Strikers, Scabs, and Sugar Mongers

How immigrant labor struggles shaped the Hawaii we know today.

Heather Heyer Is Part of a Long Tradition of White Anti-Racism Activists

Like the abolitionists of yesteryear, white Americans who oppose racial oppression deserve to be remembered and emulated.
White nationalists, neo-Nazis and members of the 'alt-right' clash with counter-protesters at the Unite the Right rally August 12, 2017 in Charlottesville, VA.
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When White Supremacists Strike, Police Don’t Always Strike Back

The long history of law enforcement's complicity in the affairs of right-wing insurgents.
President Lyndon B. Johnson with members of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, including Otto Kerner.

The 1968 Kerner Report was a Watershed Document on Race in America—and it Did Very Little

After the urban unrest of the Long Hot Summer, a commission was formed.

Tear Down the Confederates’ Symbols

The battle against the remnants of Confederate sentiment is a battle against both white supremacy and class rule.

A Look Back at a 1939 Pro-Nazi Rally and the Protesters Who Organized Against It

Seventy-eight years ago, protesters and white supremacists clashed outside of Madison Square Garden.
Amos Lawrence.

The Bostonian Who Armed the Anti-Slavery Settlers in "Bleeding Kansas"

How Amos Adams Lawrence became an abolitionist.

The Military, Minorities, and Social Engineering

Trump’s transgender ban restarts the debate about the relation between military service and social policy.

The Lost Cause Rides Again

The prospective series takes as its premise an ugly truth that black Americans are forced to live every day: What if the Confederacy wasn’t wholly defeated?

What We Still Get Wrong About What Happened in Detroit in 1967

One of the key factors in what happened in 1967 in Detroit has long gone overlooked

Police Dogs and Anti-Black Violence

Police brutality has been a hot topic in contemporary society, but when did this all really start and where did dogs get involved?
Men in drag, 1915.

Transgender Men Who Lived a Century Ago Prove Gender Has Always Been Fluid

In her new book, ‘True Sex,’ historian Emily Skidmore looks at their lives and how society has treated them.
Children march in a "silent protest" parade in New York city.

One Hundred Years After the Silent Parade

Here's what we've learned about mass protests since the 1917 Silent Parade.

Trump's Argument Against Transgender Soldiers Was Used Against Gays, Women, and Blacks

A brief review of history.

Our Long, Troubling History of Sterilizing the Incarcerated

State-sanctioned efforts to keep the incarcerated from reproducing began in the early 20th century and continue today.

100 Years Ago African-Americans Marched Down Fifth Avenue to Declare That Black Lives Matter

Remembering the "Silent Protest Parade."
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How the Fight Over Civil Forfeiture Lays Bare the Contradictions in Modern Conservatism

The brewing conflict between originalism and law-and-order politics.

New Age Activism: Maria W. Stewart and Black Lives Matter

Black women have always been equal partners in, if not central to, the tradition of Black protest and liberation movements.
People in a large boat in an amusement park

How a Group of '70s Radicals Tried (and Failed) to Invade Disneyland

The Yippies' takeover did not quite go to plan.
Allegorical lithograph entitled "Reconstruction," by J. L. Giles in 1867.
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Why the Second American Revolution Deserves as Much Attention as the First

The first revolution articulated American ideals. The second enacted them.

The Rage and Rebellion of the Detroit Riots, Captured in One Poem

50 years later, Philip Levine's poem, "They Feed They Lion," helps us remember and understand that time.

A Presumption of Guilt

Capital punishment and the legacy of terror lynching in the American South.
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Ida B. Wells Offered The Solution To Police Violence More Than 100 Years Ago

The answer runs through the history of anti-lynching laws.
Cartoon panel of a man with a typewriter and a Department of Justice logo on the wall

They’ve Always Been Watching Us

From COINTELPRO to the NSA’s surveillance program, the US Government has been keeping a close watch on the American Left for a long time.
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The 14th Amendment Solved One Citizenship Crisis, But It Created A New One

How birthright citizenship became a barrier for undocumented immigrants.
Someone writes at a desk next to a gavel, with the scales of justice in the background.

The Rise of the Prosecutor Politicians

How local prosecutors' offices have become stepping stones to higher office.

What the Nazis Learned from America

Rigid racial codes in the early 20th century gained the admiration not only of many American elites, but also of Nazi Germany.
Massachusetts State House
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Don’t Count on the Supreme Court to Stop Trump’s Travel Ban

Chinese exclusion in the 19th century exposes the limits of the justices' power.

An Independence Day Alternative

How "enlightened" leaders of the early US ignored an Independence Day speech and set in motion indigenous peoples' brutalization.
Elizabeth Freeman.
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How Two Massachusetts Slaves Won Their Freedom — And Then Abolished Slavery

What today's activists can learn from their victories.