that “separate but equal” has no place in education.
A police dog attacks 15-year-old Walter Gadsden during a civil rights demonstration in Birmingham, May 3, 1963.

Birmingham’s Use of Dogs on Civil Rights Protesters Shocked Liberal Onlookers

But the backstory was all-American.
Collage of Holmesburg Prison aerial view with a gloved hand picking up a medical vial in the foreground.

Holmesburg Prison's Medical Experiments Are Philadelphia's 'Lasting Shame'

For over 20 years, Dr. Albert Kligman experimented on incarcerated men at Philadelphia's Holmesburg Prison. Those who profited have yet to redress the harm.
A women's liberation group marches in Boston on April 17, 1971.

The Reproductive Rights Movement Has Radical Roots

Abortion rights in the US were won in the 1970s thanks to militant feminist groups. As those rights are repealed, the fight must return to the streets.
Denise Lajimodiere stands in an empty room of a former American Indian boarding school.
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Forced into Federal Boarding Schools as Children, Native Americans Confront the Past

Native Americans demand accountability for a federal policy that aimed to erase Indigenous culture.
A microphone animated as a black snake.

The Dark Side of Defamation Law

A revered Supreme Court ruling protected the robust debate vital to democracy—but made it harder to constrain misinformation. Can we do better?
Martin Luther King Jr. with other activists and children.

Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Perilous Power of Respectability

We revere the man and revile the strategy, but King knew what he was doing.
Cover of "Vigilance: The Life of William Still, Father of the Underground Railroad"  by Andrew K. Diemer

A Historian Forgotten

A new biography of William Still show how the abolitionist documented the underground railroad as he helped people through it.
Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas leading Washington Post editors on a hike along the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, as part of his campaign to prevent the construction of a highway along its route, Maryland, 1954.

The Frontier Justice

William O. Douglas was a strong advocate of conservation, but as a Supreme Court justice his involvement in such issues was often ethically questionable.
University of Berlin, Germany, circa 1900

Academic Freedom’s Origin Story

While academic freedom is foundational to American higher education today, it is a relatively recent development.