Excerpts

Curated stories from around the web.
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When the U.S. Government Tried to Fight Communism With Buddhism

Recent violence in Myanmar reminds us that religion has long been central to Southeast Asian politics.
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A Bullet Can Cross the Border. Can the Constitution? The Supreme Court Won’t Say.

The Supreme Court punts on Hernandez v. Mesa, leaving the Constitution lost in the borderlands.
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How the Fight Over Civil Forfeiture Lays Bare the Contradictions in Modern Conservatism

The brewing conflict between originalism and law-and-order politics.

Where Donald Trump Learned His Tough Love for History

He professes admiration for "statues and monuments" but his family has a record of tearing down rather than preserving.

How Chop Suey Saved San Francisco's Chinatown

For Chinese immigrants, surviving in America has always required intense strategy.
Lithograph of Freedman's Bureau official separating freedmen from hostile whites.

The Freedmen's Bureau

A primary source set and teaching guide created by educators.

Old West Theme Parks Paint a False Picture of Pioneer California

As the nation debates monuments and public memory, it’s important to understand how other cultural sites help people learn (false) history.
A Japanese American woman holds a baby at an internment camp.

‘At Least During the Internment …’ Are Words I Thought I’d Never Utter

I was sent to a camp at just 5 years old — but even then, they didn't separate children from families.
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Religious Groups Are Fighting Trump to Keep Families Together

But they didn’t always oppose ripping kids from their parents.

Trumpism, Realized

To preserve the political and cultural preeminence of white Americans against a tide of demographic change, the administration has settled on a policy of systemic child abuse.

The Military, Minorities, and Social Engineering

Trump’s transgender ban restarts the debate about the relation between military service and social policy.

The International Vision of John Willis Menard, the First African-American Elected to Congress

Although he was denied his House seat, Menard continued his activism with the goal of uniting people across the Western Hemisphere.

"I've Studied The History Of Confederate Memorials. Here's What To Do About Them."

Many were funded privately. The public now deserves a say in their fate.

The Monuments We Never Built

Why we must ask not only what stories our landscapes of commemoration tell, but also what stories they leave out.

Public Health and the Dead at Johnstown

How do we humanely bury the dead after a disaster?
Robert E. Lee monument.

Falling Out of Love with the Civil War

America's unconditional love of the Civil War has blinded us to its true meaning.

Combatting Stereotypes About Appalachian Dialects

Language variation is just as diverse within Appalachia as it is outside of the region.

White Nationalists Flock to Genetic Ancestry Tests. Some Don't Like What They Find

With the rise of spit-in-a-cup genetic testing, white nationalists are turning to science to "prove" their racial identity.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Footnote Four

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's solo dissent from an affirmative action case was inspired by a footnote.

The Day White Virginia Stopped Admiring Gen. Robert E. Lee and Started Worshiping Him

Stripping Virginia of its Lee tributes is far harder than it is in other places.

The Awakening of Thurgood Marshall

The case he didn’t expect to lose. And why it mattered that he did.

The Tater Tot Is American Ingenuity at Its Finest

The genius move that turned potato scraps into a frozen-food empire

Looking To History To Combat Wildfires

After decades of modern fire prevention, many forests have become dangerous tinder-boxes.
Jeff Sessions.

The Fight to Define Romans 13

Jeff Sessions used it to justify his policy of family separation, but he’s not the first to invoke the biblical passage.

Refugee to Detainee: How the U.S. is Deporting Those Seeking a Safe Haven

Since the 1994 Crime Bill signed into law by Bill Clinton, refugees have been deported in droves. And Southeast Asians are being targeted.
Lithograph of Josiah Henson in his autobiography.

The Story of Josiah Henson, the Real Inspiration for 'Uncle Tom’s Cabin'

Before Stowe's famous novel, a formerly enslaved African-American living in Canada wrote a memoir detailing his experience.
Demonstrators march with pro-ERA and LGBT signs.
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Why The Equal Rights Amendment Might Be On The Verge Of A Comeback

The ERA has been dead for 36 years, but now women may have the tools to overcome opposition.

The Role of HBCUs and the Black Press in the Rise of the American Tennis Association

Historically black colleges and universities hosted all but six ATA tournaments from 1927 to 1968.
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The Ideological Slipperiness of the Kennedy Legacy

Politicians from both sides of the aisle have tried to stake a claim to the power of the Kennedy legend. What is it about Camelot?

How Women Mapped the Upheaval of 19th Century America

The second part in a series exploring little-seen contributions to cartography.
Violence during the "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville on August 12, 2017.

The Battle of Charlottesville

What happened in Virginia was not the culminating battle of this conflict. It’s likely a tragic preface to more of the same.

Racism, Medievalism, and the White Supremacists of Charlottesville

The weekend's demonstrators were the latest in a long line of American racists to ally themselves with an imagined Middle Ages.

The 19th-Century African-American Actor Who Conquered Europe

And why you might never have heard of Ira Aldridge.

Weighing the Baby

When did the practice of weighing newborns begin? And why?

'He Brutalized for You'

How Joseph McCarthy henchman Roy Cohn became Donald Trump’s mentor.

Closet Archive

A stuffed history of the closet, where the “past becomes space.”
Robert E. Lee Statue in Charlottesville.
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Why We Need Confederate Monuments

They force us to remember the worst parts of our history.
Syringe and pills.
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How Sensationalism Compounds the Opioid Crisis

Instead of playing on emotions, we need to destigmatize addiction.
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What Would Jefferson Say About White Supremacists Descending Upon his University?

Jefferson had a complicated relationship with white supremacy.

How Jackie Robinson Helped Defeat a Trump-Like Candidate

The baseball great warned of lasting repercussion for black voters during Barry Goldwater's presidential campaign.

The Confederate General Who Was Erased

There's a reason you won't find many monuments in the South to one of Robert E. Lee's most able deputies.

Examining 20th-Century America’s Obsession With Poor Posture

A new book explores the nation’s now-faded preoccupation with the 'epidemic' of hunched bodies.
Trump looks at border wall construction prototypes.
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The Militarization of Immigration Enforcement is Not Unique to Trump

Angry that ICE is ripping families apart? Don’t just blame Trump. Blame Clinton, Bush and Obama, too.

Why Trump Could Pardon Jack Johnson When Obama Wouldn’t

On the white privilege of being able to ignore the racial context of Johnson's Jim Crow-era conviction.

Lessons From the Gilded Age

America today has a lot in common with that bygone era of monopolies and gross inequality. But will the country respond similarly?
Leon Bridges singing on stage.

'They Put Us in a Little Box': How Racial Tensions Shape Modern Soul Music

While white Americana singers have infused more soul into their sound, black artists still feel restricted by limited expectations.

The Discovery of the Mental Institution

Mental health care has never been adequate in the U.S.

The Souring of American Exceptionalism

Commitment to liberalism once distinguished the U.S. Now, it’s the disdain of elites for their fellow citizens that sets the nation apart.

No 'King of Kings'

Edits that colonists made to prayer books during the American Revolution embodied the shift to independence.

How Profits From Opium Shaped 19th-Century Boston

In a city steeped in history, very few residents understand the powerful legacy of opium money.
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