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The Boston Tea Party.

Why Some Founding Fathers Disapproved of the Boston Tea Party

While many Americans gushed about the effectiveness of the ‘Destruction of the Tea,’ others thought it went too far.
An uncredited performer with a member of the Delta Rhythm Boys in Give Me Some Skin (1946).

Jammin’ in the Panoram

During World War II, proto–music videos called “soundies” blared pop patriotism from visual jukeboxes across American bars.
Lady Columbia drawing from 1890.

Before Lady Liberty, There Was Lady Columbia, America's First National Mascot

The forgotten figure symbolized the hopes—and myths—of the early United States.
Cereal box illustration of 1839 baseball game, and caption explaining the history of the first baseball game, created by Abner Doubleday.

Baseball in the Garden of Eden

“Who controls the past,” George Orwell wrote, “controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.” So it has been with baseball.
A crowd of men attending a Plattsburgh Camp.

Going to Summer Camp in 1913 Meant Practicing for World War I

How the Plattsburg camps tried (and failed) to raise a volunteer army ahead of World War I.
African American school children at Horatio Greenough’s statue of George Washington at the US Capitol, 1899.

Why the Age of Revolution Loved the Classical World

Radicals in the Age of Revolution saw the classical world as a common inheritance that could aid their fight for liberty.
Soldier in foliage drawing

How Prisoners Contributed During World War II

Prisoners not only supported the war effort in surprising ways during World War II, they fought and died in it.
David Grim's map showing the damage that New York City suffered from two large fires.

David Grim’s Fairy Tale: The New York City Fire In Myth

We may never know with absolute certainty that the Great Fire was an accident, but Grim certainly made it harder for anyone to argue otherwise.
A crowd gathers in the Florida Capitol with “Stop the Black Attack” signs.
partner

Conservatives Want To Control What Kids Learn, But It May Backfire

Conservatives want to make students patriotic. Instead, they exacerbate historical illiteracy.
Norma and Mel Gabler, holding a textbook
partner

50 Years Ago, Anti-Woke Crusaders Came for My Grandfather

Christopher Rufo's polemical attacks against Critical Race Theory are not a new phenomenon. Public schools have long been a battlefield for ideological warfare.
Donald Duck with a U.S. military hat

How Disney Propaganda Shaped Life on the Home Front During WWII

A traveling exhibition traces how the animation studio mobilized to support the Allied war effort.
Lt. Col. Oliver North in 1987 before testifying to a committee investigating the Iran-contra scandal.
partner

The 1980s Hearings That Explain Why Trump’s Base Still Loves Him

Bombshell revelations won’t hurt the former president with his core supporters. We have only to look at Oliver North to know why.
Black and white photograph of students sitting in desks at with a teacher standing in the back

Who Gets to Be American?

Laws controlling what schools teach about race and gender show an awareness that classrooms are sites of nation-building.
Class photo, Geyer, Ohio, 1915
partner

Lessons from the History Textbook Wars of the 1920s

A century ago, pundits, special interests, and politicians weighed in on what should and shouldn't be taught in history and social studies courses.
Whitney Houston singing the national anthem at the Super Bowl

The NFL, the National Anthem, and the Super Bowl

A brief history of their tangled saga of patriotism and dissent.
James H. Sweet

From Inclusive Public Schools to Divisive Concepts

Some personal reflections from American Historical Association president James H. Sweet on the recent wave of "divisive concepts" laws.
Ceremonial flags used in funerals on a chair
partner

The Last 20 Years Have Remade the Nature of Military Service. Here’s How.

Contractors are increasingly doing dangerous work helping our troops — without any of the recognition.

Battle Hymn of the Republic and the Apotheosis of Washington

What a video of an Jan. 6 insurrectionist illustrates about race, religion, and nationalism in the MAGA movement.
Woody Guthrie playing his guitar

This Anthem Was Made For You and Me?

A breakdown of how Woody Guthrie's hit song "This Land" has evolved over time.
Walmart Mormon Prophet Joseph Smith As Lieutenant General Of The Nauvoo Legion

The Fallacy of Religious Freedom

When the Mormon prophet Joseph Smith ran for president, he wasn’t seeking further glory but a policy change in religious liberty.
Four stars with different designs

How America Fractured Into Four Parts

People in the United States no longer agree on the nation’s purpose, values, history, or meaning. Is reconciliation possible?
Eugene V. Debs, in prison clothes, flanked by Socialist party leaders.

Free Speech Wasn't So Free 103 Years Ago

When 'seditious' and 'unpatriotic' speech was criminalized in the U.S.
Illustration of the assassination of president Lincoln in Ford's Theatre

We Lionize Abraham Lincoln – But John Wilkes Booth Still Embodies a Part of America’s Soul

How the insurrection on January 6th brought a legendary assassin back to life.
A print featuring fish that look like the American flag.

Propagating Propaganda

Toward the end of WWI, as the U.S. peddled Liberty Bonds, a goldfish dealer bred a stars-and-stripes-colored carp: a living, swimming embodiment of patriotism.
1886 British Empire Map

Fascism and Analogies — British and American, Past and Present

The past has habitually been repurposed in a manner inhibiting ethical accountability in the present.
Land of Hope Book Cover, which has a painting of buildings and boats

An America Where Everyone Meant Well

Jonathan W. Wilson offers a constructively critical review of Wilfred McClay's American history textbook "Land of Hope."
The Oquirrh Mountain Temple in Salt Lake City

The Most American Religion

Perpetual outsiders, Mormons spent 200 years assimilating to a certain national ideal—only to find their country in an identity crisis.
Benjamin Tillman statue

American History Is Getting Whitewashed, Again

As demands for racial justice grow, Trump is pushing historical mythmaking into high gear.
The cover of the textbook, "Heroes of Our America."
partner

"Heroes of Our America": Reading a "Patriotic" History of the United States

This 1952 textbook serves as an example of the "patriotic history" that Donald Trump grew up with and calls for today.
original

If You Love America, Teach the Truth About Its Past

Patriotism doesn’t require whitewashing.

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