Excerpts

Why "Incidents In The Life Of A Slave Girl" by Harriet Ann Jacobs (1861), became a hit in Japan when it was published there in 2013.

The actor’s persona was inextricable from the toxic culture of Cold War machismo.

At Prospect Hill, people came from as far as Liberia for an unlikely gathering that led to a scene of visible emotion – with ‘a lot to talk about.'

John W. W. Zeiser reviews Peter Bagge's graphic biography "Fire!! The Zora Neale Hurston Story."

100 years ago, it was associated more with the mystical practices of the Orient than with middle-class women in stretchy pants.

The Platters, the Flamingos, and other pioneering performers share stories of divided audiences and harrowing violence.

Tracing the connection between a ubiquitous paper product and the women’s liberation movement.

Small businesses enjoy an iconic status in modern capitalism, but what do they really contribute to the economy?

What three seminal books from 1967 can teach us about fighting racism in the Trump era.

An obscure archive reveals the science—and art—behind combat culture.

The case hinges on whether its display is to honor local history or Christianity.

In his later years, the famous writer surrounded himself with a bevy of adoring adolescents.

The Internet was built by public institutions — so why is it controlled by private corporations?

Does our approach to the First Amendment need to change in the wake of this summer's violence in Charlottesville?

Few who are memorialized in stone could fully pass moral muster today. Is that a problem?

Women are rising. Will they be able to create lasting change?

One film fan's struggle to reconcile the things she loves with the things she knows to be true.

Two writers — one black, one white — journey to Selma, Alabama, in search of "Southern heritage." This is their dialogue. 

Drew Carolan captured the mien of a subculture centered on midafternoon expressions of anger and community.

Trumpism emerged from a haze of delusion, denial, pride, and cruelty—not as a historical anomaly, but as a profoundly American phenomenon.

Amid all the stories about harassment and abuse, there’s been hardly any discussion about how we got here.

How the U.S. Army's antebellum camel experimentation paved the way for the illicit trafficking of enslaved Africans.

What does the Klan of the 1920s have to teach us about the resurgence of organized bigotry in the Trump era?

Since the 1950s, disparities along class and racial lines have defined the nation's drug policy.

How audience measurement became central to the creative and commercial development of television.

Unraveling the connections between public health and civil rights in 1960s New Orleans.

The holiday emerged not from the 17th century, but rather from concerns over immigration and urbanization in the 19th century.

Why Pilgrims would be stunned by our "traditional" Thanksgiving table, and other surprising truths about the invention of our national holiday.

Masked men who take the law into their own hands.

Looking to the French Revolution and the writings of Tocqueville for insight into Trump’s America.

California Is adopting LGBT-Inclusive history textbooks. It's the latest chapter in a centuries-long fight.

How Laura Ingalls Wilder’s frontier vision of freedom and survival lives on in Trump’s America.

Three reasons why you shouldn’t consult the nineteenth-century WebMD archives.

The people Joseph Rodriguez saw through the windshield in the 1970s and 80s.

In 1976, Joyce Weisbecker programmed games for an RCA PC and console based on technology created at home by her dad.

If he does, it will be a sign of just how repugnant his actions are.

Why the makers of today's popular culture are still so obsessed with the Reagan era.

The White House's fumbling about slavery and the Civil War fits a long pattern in American politics.

A reflection on the role of parasites in early American history.

A vast, interactive collection of resources related to Princeton's involvement with the institution of slavery.

The lasting influence of "How to Cook and Eat in Chinese."

There would be no Richard Spencer without Louis Beam.

300 men and 3,000 miles of bad road.

For white southerners, honor had little to do with justice.

A melody can carry an undeniable purpose even before it gets paired with a lyric.

Requiring displays of patriotism have often been tied to nativism and bigotry.

What the origins of tuna salad, the club sandwich, PB & J, Chow Mein sandwich, and the Scotch Woodcock reveal about our shared history.

There's a long history of states challenging the federal government, and ignoring Native American claims to the land at issue.

The 504 Sit-In was the longest non-violent occupation of a federal building in United States history.

Every year, a group in New Orleans gets together to celebrate the birthday of Lee Harvey Oswald, who they believe was framed.