Fourth of July

How memory plays tricks with history.

Puerto Ricans were forced to become “Porto Ricans” – adopting Anglo customs while subsidizing American profits.

As the South Carolina city prepared to break from the Union, its people swung between nostalgia and rebellion.

In 1855, prohibitionists set their sights on the wettest day of the year.

Firecrackers are essentially un-American, even though we associate them with our most deeply patriotic celebration, the Fourth of July.

The "Pleasure Gardens" of the 18th Century captivated the public with a heady mix of fantasy and vice.

July 4 and the perils of celebrating America’s past.

For a burgeoning consumer society, store-bought flags and bonnets offered proof that commercialism could go hand in hand with heartfelt emotion.

Like many patriotic songs of its time, ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ was created by fitting a popular tune with topical new lyrics.

Let’s remember that performative anti-racism is as profitable politically as racism has been.

When African Americans allied themselves with the British, the Patriots were enraged, and they acted.

Charles Sumner and the fight for equal naturalization rights.

How a Texan holiday became a national tradition.

America won its freedom thanks to strong alliances.

1776 began as a petty squabble among odious and powerful elites. It soon became the lodestar of emancipatory movements everywhere.

For people of color watching over their shoulder, the fear of police interference harkens back to a historical moment with a much-too-benign label.

July 4th celebrates the signing of the Declaration of Independence, but we don’t even have the original!

The first revolution articulated American ideals. The second enacted them.

The document we celebrate today wasn't just the work of Thomas Jefferson's individual genius. Everyone was doing it.

How "enlightened" leaders of the early US ignored an Independence Day speech and set in motion indigenous peoples' brutalization.