Excerpts

Curated stories from around the web.
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Martin Luther King Jr.: 50 Years Later

Activists today are taking up Dr. King’s mantle and reviving the Poor People’s Campaign.

Seeing Martin Luther King as a Human Being

King should be appreciated in his full complexity.

When the FBI Targeted the Poor People’s Campaign

Recently unearthed surveillance documents show how the FBI tried to destroy the Poor People’s Movement.
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Why MLK Believed Jazz Was the Perfect Soundtrack for Civil Rights

Jazz, King declared, was the ability to take the “hardest realities of life and put them into music, only to come out with some new hope or sense of triumph.”

“They Like That Soft Bread”

In Knoxville, Tennessee, folks love sandwiches from a Fresh-O-Matic steamer like they love their grandmas.
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What We Get Wrong About the Southern Strategy

It took much longer — and went much further — than we think.
Supporters and opponents of the Equal Rights Amendment observing as the Georgia Senate voted on it, January 21, 1980.

The Equal Rights Amendment

A primary source set and teaching guide created by educators.

How One Librarian Tried to Squash Goodnight Moon

This footnote in New York Public Library history hints at a rich story of power, taste, and the crumbling of traditional gatekeepers.

Assassination as Cure: Disease Metaphors and Foreign Policy

The poorly crafted disease metaphor often accompanies a bad outcome.

The Life of Afong Moy, the First Chinese Woman in America

Contending with the orientalist fears and fantasies of a young nation.

The Rich Can't Get Richer Forever, Can They?

Inequality comes in waves. The question is when this one will break.
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The Lavender Scare

In 1950, the U.S. State Department fired 91 employees because they were homosexual or suspected of being homosexual.

The ‘Revolution of ’89’ Did Not Initiate a New Era of History

Though significant, the end of the Cold War was not nearly as significant a turning point as President George H.W. Bush suggested it would be in 1990.

The Forgotten Failures of the Great Society

A review of "Great Society: A New History," by Amity Shlaes.

‘A Doubtful Freedom’

Andrew Delbanco's new book positions the debate over fugitive slaves as a central factor in the nation's slide toward disunion.

They Wanted to Remake the World; Instead We Got President Trump

Andrew Bacevich makes the case that America’s elites wasted the promise of the post-Cold War era.
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How Televising Presidential Debates Changed Everything

Ever since Kennedy-Nixon, televised debates have given viewers an insight into candidates' policies—and their personalities, too.

The Decade Comic Book Nerds Became Our Cultural Overlords

Why do they have to be such sore winners?
Host Jack Barry and two contestants on the game show "21."

Think Presidential Debates Are Dull? Thank 1950s TV Game Shows

The only debate arrangement that everyone could agree to 60 years ago remains in place today – the game show format.

“The Police Know Guerrilla Warfare”

During the Cold War, cops at home and military personnel abroad exchanged techniques and tactics to mete out repression and thwart leftist insurgencies.

Why We Should Remember William Monroe Trotter

A pioneering black editor, he worked closely with African-American workers to advance a liberatory black politics.

The History Behind One of America’s Most Beloved Desserts

The origins of the praline candy can be traced back to enslaved black women in Louisiana.

The Broken Road of Peggy Wallace Kennedy

All white Southerners live with the sins of their fathers. But what if your dad was one of the most famous segregationists in history?

Ride Shotgun through Mid-Century LA with Ed Ruscha’s Photos and Jack Kerouac’s Words

A kinetic slice of Americana so pure you can almost smell Kerouac’s invoked apple pie – or maybe it’s the faint stench of exhaust fumes.

The Radicalism of Randolph Bourne

Bourne’s affinity with outsiders drove his vision of making North America a united states of communities. His writings have become more relevant than ever.

When the American Dream Came With a Drive-Thru

The fast-food age began with scrappy entrepreneurship, but corporate concentration has made the chains dull and uninspiring.
Tourists pose for pictures at the Cape Coast Castle in Ghana.
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How a Black Female Fashion Designer Laid the Groundwork for Ghana’s ‘Year of Return’

When Ghana gained independence, Freddye Henderson facilitated African American tourism to the new nation.

The Debate Over War Powers

Two legal scholars make the case that President Bush must seek congressional authorization before initiating a preemptive military strike on Iraq.

An Unlikely Hardliner, George H. W. Bush Was Ready to Push Presidential Powers

Though he ended up seeking congressional approval for the Gulf War, Bush was unconvinced he needed it – saying he would have gone regardless of the vote.

Why Are We in the Middle East?

America’s devotion to the Middle East did not make much sense in 2003, Bacevich argues; but it did in 1980, and the reason was oil.

The Assassin Next Door

My family’s immigrant journey and James Earl Ray’s path to targeting MLK, Jr., intersected at a corner of East Hollywood.

Signs of Return

Photography as History in the U.S. South.

Why Historical Analogy Matters

If the idea of historical incommensurability is right, then analogical reasoning in history becomes an impossibility.

Nationalist Anthems

Remembering a time when composers mattered more.

Whose Boots on the Ground

We invest a great deal of collective energy in commemorating our war dead. But do we remember them?

The Pervasive Power of the Settler Mindset

More than simple racism, the destructive premise at the core of the American settler narrative is that freedom is built upon violent elimination.
Woman in 18th century dress and hairstyle.

Las Marthas

At a colonial debutante ball in Texas, girls wear 100 pound dresses and pretend to be Martha Washington. What does it mean to find yourself in the in-between?

How Race Made the Opioid Crisis

The fundamental division between “dope” and medicine has always been the race and class of users.

From the Battlefield to 'Little Women'

How Louisa May Alcott found a niche in observing the world around her.

Rambo Politics from Reagan to Trump

Trump links the assassination of Iranian General Soleimani to the 1979 Iran hostage crisis, positioning himself as Rambo, avenging American humiliation abroad.

Andrew Yang and the Failson Mystique

America has already witnessed the largest UBI experiment known to history — the postwar middle-class housewife. And she was utterly miserable.

Walking with the Ghosts of Black Los Angeles

"You can't disentangle blackness and California."

The Strange Career of ‘National Security’

When the phrase became a national obsession, it turned everything from trade rules to dating apps into a potential threat.
Malcolm X

Reflections on Malcom X

What we can learn from him and his legacy.

A Parade of Imperial Presidencies

Trump is just the latest in a long line of executives to stiff-arm the Constitution and ignore congressional powers.

Why Disco Made Pop Songs Longer

Disco, DJs, and the impact of the 12-inch single.

When King was Dangerous

He's remembered as a person of conscience who carefully broke unjust laws. But his challenges to state authority place him in a much different tradition: radical labor activism.

Finding Lena, the Patron Saint of JPEGs

In 1972, a photo of a Swedish Playboy model was used to create the JPEG. The model herself was mostly a mystery—until now.

This, Too, Was History

The battle over police-torture and reparations in Chicago’s schools.
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The Whistleblowers of the My Lai Massacre

Three men who brought the terrors of My Lai to light.
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