Excerpts

Olivia Hooker was 6 at the time of the riot, considered to be one of the worst incidents of racial violence in U.S. history.

How can Americans have such different memories of slavery?

The banjo's history and its symbolism of community, slavery, resistance, and ultimately America itself.

Ever wonder how a lifelong urbanite can resent cities as much as Donald Trump does? First you have to understand ’70s and ’80s New York.

Vincent Carretta takes a look at the remarkable life of the first ever African-American woman to be published.

Before the German zeppelin met its fiery demise, it was an object of fascination for U.S. radio listeners.

In order to win universal health care, we have to understand what — and who — we're up against.

The history of the epithet, from its rise among leftists and jazz critics and folkies to its recent fall from favor.

The blurred line between boyhood and manhood.

In the 19th century, Americans abandoned one source of dirty energy. Can they do it again?

The call to “speak English” in America has a long history that often drowns out our even longer history of diverse language use.

The women of Telegraph Avenue whose stories remain untold.

Do you live on Native American territory?

How birthright citizenship became a barrier for undocumented immigrants.

Looking to history for an analogue to Trump’s victory does a disservice to the present and the past.

The Dearborn Independent, a newspaper Ford owned, regularly supported and spread anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.

On the occasion of his 250th birthday, the making of our sixth president in his own words.

The sixth president, long derided as a hapless elitist, is suddenly relevant again 250 years after his birth.

Fred Kaplan's new book asks why it took Abraham Lincoln so long to embrace emancipation.

The iconic retail giant turned thrift into profit, but couldn’t keep pace with modern consumer culture.

The movement finally gets the big, bold history it deserves.

Max Pine, 91, believes that one day “the Republicans will leap ahead of the Democrats and lead in its enactment.”

The New York Times published the flimsiest defense of Trump’s apparent emoluments violations yet.

Not unless the most dangerous assault in the EPA's history also ends.

It’s probably later than you think, and long after the internet became widespread.

Here’s why that didn’t work during WWI.

For the waterway's 200th anniversary, learn about its creation and impact.

The Marquis de Lafayette's name graces more city parks and streets than perhaps any other foreigner.

A nation divided, even at birth.

The first initiative to document historic and cultural sites associated with the LGBT community in the five boroughs.

A Canadian take on America's Revolutionary War.

The beloved board game's long-hidden origin story debunks the myth of a male lone genius.

We should not be surprised by the attacks on Obamacare, they are, in fact, the typical response to social reform.

The culture on Sapelo Island, Georgia was unique.

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

Travel documentation was created to restrict – and it may become even more entrapping in the future.

Despite Jeff Sessions’ new mandate along the border, the Justice Department has prioritized immigration offenses for years.

Today, 1 in 3 American babies are delivered via the procedure, twice what the World Health Organization recommends.

Scott W. Stern’s book documents a decades-long program to incarcerate “promiscuous” women.

A new show, featuring the paper cutouts, reveals unheralded early Americans.

Virginia Dare and the myth of American whiteness.

What today's activists can learn from their victories.

The U.S. Constitution guaranteed freedom of religion, but the fight for religious equality was only just beginning.

An 1866 essay presents Andrew Johnson as "the virtual leader of the Southern reactionary party."

Archaeologists have uncovered the slave quarters of Sally Hemings at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello mansion.

It was a time when promoters were telling women in music: “You can’t put two women on the same bill. People won’t come.”

Mary K. Goddard printed one of the most famous copies of our founding document.

Racial violence destroyed an affluent African-American community, seen as a threat to white-dominated American capitalism.

Out-of-the-can branding helped transform World War II’s rations into a beloved household staple.

By the time the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776, did colonial Americans still sound like their British counterparts?