A brief look at the history and context surrounding the phrase “Forty Acres and a Mule”
Behind the News
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.
Dave Meggyesy and the History of NFL Player Protests
Remembering Colin Kaepernick’s anthem-protesting predecessor and his same attempt to spur social change
Moral Panic: How We See Other People’s Kids as Criminals
Neither discussing children as somebody else’s nor worrying about crime is unusual. But the combination is dangerous.
Seven More National Parks Interpreting Difficult American History
Seven more national parks that confront and interpret difficult, complex, and contested episodes or periods in American history
Replacing Food Stamps with Food in a Box: A Brief History
Examining a proposal to return to government intervention that retailers once opposed so bitterly
It Didn’t Start With Facebook: Surveillance and the Commercial Media
The science of tricking individuals into monetizing themselves for sale to advertisers is a very different thing than just “selling ads.”
The Antidemocratic Origins of Fake News
Is “fake news” a deliberate attack on our American democracy?