Excerpts

But the media is treating him differently than it treated Matthew Joseph Rodermund more than a century ago.

At the height of the Reconstruction, the pressing issue of the election was Black male suffrage.

The writer had a deep bond with his mentor, Ralph Waldo Emerson. But he also had a profound connection with Emerson’s wife.

How Transcendentalism, the American philosophy that championed the individual, caught on in tight-knit Concord, Massachusetts.

How the commission that led to the creation of the U.S.’s public television and radio systems can serve as a model for countering disinformation today.

Claudette Colvin is a Civil Rights hero you've probably never heard of. In 1955, she was arrested for refusing to give up her seat, months before Rosa Parks.

The front lines of a terrible epidemic, through the eyes of a young doctor profoundly touched by tragedy.

Once, abolitionists had to imagine a world without slavery. Can we similarly envision a world where migrants are offered justice?

The majority-female platoon from North Vietnam that fought against U.S. forces in the Vietnam War.

During the 1840s, landlords tried to drive out tenants in default. The movement that rose to challenge evictions can be a model for today’s housing activists.

In Life of a Klansman, Edward Ball’s white supremacist great-great-grandfather becomes a case study in the enduring legacy of slavery.

How the federal government enlisted ordinary citizens to spy on each other for the war effort.

Fake news has been central to the Lost Cause narrative since its inception, employed to justify and amplify the symbolism of Confederate monuments and flags.

The United States has a terrible habit of letting white supremacy get away with repeated attempts to murder American democracy.

Contractors are increasingly doing dangerous work helping our troops — without any of the recognition.

After Japan's surrender, U.S. troops rebelled against a plan to keep them overseas, staging dramatic protests from the Philippines to Guam.

The rise of the first Black woman on the Louisiana Supreme Court was characterized by one battle after another with the Deep South’s white power structure.

Laws against teaching critical race theory might backfire on Republicans.

The time when Harvard made an atheist their head chaplain.

Experiencing history in Assassin’s Creed.

Like the 1619 Project, two new books on the Constitution reflect a vigorous debate about what has changed in the American past—and what hasn’t.

'Isn’t this supposed to be the museum of the motion picture industry?' a historian asks. 'They forgot about the industry part.'

John Berryman's Dream Songs made explicit the racialization of American poetry's turn—and the whiteness of lyric tradition.

The manner in which the debate unfolded is a reminder of the ways slavery affected everything it touched.

This overlooked corner of the press provided news by and for people incarcerated. A newly available archive shows it worked hard to reach outside audiences too.

How a series of emergencies resulted in the school lunch programs we have today.

Georgia enacted the Citizen's Arrest Law in an attempt to maintain control of enslaved people.

Are the truths in the Declaration of Independence really self-evident?

A concept that took hold in the ’70s has haunted everything from seat belts to masks—and experts won't let it die.

American innocence, the possession of history, and January 6, 2021.

The New Yorker critic's new book is a sequel of sorts to "The Metaphysical Club."

For decades, U.S. cities have been closing or neglecting public restrooms, leaving millions with no place to go.

The U.S. managed to pay for a child care program during the most expensive war ever. What happened?

Each time political minorities advocate for and achieve greater equality, conservatives rebel, trying to force a reinstatement of the status quo.

How a decades-long movement helped the far-right fringe gain control of the GOP.

My ancestors were enslaved—but their freedom came at a price for others.

Elizabeth Catte’s new book traces a shameful history and its legacy today.

In the years after the Civil War, some wanted a new seat of government that would be closer to the geographic center of a growing nation.

This digital memorial raises questions about the largest slave trades in history and offers access to the documentation available to answer them.

The city was once a bustling and infamous Great Lakes port. How should it be remembered?

When 'seditious' and 'unpatriotic' speech was criminalized in the U.S.

It’s never just about religion, says the author of a book about celebrities discovering new religious identities.

Leading gangs in Los Angeles were making peace as the city burned. How the city failed them rewrites our understanding of that moment.

James M. Smith explains the last debates between Loyalists and Patriots prior to the official outbreak of the American Revolution.

The life of Tulsa attorney B.C. Franklin is a testament to the triracial history of the West.

Bill Bleyer dives into the secret Culper Spy Ring during the American Revolution while disproving many of the urban myths surrounding the characters involved.

The Columbus Pacesetters weren’t satisfied being an afterthought or a gimmick, so they bought their franchise and the ability to make decisions for themselves.

Lawrence Matsuda talks about his family history, his experiences of discrimination, and his work in bilingual and Asian American representation in education.

For economist Albert Hirschman, social planning meant creative experimentation rather than theoretical certainty.

Hannah Arendt holds firm during the McCarthy era.