Memory

How Alex Tizon’s essay echoes a trope with deep roots in American history

Too often, we look to history not to understand it, but to seek out confirmation for our preexisting beliefs. That’s a problem.

A century and a half after the Civil War, Mayor Mitch Landrieu asked his city to reexamine its past — and to wrestle with hard truths.

Before New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu made his celebrated speech, a grassroots movement forced the city to take down its monuments to white supremacy.

The leaders of the Revolutionary War — and their vision for the nation — were far from revolutionary.

Are we honoring all of our American heroes this Memorial Day?

Lee should not be defined not only by his time as a Confederate general, but also by his actions after the war was over.

Underlying current debates, says Jill Lepore, are fundamental conflicts over the meanings of the past.

On the centenary of his birth, seeking the man behind the myth.

What does the institution owe the descendants of slaves?

Why New Orleans took down monuments that had been installed by supporters of the "Cult of the Lost Cause."

The Confederate general has long been seen, in the South and beyond, as embodying the virtues of the ideal man.

Why hasn't Richmond faced the same controversies as New Orleans or Charlottesville?

During the Great Depression, Americans found solace in history.

Behind a quiet house museum are anti-abortion activists with a mission: to claim America’s most famous historical feminist as their own.

If Jackson's presidency had been later, he may have prevented the Civil War.

It’s treated as an all-purpose symbol of evil, not a series of historical events to be reckoned with.

A Southern governor proclaimed April Confederate Heritage Month. Will slavery be mentioned?

The United States wasn't filled with isolationists, and it wasn't exactly neutral before 1917.

The two versions of WWI taught in most schools tell us as much about the present as they do about the past.

A year-long series of photographs and stories that explain the struggle between the old South and the new.

An collection of primary sources exploring the causes, duration, and aftermath of America's involvement in World War I.

How should we interpret the United States Constitution?

The eliding of the ugliness of America's racial history is neither novel nor particularly surprising.

Shaq, Baron Davis, and Nick Van Exel reflect on The Notorious B.I.G., his murder, and the city they called home.

What does Black History Month leave out?

Only if we face the painful lies we tell ourselves about the past can we hope to overcome what's happening now.

The white historian’s responsibility to radical empathy and refuting the “invented past”.

Historians agree on the top three. Below that, there are fascinating trends in opinion.

A survey of 91 presidential historians that ranks U.S. presidents based on ten qualities of presidential leadership.