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Is the Greatest Collection of Slave Narratives Tainted by Racism?

How Depression-Era racial dynamics may have shaped our understanding of antebellum enslaved life.

The Racist Roots of Virginia's Felon Disenfranchisement

A century ago, the commonwealth's leaders weren't circumspect about their motives.
An illustration of Weyer’s Cave from 1858.

The 19th Century ‘Show Caves’ That Became America’s First Tourist Traps

Novelists concocted elaborate fake histories for mysterious caves in Virginia.
Enslaved people being marched from Virginia to Tennessee.

Retracing Slavery's Trail of Tears

America's forgotten migration – the journeys of a million African-Americans from the tobacco South to the cotton South.

Making Sense of Robert E. Lee

“It is well that war is so terrible, or we should grow too fond of it.”— Robert E. Lee, at Fredericksburg
American and French soldiers at the siege of Yorktown, by Jean-Baptiste-Antoine DeVerger, 1781.

Patriot Acts

What Ken Burns gets wrong about the war that made America.
Larry Page and Sergey Brin in front of Google's servers.

The Future of Search: Will We Still Google It?

Google grew from a Stanford project into a $3T tech giant, pioneering search, data scaling, and AI, now challenged by regulation and chatbots.
Virginia residents outside of an early voting location.
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The Troubling Roots of Off-Year Gubernatorial Elections

Off-year elections were meant to insulate states from federal trends. That still matters.
British flag with writing that says, "Liberty for Slaves."

The Black Loyalists

Thousands of African Americans fought for the British—then fled the United States to avoid a return to enslavement.
"Home in the Woods," an 1847 painting by Thomas Cole.

A Republican Excursion

As a new book on their travels together shows, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison's friendship went beyond politics.
Reenactors working with performance artist Dread Scott in 2019 retrace the route of an 1811 rebellion of enslaved people in Louisiana.

My Gun Culture Is Not Your Gun Culture

In Black Southern life, guns have been a sign of readiness against constant threats.
Drawing of George Washington watching over a group of enslaved people working in a field at Mount Vernon.
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Even George Washington Was a Tyrant

We don't need to find heroes in our past presidents. We need to try to understand that tyranny has always been part of American freedom.
Map of Southeast DC showing the Anacostia River

The Anacostia and Residential Displacement in Postwar Southeast DC

The long-polluted Anacostia bisects the District’s Potomac waterfront, segregating the majority-Black Southeast from the rest of the capital city.
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Should a Colombian Buy a Banjo?

How preparation for a big purchase turned into an adventure through history.
The 59th Street electric powerhouse, New York City, 1904.

The Utility of Utilities

Climate activists are no fans of electric utilities. But the alternatives that they often prefer will not deliver infrastructural change at the scale we need.
Alexander I
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Why Early American Conservatives Loved Russia

A conspiracy theory among New England Federalists led some to contemplate separating from the U.S. during the War of 1812.
Men in suits, suburban neighborhood, woman holding a microphone, and a quarry.

The ‘Southern Lady’ Who Beat the Courthouse Crowd

One woman’s crusade for democratic participation and political efficacy in the face of powerful institutions.
Statue of Pocahontas.

Pocahontas, Remembered

After 400 years, reality has begun to replace the lies.
Members of the National Woman's Party prepare to lobby their senators and congressmen to vote for the Equal Rights Amendment, ca. 1923.

Equal Rights Amendment Was Introduced 100 Years Ago — and Still Waits

America’s feminists felt confident when the Equal Rights Amendment was put before Congress 100 years ago this week. For a century, it’s failed to be enacted.
A drawing of the exhumation of President Monroe's coffin.

Which States Have the Most Dead Presidents?

The answer reveals grave robbing problems for America’s deceased leaders.
Compilation of historical markers from different states.

Why Historical Markers Matter

Few realize that the approval process for these outdoor signs varies widely by state and organization, enabling unsanctioned displays to slip through.
Black worker holding a bundle of metal rods.

'Working Class' Does Not Equal 'White'

What it means to be a Black worker in the time since slavery.

General George H. Thomas' Journey From Enslaver to Union Officer to Civil Rights Defender

One of the thousands of white Southerners who supported the Union during the Civil War and a rare example of a slave owner who changed his views on race.
Two white containers from English colonists, with a backdrop of a Virginia map.

Was the 1623 Poisoning of 200 Native Americans One of the Continent's First War Crimes?

English colonists claimed they wanted to make peace with the Powhatans, then offered them tainted wine.
Linda Brown Smith, Ethel Louise Belton Brown, Harry Briggs, Jr., and Spottswood Bolling, Jr., 1964
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Brown v. Board of Education: Annotated

The 1954 Supreme Court decision, based on the Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution, declared that “separate but equal” has no place in education.
Campaign banner ad from former Arizona Senate candidate Blake Masters, stating that he "won't ask for your pronouns in the U.S. Senate."

The Modern Electoral History of Transphobia

How transphobia has been a consistent liability for Republicans, and why the right refuses to give it up.
World War I era African American soldier.

Black Virginians and the American Revolution

Enslaved conspirators in far-flung Accomack County forced some whites to rethink any legislative efforts aiding Black Virginians.
Painting of ships in Boston Harbor.

Pressured to Leave

Black refugees’ journey from Virginia to Boston after the Civil War.
The statue Sons of St. Augustine depicting Alexander Darnes and Edmund Kirby Smith.

The Doctor and the Confederate

A historian’s journey into the relationship between Alexander Darnes and Edmund Kirby Smith starts with a surprising eulogy.
1859 painting "Negro Life in the South," with enslaved people in a courtyard.

How An Abolitionist Painting Set In D.C. Became Proslavery Propaganda

An 1859 painting by Eastman Johnson depicted enslaved people in a D.C. courtyard. Intended to humanize them, it was coopted by slavery defenders.

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