identity — Bunk History

New Yorker magazine from November 17, 1962, open to Baldwin's essay.

On James Baldwin’s “Letter from a Region in My Mind”

The essay served as a definitive diagnosis of American race relations. Events soon gave it the force of prophecy.

by Kevin Young via The New Yorker on February 10, 2025

Abstract painting of Black people.

The Messiness of Black Identity

Can language unify the people?

by Doreen St. Félix via The New Yorker on September 7, 2024

A man stands before four doorways with cryptic letters on them.

Sorting the Self

The self has never been more securely an object of classification than it is today.

by Christopher Yates via The Hedgehog Review on March 3, 2024

Ronald Squire, Harry Belafonte and Dorothy Dandridge.

Against Race Essentialism

Black identity is a reality, not an idea.

by Tomiwa Owolade via New Statesman on May 15, 2023

Five globes shaped like human faces, connected by threads.

It’s Time to Rethink the Idea of the “Indigenous”

Many groups who identify as Indigenous don’t claim to be first peoples; many who came first don’t claim to be Indigenous. Can the idea escape its colonial past?

by Manvir Singh via The New Yorker on February 20, 2023

Picture of Barack Obama and W.E.B Du Bois.

A Prophet and a President

Why black biography matters.

by David Levering Lewis via The American Scholar on October 21, 2021

Literary Hoaxes and the Ethics of Authorship

What happens when we find out writers aren't who they said they were.

by Louis Menand via The New Yorker on December 10, 2018

The Surprising History (and Future) of Fingerprints

Our identity is mapped at our fingertips, but also, maybe, our individual fate.

by Chantel Tattoli via The Paris Review on May 15, 2018

A painting entitled "The First Thanksgiving, 1621" by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris (ca. 1932).

The Dark Side of Nice

American niceness is the absolute worst thing to ever happen in human history.

by D. Berton Emerson via Los Angeles Review of Books on April 22, 2018

What Cheer, Though?

Joyce Chaplin on the malevolence of American goodwill.

by Joyce Chaplin via The Times Literary Supplement on January 23, 2018

Banthe Bombers protest photograph by Richard Avedon.

Richard Avedon and James Baldwin’s Joint Examination of American Identity

Their 1964 collaboration, "Nothing Personal," brought together aspects of American life and culture through photographs and text.

by Hilton Als via The New Yorker on November 6, 2017

The Census Always Boxed Us Out

For most of our history, the U.S. government treated biracial Americans as if we didn’t even exist, but my family has stories to tell.

by E. Dolores Johnson via Narratively on October 30, 2017

As God Is My Witness

A year-long series of photographs and stories that explain the struggle between the old South and the new.

by Johnathon Kelso via The Bitter Southerner on April 4, 2017

How My Grandfathers Proved Their Loyalty to America

The stories of two American soldiers – one part German, the other born in Japan – challenge our romantic view of the "Greatest Generation."

by Willy Blackmore via Pacific Standard on June 30, 2016

Why Do So Many Americans Think They Have Cherokee Blood?

The history of a myth.

by Gregory D. Smithers via Slate on October 1, 2015

A cream colored map depicting the Middle Passage and trade routes between North America, South America, Africa, and Europe.

What Was Africa to Them?

How historians have understood Africa and the Black diaspora in global conversations about race and identity.

by Kwame Anthony Appiah via New York Review of Books on September 27, 2007

V. Ramirez's Army Corps badge.

How Real ID Excludes Real Americans

My dad’s birth certificate said Vicente. His passport said Vince. New legislation would have disenfranchised him.

by Catherine S. Ramírez via Zócalo Public Square on May 12, 2025

Women pilots in front of a plane.

How a Group of Fearless American Women Defied Convention to Defeat the Nazis

On the “Atta-Girls,” the pilots who chased adventure during the Second World War.

by Becky Aikman via Literary Hub on May 8, 2025

Indigenous girl among a line of U.S. peace commissioners.

American History Needs More Names

Identifying Sophie Mousseau from a Civil War-Era photo helps us understand our complex past.

by Martha A. Sandweiss via Zócalo Public Square on April 21, 2025

Jackie Robinson.

Out at Home?

Under the Trump administration's book police, Jackie Robinson’s life and actions are considered dangerous memories.

by Carmen M. Nanko-Fernández via Commonweal on April 15, 2025

Japanese American National Museum Volunteer Barbara Keimi stamps the Ireichō

The Japanese American National Museum Is a Site of Remembrance and Belonging

The Japanese American National Museum embraces the Japanese-American experience in all its permutations.

by Seph Rodney via Hyperallergic on April 2, 2025

Children at the Oakland Community School, 1973.

What Happens When the U.S. Declares War on Your Parents?

The Black Panthers shook America before the party was gutted by the government. Their children paid a steep price, but also emerged with unassailable pride.

by Ed Pilkington via The Guardian on March 25, 2025

Clarence Bouldin, a muscular wrestler.

The Curious Case of Clarence Bouldin

Was the pro wrestler known as “the Cuban Wonder” really the first Black world champion?

by Ian Douglass via The Ringer on February 28, 2025

Illustration of Haiti flag with silhouette of a person.

The Island Nation Whose History Reflects America’s

Rich Benjamin’s new book reveals a shared spirit between the world’s first Black republic and the United States.

by Danielle Amir Jackson via The Atlantic on February 27, 2025

Frances Thompson holding an umbrella.

Frances Thompson Survived a Race Massacre and Bravely Testified to Congress. Then She Was Slandered.

A Black transgender woman’s testimony helped ratify the 14th Amendment. Then conservatives began attacking her identity.

by Chelsea Bailey via CNN on February 16, 2025

David Levering Lewis and his book overlaid on a stained glass window.

No Nation Under Their Feet

A historian explores his own family's history to understand the African-American community’s internal pigmentocracy and the absurdity of racial binaries.

by David Levering Lewis, Steve Nathans-Kelly via Chicago Review of Books on February 14, 2025

Justin Trudeau and Donald Trump.

The Beaver and the Eagle: A 200-Year-Old Argument

The left case for an independent Canada.

by Leigh Phillips via Jacobin on February 1, 2025

Timothée Chalamet as Bob Dylan in "A Complete Unknown."

Timothée Chalamet Does Dylan

Despite Chalamet’s best efforts, "A Complete Unknown" is a cookie-cutter Bob Dylan biopic for a legendary artist who deserves something more interesting.

by Eileen Jones via Jacobin on January 1, 2025

Why Is ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ So Misunderstood?

At 50, the game is more popular than ever, but its core appeal is still a great secret.

by Andrea Long Chu via Vulture on December 30, 2024

Belle da Costa Greene.

The Hidden Story of J. P. Morgan’s Librarian

Belle da Costa Greene, a brilliant archivist, buried her own history.

by Hilton Als via The New Yorker on December 16, 2024

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