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Map of John Proctor's 15 acres of property in Ipswich, MA

"The Crucible" and John and Elizabeth Proctor of Salem

It is worth digging a bit deeper into the family matters between John and Elizabeth.
by Benjamin Ray via Commonplace on February 7, 2023
A portrait of Joe Hill.

Joe Hill Was Killed for Singing Labor’s Song

The labor troubadour Joe Hill was executed by a Utah firing squad for a crime he almost certainly didn’t commit.
by Cal Winslow via Jacobin on November 19, 2022
“Raise Up,” a statue by artist Hank Willis Thomas of African Americans with their hands raised above their heads, is featured in the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama.

How a Coerced Confession Shaped a Family History

A researcher delves into the past to tell the story of a relative—falsely accused as a boy of a crime in Jim Crow–era South Carolina.
by Deidre H. Crumbley via Sapiens on August 10, 2022

Inventing Solitary

In 1790, Philadelphia opened the first American penitentiary, with the nation’s first solitary cells. Black people were disproportionately punished from the start.
by Samantha Melamed via Philadelphia Inquirer on June 8, 2022
Lithograph of Eastern State Penitentiary from above.

The Invention of Incarceration

Prisons have been controversial since their beginnings in the late 1700s — why do they keep failing to live up to expectations?
by Ashley Rubin, Greg Miller via JSTOR Daily on March 18, 2022
Ethel and Julius Rosenberg after their arrest in New York for espionage in 1950.

The Rosenbergs Were Executed For Spying in 1953. Can Their Sons Reveal The Truth?

The Rosenbergs were executed for being Soviet spies, but their sons have spent decades trying to clear their mother’s name. Are they close to a breakthrough?
by Hadley Freeman via The Guardian on June 19, 2021
Woman being struck by lightning in front of shocked judge and crowd at the Salem Witch Trials.

Most Witches are Women, Because Witch Hunts Were All About Persecuting the Powerless

We use the term "witch hunt" to describe baseless accusations. It's actually about targeting those without power.
by Bridget Marshall via The Conversation on October 23, 2019

The Killing of Sacco and Vanzetti

The execution of Sacco and Vanzetti over ninety years ago is a reminder of how the American state treats radicals.
by Mary Anne Trasciatti via Jacobin on August 23, 2017
Demonstrators hold signs arguing to "Save Sacco & Vanzetti"

Is There a Place in Public History for Sacco and Vanzetti?

Ninety years after the duo was executed, there are virtually no physical markers in Boston commemorating them.
by Stephanie E. Yuhl, Peter Feuerherd via JSTOR Daily on August 23, 2017

Woodcuts and Witches

On the witch craze of early modern Europe, and how the concurrent rise of the mass-produced woodcut helped forge the archetype of the broom-riding crone.
by Jon Crabb via The Public Domain Review on May 4, 2017

The Bitter History of Law and Order in America

It has stifled suffrage, blamed immigrants for chaos, and suppressed civil rights. It's also how Donald Trump views the entire world.
by Andrea Pitzer via Longreads on April 6, 2017
Protestors marching with "I am Troy Davis" sign

The Execution That Birthed a Movement

Troy Davis' death at the hands of the state on Sept. 21, 2011, transformed Occupy and kindled Black Lives Matter.
by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, Jen Marlowe via In These Times on September 17, 2016

John Brown: The First American to Hang for Treason

The militant abolitionist's execution set a precedent for armed resistance against the federal government with implications for those who had condemned him.
by Heather Cox Richardson via We're History on December 2, 2014
A National Police Week ceremony.

The Jim Crow Origins of National Police Week

Police brutality and corruption are painful realities. So are officers who die performing their duty. But the memorial in Washington fails to distinguish them.
by Elizabeth Robeson via The Nation on May 9, 2025
Haitan commuinty members bowing their heads in prayer.

The Coming Witch Trials

It’s time to care for the community—not cleanse it.
by Adam Jortner via Current (religion and democracy) on October 22, 2024
A crowd of people in court during the Salem Witch Trials.

