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Sheet music for "Massa's in de Cold Ground" as sung by Christy's Minstrels.

Christy’s Minstrels Go to Great Britain

Minstrel shows were an American invention, but they also found success in the United Kingdom, where audiences were negotiating their relationships with empire.
by Betsy Golden Kellem via JSTOR Daily on March 27, 2024
Skyscraper construction workers at lunch photo, but sitting atop a web search bar.

Social Media Is Not What Killed the Web

Better browsers made things worse.
by Ian Bogost via The Atlantic on March 25, 2024
Three men fight on a rooftop, above a large city on a river.

The Golden Age of the Paranoid Political Thriller

On the grand tradition of movies reflecting a deep distrust of those in charge.
by Keith Roysdon via CrimeReads on March 25, 2024
The Hollywood sign replaced with the words "The End."

The Life and Death of Hollywood

Film and television writers face an existential threat.
by Daniel Bessner via Harper’s on March 21, 2024
South Pacific.

You've Got to Be Carefully Taught

Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific shows the limits–and power–of mainstream entertainment in addressing weighty social topics.
by Stephen Akey via American Purpose on March 1, 2024
Performers from "Black America"

Nate Salsbury’s "Black America"

The 1895 show purported to show a genuine Southern Black community and demonstrate Black cultural progress in America, from enslavement to citizenship.
by Betsy Golden Kellem via JSTOR Daily on January 25, 2024
Woman and man looking at the fiji mermaid

Nineteenth-Century Clickbait

The exhibition “Mermaids and Monsters” explores hoaxes of yore.
by Deb Lucke via The New Yorker on January 20, 2024
A kickline of five Asian American dancers at the Forbidden City nightclub in San Francisco.

Americanism, Exoticism, and the “Chop Suey” Circuit

Asian American artists who performed for primarily white audiences in the 1930s and ’40s both challenged and solidified racial boundaries in the United States.
by Ashawnta Jackson, SanSan Kwan via JSTOR Daily on January 12, 2024
John Montgomery Ward and Helen Dauvray.

Before Taylor and Travis, There Was Helen and John

She was an actress. He was a shortstop. What we can learn from the press parade around this 19th-century power couple.
by Scott D. Peterson via Zócalo Public Square on January 11, 2024
Donald Trump, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, and Vince McMhaon at a press conference before Wrestlemania 23, 2007.

The Misunderstood History of American Wrestling

A recent biography of Vince McMahon presents him as an entertainment tycoon who changed culture and politics. The real story is as banal as it is brutal.
by Nadine Smith via The Nation on November 10, 2023
Grandmaster Flash, DJ Kool Herc, Afrika Bambaataa and Chuck D.
partner

Hip-Hop's Black Caribbean Roots

The relationship between the DJ and his MC derived from a Jamaican “toasting” tradition and its related “sound clash” culture.
by Alex La Rotta via Made By History on November 6, 2023
A family listening to radio in the 1930s.
partner

Today's Media Landscape Took Root a Century Ago

Decisions made now could shape the next 100 years.
by Bruce J. Schulman via Made By History on September 27, 2023
Lebanese auto worker Eva Habib in her work coveralls in 1929.

Arab American Labor

On the centrality of the working classes to the Arab American immigrant experience and the pivotal roles Arab Americans played in American labor.
by Akram Khater, Chelsea Lundquist-Wentz, Nicole Ackman, Ginni Leeman, Lindsey Waldenberg via Khayrallah Center For Lebanese Diaspora Studies on September 4, 2023
A scene from the “Lost Colony,” an outdoor historical drama in Manteo, N.C., in 2017.

A North Carolina Town’s Historic Play Ends Redface and Hires Native Actors

“The Lost Colony” had dramatized American mythology in the Outer Banks since 1937 with White actors as Indians. Now, Native performers are rewriting the story.
by Gregory S. Schneider via Retropolis on August 12, 2023
Scene from "The Sugarland Express." A woman is leaning out the window of police car.

Hot Pursuit: The Brief Rise of 1970s Hixploitation Cinema

On the drive-in movie culture that captured a yearning for fast cars on dusty roads.
by Scott Von Doviak via CrimeReads on July 11, 2023
A woman shows off her pride-themed nails.
partner

Gay Bars Are Disappearing. Their Past Holds Keys To Their Future.

