Drawing of Anthea Hartig with insurrectionist memorabilia behind her

Insurrectionabilia at the Smithsonian

In 2026, we will celebrate the nation’s semiquincentennial, and also the fifth anniversary of the January 6th uprising.
Stack of papers with an image of the Capitol building printed on the side.

What the January 6th Report Is Missing

The investigative committee singles out Trump for his role in the attack. As prosecution, the report is thorough. But as historical explanation it’s a mess.
Rep. Bennie Thompson speaking at the Jan. 6 committee hearings.

January 6 Committee Final Public Meeting

Video testimony and evidence presented by the House Select Committee to recommend criminal prosecution of Donald Trump.
Black and white photo of protestors climbing the Capitol Building on Jan. 6, 2021.

Ask the ‘Coupologists’: Just What Was Jan. 6 Anyway?

Without a name for it, figuring out why it happened is that much harder.
Four members of House committee on Jan. 6. U.S. Capitol Riot, sitting in a hearing.
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What History Says About The Jan. 6 Committee Investigation

The importance of an unambiguous report that cannot be weaponized by Trump supporters.

Battle Hymn of the Republic and the Apotheosis of Washington

What a video of an Jan. 6 insurrectionist illustrates about race, religion, and nationalism in the MAGA movement.
Pennsylvania Avenue

A City-State for The Nation

The fallout of the January 6th riot and its effect on D.C. statehood.
U.S. Capitol riot

Echo Chambers

Parallels between the American Revolution and the U.S. Capitol riot.
The Capitol building.

Preserve (Some of) the Wreckage

We must remember the very real challenges to the preservation of our democracy.
A crowd of people with one person waving the Confederate flag

Learning from the Failure of Reconstruction

The storming of the Capitol was an expression of the antidemocratic strands in American history.
Person walks with Confederate flag in the U.S. Capitol

The Whole Story in a Single Photo

An image from the Capitol captures the distance between who we purport to be and who we have actually been.
Person walking with Confederate flag inside of the U.S. Capitol

The Capitol Riot Reveals the Dangers From the Enemy Within

But the belief that America previously had a well-functioning democracy is an illusion.
Man with a pistol at his hip carries the retired flag of Mississippi with a confederate battle emblem in it, and a Trump 2020 flag.
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Yes, Wednesday’s Attempted Insurrection Is Who We Are

While Wednesday's images shocked us, they fit into our history.
Person wearing pro-Trump attire in front of the U.S. Capitol.

What Should We Call the Sixth of January?

What began as a protest, rally, and march ended as something altogether different—a day of anarchy that challenges the terminology of history.

This Is Who We Are

The rioters at the Capitol are part of an unbroken American tradition. Sweet talk about our “better angels” did not defeat them before and will not now.
Different colored pillars

The Capitol Riot Was an Attack on Multiracial Democracy

True democracy in America is a young, fragile experiment that must be defended if it is to endure.
A cartoon Trump is shooed away by a hand in a judge's robe

The Case for Disqualification

Three years later, amid another national election, the American public is still slow to understand the enormity of January 6, 2021.
A sign left behind by Trump supporters at a rally outside the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, September 27, 2023.

American Fascism

On how Europe’s interwar period informs the present.
A supporter of Donald Trump holds a Confederate flag inside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, after the crowd breached the building as Congress was proceeding with the electoral vote certification of the 2020 presidential election.

Trump's 'Lost Cause,' a Kind of Gangster Cult, Won't Go Away

Lost cause narratives sometimes have been powerful enough to build or destroy political regimes. They can advance a politics of grievance.
Manifest Destiny painting by Gast.

'Pure White' Examines the White Supremacist Origins of Evangelical Purity Culture

The new podcast discusses how purity is woven into many of the myths that have fed White supremacy in the nation’s past and continue to do so today.