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A scene from the film Orphans of the Storm depicting a group carrying a sign bearing the slogan “Liberté, Egalité et Fraternité,” 1921.

The History of Equality: It’s Complicated

The strange and contradicting development of the liberal version of egalitarianism.
Actress Bobby Bradshaw is tempted by a pearl necklace, 1925.
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Pearl Jam

In the twentieth century, the mollusk-produced gem was a must have for members of WASP gentility. In the twenty-first century, its appeal is far more inclusive.
Collage of women's rights symbolism. Woman outline waving flag.

Who Lost the Sex Wars?

Fissures in the feminist movement should not be buried as signs of failure but worked through as opportunities for insight.

How Do We Explain This National Tragedy? This Trump?

On 400 years of tribalism, genocide, expulsion, and imprisonment.
Exhibit

“All Persons Born or Naturalized in the United States...”

A collection of resources exploring the evolving meanings of American citizenship and how they have been applied -- or denied -- to different groups of Americans.

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Trump’s View of America as a White Nation Is as American as Apple Pie

But it’s seriously dated. And there's another tradition he could draw on.

The Nationalist's Delusion

Trumpism emerged from a haze of delusion, denial, pride, and cruelty—not as a historical anomaly, but as a profoundly American phenomenon.

Growing Up in the Shadow of the Confederacy

Memorials to the Lost Cause have always meant something sinister for the descendants of enslaved people.

The Military, Minorities, and Social Engineering

Trump’s transgender ban restarts the debate about the relation between military service and social policy.

Who Tells America's Story? 'Hamilton,' Hip-Hop, and Me

How the hit musical allows those who have been left out of the story to claim the narrative of America as their own.
The Statue of Liberty as clouds roll in.

The End of Asylum

The second Trump administration has undone the division between political and economic migrants. Did it make sense to separate them to begin with?
Illustration of a founding father standing in front of a distorted mirror.

What the Founders Would Say Now

They might be surprised that the republic exists at all.
An 1877 depiction of Pontiac speaking at a tribal council.

How Native Nations Shaped the Revolution

The Founders were inspired—and threatened—by the independence and self-governance of nations like the Iroquois Confederacy.
Collage illustration of a founder, Declaration of Independence, and the body of an enslaved person whose arms are in chains.

Whose Independence?

The question of what Jefferson meant by “all men” has defined American law and politics for too long.
Covers of editions of "The Best American Poetry."

Good Riddance To ‘The Best American Poetry’

As "The Best American Poetry" anthology ends after nearly forty years, the contradictions of its influence stand out.
USS Boxer, at the Portsmouth Navy Yard, 1905.
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Still Coming Out Under Fire

Revisiting the lessons of Allan Bérubé’s 1990 history of queer solders during World War II.
The Israeli flag covering the word "antisemitism."

How “Antisemitism” Became a Weapon of the Right

At a time when allegations of antisemitism are rampant and often incoherent, historian Mark Mazower offers a helpfully lucid history of the term.
Harp and banjos.

Rhiannon Giddens and Kristina Gaddy “Go Back and Fetch It”

The pair’s new book recovers the sound of early Black music.
Chinese fishermen in Monterey, California, 1875.Photograph by Albert Dressler / Courtesy California Historical Society Collection at Stanford

The Ritual of Civic Apology

Cities across the American West are issuing belated apologies for 19th-century expulsions of Chinese residents, but their meaning and audience remain uncertain.
American Progress by John Gast, 1872, oil on canvas.

Who’s Afraid of “Settler Colonialism”?

If we dismiss concepts because of particular examples of misuse, we encourage the repression of discomforting histories and ideas.
an organ player and his wife and dog drawing from 1495.

The Real Housewives of Church History

How pastors’ wives use power and submission.
Minerva Parker Nichols; the New Century Club building she designed in Philadelphia.
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(Re)discovering Minerva Parker Nichols, Architect

The first American woman to establish an independent architectural practice, Minerva Parker Nichols built an unprecedented career in Philadelphia.
Poster of the first issue stamp celebrating the Mendez v. Westminster School District case.
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Mendez v. Westminster and Mexican American Desegregation

International relations and foreign influence helped end legal segregation of Mexican American students in California after World War II.
Sarrasani Program 1931 with Lakota's on horses, elephants, (circus theme).

Performing the Exotic and Lakota Resistance

How Lakota performers challenged the 'exotic othering' of their identities in the Sarrasani circus.
Migrant walking down a road.

Los Angeles’ 1936 ‘Bum Blockade’ Targeted American Migrants Fleeing Hardship During the Depression

The two-month patrol stopped “suspicious” individuals from crossing into California. But its execution was uneven, and the initiative proved controversial.
Native Americans perform a burial ceremony under a rock overhang.

Religion in the Lands That Became America

Historian Thomas A. Tweed proposes an environmental approach to the study of American religion.
John Travolta on the dance floor in the film Saturday Night Fever, 1977.
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Disco and Classical Music: A Copacetic Couple

Despite seeming like strange dance partners, disco and classical make the best music—together.
Images of historical figures including Bejamin Franklin and Albert Einstein are overlaid on a green and white background.

Who’ll Be in Trump’s Hero Garden? There Are a Few Surprises.

The list of nearly 250 includes the famous, the obscure and, in some cases, the intentionally controversial.
Romani American Birthday Party, c. 1960, courtesy of Portland Art Museum

The Case of the Missing Romani American History

And why we should find it.
JD Vance

J.D. Vance's Anti-Declaration

Truths self-evident no more.
Japanese-American man in a military uniform.

He Spent His Life Trying to Prove That He Was a Loyal U.S. Citizen. It Wasn’t Enough.

How Joseph Kurihara lost his faith in America.

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