In a March 31st, 1776 letter to her husband John, who was in Philadelphia engaged in the debates of the Second Continental Congress that would lead to the Declaration of Independence, Abigail Adams famously wrote, “by the way in the new Code of Laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make I desire you would Remember the Ladies, and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors.
March, 2015
Pot Politics: Medical Marijuana Past and Present
Senators Cory Booker, Kirsten Gillibrand, and Rand Paul recently joined together to announce their co-sponsorship of a senate bill that would ostensibly pave the way for legalized medical marijuana in the United States.
Expanding Women’s History: Anna Julia Cooper, Zitkala-Ša, and Sui Sin Far
Like Black History Month, Women’s History Month is a radical and important starting point for better remembering histories and stories that can and should be part of our collective memories and narratives year-round.
The Medal of Honor and the Wounded Knee Massacre
The odd circumstances of the history of the Medal of Honor mean that there are twenty medals that have been contested almost since the day they were awarded. These are the medals awarded to soldiers who participated in the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre.
What Tools Not To Use In Political Fighting: A Pocket Guide
If you pay attention to how people discuss politics online in social media, you might feel your head spinning. Far too many people on left and right are insisting not only that their adversaries are somehow bad for America, but that they’re traitors, or that they’ve committed sedition, or that they’ve violated the Logan Act.
Segregating Restaurants: How Women Got a Seat at the Table
Racial discrimination at lunch counters was once a common problem, especially in the American South. Peaceful protests in the 1950s and 1960s shined a light on the practice and eventually the government stepped in to end it.
Before Ebola, there was Yellow Fever
In March of 2014, an epidemic of the viral hemorrhagic disease Ebola began spreading in West Africa. By late summer and fall, Ebola had become pandemic in the region and became the focus of international concern.
The Complicated Story of the Irish in the New York City Draft Riots
Most people who are passingly familiar with the Civil War or who have seen the film Gangs of New York likely know that Irish immigrants were the chief culprits in one of the most infamous incidents in that conflict: the New York City Draft Riots.
Sara Ehrmann and the Abolition of the Death Penalty in Massachusetts
In 1928, a few months after the executions of Sacco and Vanzetti, Sara Rosenfeld Ehrmann, a thirty-three year old Brookline housewife and mother of two young children, accepted leadership of the Massachusetts Council Against the Death Penalty (MCADP).
California and the Civil War Sesquicentennial
Although few people associate the Golden State with the Civil War, in fact, during the war years California was transformed in a multitude of ways – as was most of the country, though the transformation to the east is better-known.