Memory

A journey through the African American landscape.

Decorating graves with flowers, from a Civil War grassroots ritual of remembrance to a national tradition honoring all military dead.

The debate over abortion is an important part of the story of polarization in American politics, but it is not its genesis.

Some essential lessons from an earlier culture war.

Debates between neighbors escalate over the use of Confederate names within a Northern Virginia neighborhood.

Fifty years ago, a fame-seeker shot the polarizing politician five times, paralyzing him from the waist down.

Why our nuclear fears faded – and why that’s dangerous.

The 1836 Project will indoctrinate new Texans with fables about our history.

Cinco de Mayo has deep roots in Mexican American history.

A single choice can branch out to infinite realities.

Kristen Green’s "The Devil’s Half Acre" recounts the story of a fugitive slave jail, and the enslaved woman, Mary Lumpkin, who came to own it.

Joan Scott’s "On the Judgment of History" asks us to imagine the past without the idea of progress. But what gets left out in the process?

John Brown and the historical novel.

On Ian Tyrrell’s "American Exceptionalism: A New History of an Old Idea."

When Charles Sumner died in 1874, a bill he had sponsored two years earlier threatened to overshadow his legacy.

An interview with Woody Holton on his new book, "Liberty is Sweet."

Why are so many songs of the Confederacy indelibly inscribed in my Yankee memory?

Philadelphia gave America its flag, along with other enduring icons of nationhood. But for many, the red, white and blue banner embodies a legacy of injustice.

On Martin Luther King's use of radical ideas to create an understanding of the history of America.

Woody Holton’s "Liberty is Sweet" charts not only the contest with Great Britain over “home rule” but also the internal struggle over who should rule at home. 

In her thirty-two years as the keeper of Lime Rock Lighthouse, Ida Lewis challenged gender roles and became a national hero.

Nikole Hannah-Jones' new book sidesteps scholarly critics while quietly deleting previous factual errors.

The attacks on CRT have terrified our educators. But the public school system has always made it hard to teach controversial subjects.

Historian Daryl Scott weighs in on the 1619 Project and the "possibility that we rend ourselves on the question of race."

How shall a generation know its story, if it will know no other?

A single reference in the historical record has spawned an array of adaptations, most of which overstate the anonymous figure's role in the Culper Spy Ring.

Keckley’s decision to write about her employers from the viewpoint of a household laborer—she was seamstress to Mary Todd Lincoln—enraged audiences.

From evolution to anti-racism, parents and progressives have clashed for a century over who gets to tell our origin stories.

We often associate dance with art and performance, but it is also a way that humans document, interpret, and create history.

A century ago, pundits, special interests, and politicians weighed in on what should and shouldn't be taught in history and social studies courses.