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Plans for the Baldwin Terrace housing development (Plat Book 22, Page 35, St. Louis County Recorder of Deeds, Clayton, Missouri).

Who Segregated America?

Federal housing policies contributed to the segregation of American cities in the twentieth century. But it was private interests that led the way.
Black and white photo of Dennis Kucinich speaking, with a Cleveland flag next to him.

When the Mob Tried to Whack Dennis Kucinich

31-year-old Cleveland mayor Dennis Kucinich took a stand against the sale of his city’s publicly owned electric utility. And he almost paid for it with his life.
The Detroit Renewable Power waste incinerator

Dire Straits

A new history of Detroit’s struggles for clean air and water argues that municipal debt and austerity have furthered an ongoing environmental catastrophe.
People talking about a neighborhood map, from the cover of Claire Dunning's book "Nonprofit Neighborhoods."

Grantmaking as Governance

A new book examines how the US government funded the growth of — and delegated governance to — the nonprofit sector.
Book cover for Captives: How Rikers Island Took New York City Hostage," showing a photo of incarcerated men speaking to the media.

How Rikers Island Made New York

In “Captives,” former Rikers detainee Jarrod Shanahan traces the history of New York City’s sprawling jail complex, and its centrality to brutal class struggle.
A woman tends to a lawn at the corner of Confederate Lane and Plantation Parkway in the Mosby Woods neighborhood of Fairfax on Wednesday. The city is considering changing several names in the Civil War-themed development, but neighbors are divided. (Michael S. Williamson/The Washington Post)

A Civil War Among Neighbors Over Confederate-Themed Streets

Debates between neighbors escalate over the use of Confederate names within a Northern Virginia neighborhood.
The Rikers Island docks.

The Long Crisis on Rikers Island

A new book about Rikers Island is essentially a labor history, revealing how jail guards seized control from managers, politicians, and judges.
Horses and carriages in front of funeral home

Report of Action Not Received

An accounting of racist murders in nineteenth-century America.
Collage of four images related to urban development. Clockwise from left: photo of Ralph Nader, 1975. [Library of Congress] Aerial view of the Appalachia Dam, Tennessee Valley Authority [Tennessee Valley Authority, public domain] Edward Logue, at a hearing of the Boston Redevelopment Authority, 1965. [Digital Commonwealth, License CC 4.0] Hunters Point, San Francisco, ca. 1969. [San Francisco Public Library, public domain]

Public Interests

Three books offer views of the shift from public planning to neoliberal privatization, and emphasize the need to reclaim planning in the public interest.
Lithograph portrait of William Franklin

Governor William Franklin: Sagorighweyoghsta, “Great Arbiter” or “Doer of Justice”

The actions of one New Jersey royal governor demonstrate a rare case of impartial justice for Native Americans.
Cleveland-Stevenson Tariff Reform Portrait Handkerchief

Tax Regimes

Historian Robin Einhorn reflects on Americans’ complicated relationship to taxes, from the colonial period through the Civil War to the tax revolts of the 1980s.
Screen capture of a Black man standing in an urban residential neighborhood, speaking in the documentary "Who Killed the Fourth Ward?"

How “Who Killed Fourth Ward?” Challenged the Nature of Documentary Filmmaking

James Blue’s film investigated the destruction of a Black neighborhood in Houston, but it is also a powerful self-interrogation.
A mother and daughter attend a candlelight vigil
partner

The Deadly Bronx Fire Exposes the Perils and Politics of Heating One’s Home

For less fortunate New Yorkers, access to safe, adequate heating has never been assured.
Black and white photograph of Harold Washington, 1980s.

A 1980s Blueprint on How to Be a Leader

A new film shows how Harold Washington, Chicago’s first Black mayor, stood up to a majority-white city council to push through infrastructure improvements for all.
Ballots in sealed envelopes, in a plastic box with a sticker that reads "Vote NYC."
partner

You Didn’t Always Have to Be a Citizen to Vote in America

The electorate has consistently changed over time as politicians seek to shape it in their favor.
A Black man sits at his dining room looking through property records

Racial Covenants, a Relic of the Past, Are Still on the Books Across the Country

Racial covenants made it illegal for Black people to live in white neighborhoods. Now they're illegal, but you may still have one on your home's deed.
Harold Washington on a button

Primary Sources are a Vibe

Historian Melanie Newport turns to eBay.
Illustration after American Gothic but in the context of the Black experience: African American farmers looking away, house foreclosed, lightning in the sky.

How Thousands of Black Farmers Were Forced Off Their Land

Black people own just 2 percent of farmland in the United States. A decades-long history of loan denials at the USDA is a major reason why.
Abandoned school bus with broken windows.

White Flight In Noxubee County: Why School Integration Never Happened

After the U.S Supreme Court forced school integration in early 1970, white families fled to either racist Central Academy or new Mennonite schools.
Protest sign with Daily News front page "Ford to City: Drop Dead"

New York City’s State of Permanent Crisis

How New Yorkers trying to ward off catastrophe paved the road to the privatized city.

The Hospital Occupation That Changed Public Health Care

The Young Lords took over Lincoln Hospital in the Bronx on July 14, 1970. Their demand? Accessible, quality health care for all.
Man standing on top of a phone booth, surrounded by rioters outside of city hall.

The Forgotten City Hall Riot

In 1992, thousands of drunken cops raged against the mayor of New York — leaving an indelible mark on the city’s likely next mayor.
Women holding protest signs, demonstrating against school materials, 1975

When a Battle to Ban Textbooks Became Violent

In 1974, the culture wars came to Kanawha County, West Virginia, inciting protests over school curriculum.
MLK in a police station

Martin Luther King Knew That Fighting Racism Meant Fighting Police Brutality

Critics of Black Lives Matter have held up King as a foil to the movement’s criticisms of law enforcement, but those are views that King himself shared.
The illustration “Vaccinating the Poor,” by Solomon Eytinge Jr

The Surprisingly Strong Supreme Court Precedent Supporting Vaccine Mandates

In 1905, the high court made a fateful ruling with eerie parallels to today: One person’s liberty can’t trump everyone else’s.
A plan of what buildings are to be removed for the Freeway expansion.

Black People Are About To Be Swept Aside For A South Carolina Freeway — Again

In a planned highway widening project, 94 percent of displaced residents live in communities mostly consisting of Black and Brown people.
Head of a man with a severe disease affecting his face by Christopher D' Alton, 1858. One of a collection of drawings by D' Alton of patients at the Royal Free Hospital, Grays Inn Road, London.

The Ugly History of Chicago’s "Ugly Law"

In the nineteenth century, laws in many parts of the country prohibited "undeserving" disabled people from appearing in public.
The 1.25-million-square-foot USC Village residential complex in Los Angeles.

The Rise of the UniverCity

Historian Davarian Baldwin explains how universities have come to wield the kind of power that were once hallmarks of ruthless employers in company towns.
"Law and Political Economy Project" logo.

Public Money without Public Goods

By documenting how public debt produced our present nightmare, Destin Jenkins allows us to dream about using public money to mend the ills of our era.
Zoomed in 1949 map of Atlanta.

A Brief History of the Atlanta City Prison Farm

Slave labor, overcrowding, and unmarked graves — the buried history of Atlanta City Prison Farm from the 1950s to 1990s shows it’s no place of honor.

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