How Dogs Were Implicated During the Salem Witch Trials

Sometimes an accused witch was believed to have had a dog who would do her bidding; to others, the devil appeared in the form of a dog.
by Bridget Marshall via The Conversation on October 15, 2024
Man burning a picture of Abraham Lincoln.

City on Fire

The night violent anti-government conspirators sowed chaos in the heart of Manhattan.
by Betsy Golden Kellem via The Atavist on September 24, 2024
Supreme Court building.
partner

Supreme Court Opinions Don't Have to Be the Final Word

The Supreme Court doesn't have the last word; the people do. How attorneys pushed back on the flawed 1987 McCleskey decision.
by Robert L. Tsai via Made By History on June 28, 2024
Éamon de Valera, shown between 1918 and 1920, around the time he escaped from prison. He later became prime minister and president of Ireland.

The New York-Born Politician Who Was Convicted, then Became President

Éamon de Valera was accused of attempting an armed uprising against the government. Then he made a daring jailbreak, and later became president of Ireland.
by George Bass via Retropolis on June 9, 2024
“The Caring Hand,” by Eva Oertli and Beat Huber, sculpture of a hand holding a tree.

Bryan Stevenson Reclaims the Monument, in the Heart of the Deep South

The civil-rights attorney has created a sculpture park, indicting the city of Montgomery—a former capital of the domestic slave trade.
by Doreen St. Félix via The New Yorker on March 25, 2024
Colorful abstract painting

The New Declaration of Sentiments

Four important court cases that have defined the landscape of women’s rights in the United States.
by Elizabeth L. Silver via Los Angeles Review of Books on January 23, 2024
The front of the Midgeville asylum in Georgia

What Makes a Prison?

Wherever we find the state engaged in potentially lethal repression, we find prison.
by Dan Berger via Public Books on November 1, 2023
A crowd of tourist superimposed over images of Salem attractions and a cemetery.

Salem’s Unholy Bargain: How Tragedy Became an Attraction

Is the cost worth the payoff?
by Lex Pryor via The Ringer on October 30, 2023
Meeting of the Maguire Men outside a coal mine

Making Sense of the Molly Maguires Today

Who were the Molly Maguires, what did they do, and why did they do it?
by Kevin Kenny via OUPblog on October 11, 2023
Captain Lightfood on horseback firing a pistol.

Thunderbolt and Lightfoot: The American Creation of Irish Outlaw Folk Heroes

Martin’s confession relates outlaw adventures that appear to be original. But were they real? 
by Jerry Kuntz via Commonplace on August 8, 2023
Drawing of a Black man in court pleading with a judge in 1741.

Was the Conspiracy That Gripped New York in 1741 Real?

Rumors that enslaved Black New Yorkers were planning a revolt spread across Manhattan even more quickly than the fires for which they were being blamed.
by Ashawnta Jackson, Andy Doolen, Richard E. Bond, Thomas J. Davis via JSTOR Daily on April 30, 2023
A box of explosives removed from the murderer's home

America’s First Plane Bomber, and His Intended Victim

A mass murderer of 1955.
by Nathan Munn via Popula on April 5, 2023
Enslaved men gathered in the woods to plot a revolt.

Slavery and Rebellion in Eighteenth-Century New Jersey

While documented revolts of enslaved persons in New Jersey aren’t abundant, some examples speak to the spirit of resistance among African people held captive.
by Rann Miller via Black Perspectives on March 27, 2023
Sketch of a bedroom with a double bed, a prison courtyard outside the window.

Controversy and Conjugal Visits

Conjugal visits were first allowed as incentives for the forced labor of incarcerated Black men, the practice expanding from there. Is human touch a right?
by Molly Hagan via JSTOR Daily on February 13, 2023
A lithograph depicting the burning of copies of William Pynchon’s 'The Meritous Price of Our Redemption' by early colonists of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, who saw his book as heresy.

He Wasn’t Like the Other New England “Witches.” His Story Explains a Lot.

The little-told tale of the 1651 trial of Hugh and Mary Parsons.
by Colin Dickey via Slate on October 31, 2022
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