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The ‘Grizzly Giant’ sequoia tree in Mariposa Grove, Yosemite, California.

Emerson & His ‘Big Brethren’

A new book explores the final days of Ralph Waldo Emerson - traveling from Concord to California, and beyond.
by Christopher Benfey via New York Review of Books on September 29, 2022
Illustration of U.S. marshals guarding a freight train from a large mob.

The 1877 St. Louis Commune Was a Landmark Event for the International Workers’ Movement

The often forgotten takeover of St. Louis by workers showed that the U.S. isn't immune to Paris Commune–style eruptions of class consciousness.
by Mark Kruger via Jacobin on July 31, 2022
Photo of an elderly Jane Stanford, dressed in lace and beads.

The Robber Baroness of Northern California

Authorities who investigated Jane Stanford’s mysterious death said the wealthy widow had no enemies. A new book finds that she had many.
by Maia Silber via The New Yorker on May 30, 2022
A crowd gathered around a railroad track at the ceremony marking the completion of the first transcontinental railroad.

Breaking the Myth About America’s ‘Great’ Railroad Expansion

Historian Richard White on the greed, ineptitude and economic cost behind the transcontinental railroads, and the implications for infrastructure policy today.
by Richard White, Jake Blumgart via Governing on November 18, 2021
Botanical drawing of a bunch of grapes.

Fruits of Empire

The plant explorers of the USDA succeeded in bringing the world’s fruits to American supermarkets. But at what human, ecological, and gustatory cost?
by Willa Glickman via New York Review of Books on November 12, 2021
Hundreds of people watch RFK's funeral train pass by.

Inside RFK's Funeral Train: How His Final Journey Helped a Nation Grieve

The New York-to-Washington train had 21 cars, 700 passengers—and millions of trackside mourners.
by Steven M. Gillon via HISTORY on June 7, 2021
President Joe Biden behind the wheel of an electric car.
partner

Stagecoaches Could Fix Our Electric Car Problem

One solution to climate change may come from our pre-automotive past.
by Woody Holton via Made By History on May 18, 2021
Segregated waiting room at Union Station railroad depot in Jacksonville, Florida.

Historian Mia Bay on ‘Traveling Black’

Bay’s new book explores the intertwined history of travel segregation and African American struggles for freedom of movement.
by Kristen De Groot, Mia Bay via Penn Today on February 9, 2021

Somebody Died, Babe: A Musical Cover-Up of Racism, Violence, and Greed

Beneath the popular folk song, “Swannanoa Tunnel” and the railroad tracks that run through Western North Carolina is a story of blood, greed, and obfuscation.
by Kevin Kehrberg, Jeffrey A. Keith via The Bitter Southerner on August 4, 2020
A line of Black men sit and stand in a half circle. They all where Pullman Porter uniforms.

How Black Pullman Porters Waged a Struggle for “Civil Rights Unionism”

Led by A. Philip Randolph, Black Pullman porters secured dignity on the job — and laid the foundation for the modern Civil Rights Movement.
by Eric Arnesen, Arvind Dilawar via Jacobin on July 28, 2020

My Grandfather Participated in One of America’s Deadliest Racial Conflicts

J. Chester Johnson on the Elaine Race Massacre of 1919.
by J. Chester Johnson via Literary Hub on May 6, 2020
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Transcontinental

Ed Ayers visits the site where the transcontinental railroad was completed. He considers the project's human costs, and discovers how the environment and photography played key roles on the rails.
via Future Of America's Past on March 23, 2020

This Day in Labor History: December 1, 1868

On folk hero John Henry.
by Erik Loomis via Twitter on December 1, 2019
Entrance to CitiBank branch.

Nationalization Is as American as Apple Pie

Nationalization may seem like an alien idea in the hyper-capitalist United States. But the country has a long history of nationalizing all sorts of industries.
by Thomas M. Hanna via Jacobin on November 11, 2019

Mike's Big Ditch

The failed canal project that could have saved cities like Youngstown, Ohio.
by Vince Guerrieri via Belt Magazine on August 28, 2019
Chinese railroad camp.

Remembering the Forgotten Chinese Railroad Workers

Archaeologists help modern descendants of Chinese railroad workers in Utah commemorate their ancestors' labor and lives.
by Veronica Peterson via Sapiens on August 22, 2019

Historical Public Transit Systems vs. Their Modern Equivalents

Interactive maps of public transit, then and now.
by Jake Berman via The Guardian on April 3, 2019

The Supreme Court Case That Enshrined White Supremacy in Law

How Plessy v. Ferguson shaped the history of racial discrimination in America.
by Louis Menand via The New Yorker on February 4, 2019

How (or How Not) to Build a Labor Movement

Looking at the Pullman Strike and the political forces it stirred.
by Jake Pitre via Lapham’s Quarterly on August 22, 2018
Railworkers watch dignitaries on an approaching train.
partner

How Slave Labor Built the State of Florida—Decades After the Civil War

Behind the whitewashed history of the Sunshine State.
by Bryan Bowman, Kathy Roberts Forde via Made By History on May 17, 2018

From Progress to Poverty: America’s Long Gilded Age

The America that emerged out of the Civil War was meant to be a radically more equal place. What went wrong?
by Steven Hahn via The Nation on April 18, 2018
Striking miners

A Culture of Resistance

The 2018 West Virginia teachers’ strike in historical perspective.
by Chuck Keeney via Lapham’s Quarterly on March 30, 2018
Poster reading "Victory! Congress Passes Daylight Saving Bill," and "Get Your Hoe Ready!," depicting Uncle Sam and clock-related imagery.

100 Years Later, the Madness of Daylight Saving Time Endures

Unfortunately, there’s not an unlimited amount of daylight that we can squeeze out of our clocks.
by Michael Downing via The Conversation on March 9, 2018

For Tech Giants, a Cautionary Tale from 19th Century Railroads on Competition’s Limits

How much monopoly is too much monopoly?
by Richard White via The Conversation on March 6, 2018

'Corporations Are People' Is Built on an Incredible 19th-Century Lie

How a farcical series of events in the 1880s produced an enduring and controversial legal precedent.
by Adam Winkler via The Atlantic on March 5, 2018

Remembering the Freedom Train

In an effort to awaken Americans to their own history, the Truman Administration conceived of a moving museum.
by Ted Widmer via The New Yorker on November 26, 2017
Caroline and Charles Ingalls

Little House, Small Government

How Laura Ingalls Wilder’s frontier vision of freedom and survival lives on in Trump’s America.
by Vivian Gornick via The New Republic on November 16, 2017
Illustration of the folk hero, John Henry, face down with a hammer in his hand.

A History of American Protest Music: This Is the Hammer That Killed John Henry

How a folk hero inspired one of the most covered songs in American history.
by Tom Maxwell via Longreads on October 4, 2017
Busy horse and buggy outside of North Station in Boston.

The Frontiers of American Capitalism

Noam Maggor’s new book captures how it took both sides of the American continent to revitalize the economy after the Civil War.
by Eric Foner via The Nation on June 1, 2017

Uneasy Riders

Even before United Airlines, a legacy of excessive force existed in transportation.
by Robin Washington via The Marshall Project on April 12, 2017
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