Live entertainment, all genders and straight people are back—and were here in the beginning
by Greggor Mattson via Made By History on June 2, 2023
A woman poses with a kitten next to a wooden barrel labeled "Queen of the Mist"

American Daredevils

The nineteenth-century commitment to thrilling an audience embodied an emerging synergy of public performance, collective experience, and individual agency.
by Robert Westbrook, Betsy Golden Kellem, William P. Goldman, Jacob Smith, Aimee Nezhukumatathil via JSTOR Daily on May 24, 2023
Ferris wheel at the Chicago World Fair of 1893.

The Magic Lantern Man

At every stop, he enthralled audiences with a device called a “stereopticon.”
by David Cecelski via davidcecelski.com on May 1, 2023
Handheld video camera.

Smile, You're on Jury Duty!

First came 'Candid Camera.' Then 'The Truman Show.' Now, a new swath of TV speaks to 21st-century voyeurism.
by Jackie Mansky via Zócalo Public Square on April 28, 2023
Vince McMahon

Vince McMahon Controls Wrestling History in Order to Control All of Wrestling

How the WWE chairman warped pro wrestling all the way to WrestleMania 39.
by Abraham Josephine Riesman via Polygon on March 27, 2023
January 6, 1947 Harlem Globetrotters ad.

The Harlem Globetrotters and the Social Significance of Sports

The Globetrotters have always been far more than just a comic exhibition team, just as sports have always meant much more than escapism.
by Ben Railton via The Saturday Evening Post on March 15, 2023
Drag artist Vidalia Anne Gentry speaks against the anti-drag bills in Tennessee.
partner

History Exposes the Real Reason Republicans are Trying to Ban Drag Shows

For decades, conservatives were fine with sexually charged cross-dressing entertainment — so long as it reinforced traditional power structures.
by Rachel Hope Cleves via Made By History on March 9, 2023
The son of Robert "Whitey" Fuller, director of publicity for Dartmouth athletics, and other children playing football, Dartmouth, 1946.

'Hit the Line Hard'

During the cold war, football’s violence became precisely its point.
by Jake Nevins via New York Review of Books on February 12, 2023
Mural of Roberto Clemente on the side of the museum dedicated to him.

Erased and Forgotten Sports History In Pittsburgh’s Crossroads of the World

The brothers from Barbados who built Negro League stadiums, and community efforts to create historic markers for them.
by David S. Rotenstein via The Metropole on January 19, 2023
Buster Keaton holds himself up against two walls.

Puzzled Puss: Buster Keaton’s Star Turn

Keaton had been on the stage longest, risen the highest, fallen the furthest, and left the most indelible legacy.
by John Lahr via London Review of Books on January 19, 2023
Corporate executives sitting on musicians

Ticketmaster’s Dark History

A 40-year saga of kickbacks, threats, political maneuvering, and the humiliation of Pearl Jam.
by Maureen Tkacik, Krista Brown via The American Prospect on December 21, 2022
Old computer with its mouse over the AOL logo.

America Online: A Cautionary Tale

On the rise and fall of the quintessential ’90s online service provider—and a warning about today’s social-media giants.
by Joanne McNeil via The Nation on December 15, 2022
Roi Ottley and other African American panelists on radio quiz program.

How African Americans Entered Mainstream Radio

For nearly 50 years, commercial radio companies only employed white broadcasters to target information and entertainment to mainstream America.
by Bala James Baptiste via Black Perspectives on December 6, 2022
A close up black and white image of a clown face showing a sinister smile.

The Creepy Clown Emerged from the Crass and Bawdy Circuses of the 19th Century

Today’s creepy clowns are not a divergence from tradition, but a return to it.
by Madeline Steiner via The Conversation on October 25, 2022
Alcorn State University's Origional Golden Girls.

Sass And Shimmer: The Dazzling History Of Black Majorettes And Dance Lines

Beginning in the 1960s, young Black majorettes and dance troupes created a fascinating culture. This is the story of how they did it.
by Alecia Taylor, Brooklyn White via Essence on October 10, 2022
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