Revisiting “Forty Acres and a Mule:” The Backstory to the Backstory of America’s Mythic Promise
A brief look at the history and context surrounding the phrase “Forty Acres and a Mule”
Behind the News
“Infection Unperceiv’d, in Many a Place”: The London Plague of 1625, Viewed from Plymouth Rock
Remembering 1625’s outbreak of plague in London
Choosing the House Speaker: A Forgotten Fight
Examining the troubled Congress that opened in December 1859
Civil Rights Without the Supreme Court
Losing the support of the Supreme Court is disappointing, but it need not be the death knell of progress.
Culture
The Removal of Monuments: What about Kit Carson?
Kit Carson’s image obscures the reality of the multicultural West.
From the Front Porch to the Nation’s Airwaves: The Commercial Rise of Country Music during the Great Depression
“… the Great Depression was the gravitational pull that created country stars and their nationwide universe of listeners.”
What Are You Doing Sunday Night? An Interview with Jason Herbert of #HATM
Inside information about the #HATM Twitter phenomenon
Harvard 1642: America’s First Commencement
Harvard’s first commencement was more than a celebration of hard-working students.
Military & Maritime
The Battle of Valverde, New Mexico: February 21, 1862
ill Davidson was cooking up his meager breakfast on the morning of February 21, 1862 when he heard the distinctive pop! pop! pop! of rifle fire, echoing over the sand hills. It was coming from a few miles north of […]
Visit the Famous Ironclad Monitor for One Dollar
Remembering the lasting legacy on the Monitor on our naval history
Andrew Jackson and the C & O Canal
Highlighting the first instance of federal troops being called out to quash labor unrest
Dr. Mary E. Walker: “Clothes Make the (Wo)man”
“It is a shame that people who lead reforms in this world are not appreciated until after they are dead…”
Politics & Economics
The Fall of the House of Adams: Charles Francis Adams Jr. on Race and Public Service
A look inside America’s first political dynasty
Gerald Ford, Impeachment, and The Difference Between Politics and Law Enforcement
The only Eagle Scout elected President, Ford was far from being a butter-fingered lummox.
The Immortal Major: Jack Downing and the Rise of American Political Humor
Introducing Major Jack Downing and the origins of political satire
The History of American Anti-Lynching Legislation
A brief history of anti-lynching bills, and a reminder that Congress has never passed an anti-lynching law
On This Day
This Day in Cabinet History: Presidential Power and Diplomacy
A meeting that would lodge the authority for foreign diplomacy in the executive branch
The Battle of Valverde, New Mexico: February 21, 1862
ill Davidson was cooking up his meager breakfast on the morning of February 21, 1862 when he heard the distinctive pop! pop! pop! of rifle fire, echoing over the sand hills. It was coming from a few miles north of […]
Reversing a River: How Chicago Flushed its Human Waste Downstream
“…humans needed to work with the land and its waterways, not against it.”
“Crusader in My Own Way”: Nat King Cole Exposes Segregation in Las Vegas
“Cole had offered a powerful message to the nation without saying a word.”